PORT ANGELES — Feiro Marine Life Center officials are establishing a long-range plan for a new, larger facility at the nonprofit’s current City Pier site.
The plan calls for construction possibly beginning in 2021, Executive Director Melissa Williams said Tuesday.
The effort would require an estimated $6 million capital project campaign, though actual building costs for the new educational facility have not been determined, she said.
Williams was the featured speaker at the Port Angeles Business Association’s weekly breakfast meeting, attended by 19 participants Tuesday morning.
“We’re looking to rebuild on City Pier,” she told breakfast-goers.
“We really need bigger space, is what it comes down to.”
An array of improvements is needed, she said.
For example, the existing 3,400-square-foot Feiro includes open aquarium exhibits fed by sea water that drastically lowers temperatures to an uninviting 48 degrees in the winter
“Nobody wants to stand there and look at stuff” when it’s that cold, she said.
“We are really looking forward to working with developers to get that building launched,” Williams added.
She said in a later interview that construction could begin in 2021.
Feiro has seen vigorous growth in usage over the past several years, Williams reported at the meeting.
Visitor numbers increased from just fewer than 8,000 in 2007 to more than 18,000 in 2012.
Student usage almost doubled from about 1,800 in 2011 to 3,000 in 2012.
Student visits were fewer than 500 in 2007.
The facility was operated by Peninsula College under a contract with the city until the end of 2008, when it became a nonprofit center.
The building is owned by the city, which does not charge Feiro rent.
The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary headquarters, now located at The Landing mall overlooking City Pier, also may be located in Feiro’s new facility, Williams said.
A five-year public relations plan that would focus on fundraising and informing the public about Feiro’s child- and adult-education mission should be up for board approval in two weeks.
“To get $100,000 donations, we have to talk to a lot more people,” she said.
“I think of it more like, instead of reporting on activities, we would be reporting on the results of activities.
“More and more donors are requiring that as part of their giving.”
Williams said the Miller Hull Partnership of Seattle is advising Feiro with the project on a pro-bono basis.
The company is expected to report to center officials by the end of the year on “the appropriateness” of the City Pier site for a larger facility, she said.
Miller Hull had ranked 1.96 acres at Front and Oak streets, about five blocks east of City Pier, as the best site for a new Feiro Marine Life Center and put the existing City Pier location next in line.
But the sale fell through in June when Neeser Construction Inc. of Anchorage, Alaska, dropped plans to purchase the property from owner Tod McClaskey, who also owns Olympic Lodge in Port Angeles.
The property is no longer for sale, Dan Gase, listing agent and Coldwell Banker Uptown Realty agent, said Tuesday.
Neeser had planned to break ground four months ago on the first of two buildings totaling 63,000 to 67,000 square feet that would have included convention center facilities to be leased to the city.
Neeser also was going to make it easier than it will now be for Feiro to relocate, Williams said at the breakfast meeting.
“That was one of our better plans, to put money down and pay money back in the long term,” she said.
“Now, we are doing things the other way.
“There’s a decent amount of money we have to come up with. We are working a lot of angles to make that happen.”
Williams reported at the meeting that Feiro received $250,663 in revenue in 2013, including $87,263 in government contracts, $68,558 in individual donations and $42,000 in foundation grants.
Expenditures in 2013 were $217,930.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
