The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has announced a $300,000 grant to the Northwest Maritime Center for new facilities construction. The Trust's mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants to organizations that seek to strengthen the region's educational and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways. The Northwest Maritime Center is building a new, 27,000 square ft. facilities at the east end of Water Street. "We're about 55% complete now," said executive director Stan Cummings. "Siding is going on, dry wall is up in the Heritage Building and the second-floor decks are almost in."

The grant is in the form of a challenge. The Maritime Center will receive $150,000 now and the remaining amount will have to be matched--$2 for every $1 of grant money. "This grant could not have come at a better time. Murdock is a well-known foundation and an award from them lends legitimacy to any project. We expect to be able to leverage their gift to help us finish the campaign," said Cummings. "With this grant we will have raised about 90% of our $12.5 million goal and have every confidence we will achieve our goal very soon," said Cummings "During these difficult times, it is gratifying that foundations continue to take the long view in funding worthwhile endeavors." said Steve Oliver, president of the NWMC board of directors. "The value of this project to Jefferson County is education and economic development, Murdock is providing great support to our community at a very important time" said Oliver.

The Northwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation is a regionally significant institution that is building for the future with a more national profile and with programs and offerings that will continue to be of the highest quality, serving as models in the fields of maritime trades, education, economic development, and environmental stewardship. The formal groundbreaking took place in July 2008. The scheduled opening of the new complex is September 2009, in time for one of its premier events, the 33rd Annual Wooden Boat Festival which will be held September 11-13th. As a result of a cooperative agreement with the City over 60% of this waterfront location will be available for public use 24/7. This includes the courtyard and second story decks from which all the commercial traffic on its way to and from the South Sound ports will be visible. Built with a careful eye to environmental construction practices and materials, the new building will be the first LEED Gold certified building on the Olympic Peninsula. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Developed by U.S. Green Building Council, LEED emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, indoor environmental quality and innovation and design. "The new facility," said project manager Dave Robison, "will be heated using the temperature differential between nearby ocean water and ambient air instead of heating air with fossil fuels." Robison also emphasized the strong partnership with the Port and the City of Port Townsend. "Completion of the Maritime Center in conjunction with other proposed waterfront improvements will help revitalize the eastern end of the historic downtown and provide many benefits to the citizens of our community."

Background Information: The goal of the Northwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation is to engage and educate people of all generations in traditional and contemporary maritime life. The 30-year old Wooden Boat Foundation is the NWMC's key collaborator and partner for maritime education programs including on-the-water programs, school field trips, demonstrations of boatbuilding and other traditional hand crafts, maritime skills classes, youth mentorship opportunities, and the annual Wooden Boat Festival. In addition to these programs, there will be a host of programs offered directly by the Center at its new campus complex. While both buildings will be finished and ready for occupancy, the Chandler Maritime Education Building is planned as the first to be officially dedicated and in full use. "The primary purpose of these buildings is to be a home for the Northwest Maritime Center's & Wooden Boat Foundation's educational programs," said Peter Geerlofs, who serves on the board program committee, "so it stands to reason that we would focus on that one. The Camilla Chandler Foundation stepped up early in our capital campaign with a million dollar naming gift and we want to honor that gift by opening the education building first." The Chandler Education Building will also allow many of the popular features of the 33-year-old Wooden Boat Festival to take place year-round. "Our new Boat Shop Educator, Kees Prins will be working closely with the local marine trades businesses to showcase their work to the public," said Wooden Boat Festival Director Kaci Cronkhite. "The festival attracts an international audience of 25,000 visitors over a four-day weekend every September and brings more than $2 million into the community. The Chandler Education Building will allow us to expand those benefits to the community and help support businesses that are the heart, soul and backbone of the local economy." The Wooden Boat Foundation, which operates the festival, merged with the Northwest Maritime Center in 2005.

The Chandler Maritime Education Building, at about 11,000 square-feet, contains a variety of flexible spaces that can be used by individuals, small groups and larger classes. In the Shipwrights Shop, seasoned shipwrights and educators will work on projects such as Pocock Classic Cedar Singles that require a high level of expertise. The Messing-About Boat Shop will feature a variety of boatbuilding, community boat and restoration projects with full access by the public, school groups, apprentices and volunteers and our popular family boatbuilding programs. The Bosun's Locker will provide much needed stowage for our on-the water program gear, adjacent to our boat shop supply, tool center and staging area for programs. On the second floor, three classrooms accessed via a mezzanine walkway provide a meeting space for ongoing programs. Atop the building is the Pilothouse, a representation of a modern ship's bridge containing fully functional navigation, communications and vessel control equipment.

The second of the two buildings, the Maritime Heritage and Resource Building, includes the expanded Wooden Boat Chandlery and demonstration space, a coffee shop, plus a Boathouse for rowing shells and kayaks on the main level. On the upper level is the H. W. McCurdy Library, plus office and conference space. "The chandlery is one of the top resources in the nation for all-things-wooden-boat," said Cronkhite. "It features top quality products used and produced by the world-class talent that lives in Port Townsend and the northwest. In addition to high-quality hand tools, bronze hardware and boatbuilding supplies, it also carries unique gifts, nautical items and books that are hard to find anywhere else. Being right on Water Street will make it much more visible to visitors as well as to the community."