Seaport Museum Must Stay on Schermerhorn Row, Says Its Chief

The South Street Seaport Museum needs to keep a presence on Schermerhorn Row, where it now has 25,000 square feet of gallery space, Jonathan Boulware, the museum's executive director, told a Community Board 1 committee this week. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

The perpetually struggling South Street Seaport Museum needs to keep its presence on Schermerhorn Row and expand to other piers, Jonathan Boulware, the museum’s interim director, told a Community Board 1 committee Monday night. His appearance came nearly a month after Howard Hughes Corp. released its revised development plans for the Seaport.

As part of those plans, the developer has said it would commit more than $10 million to help sustain the museum, whose financial problems were compounded by a devastating blow from Hurricane Sandy. The plans include two potential locations for the museum––one in a new building at John and South Streets on Schermerhorn Row, and the other in a building, up-to-5,000-square-feet, next to the Peking on Pier 16.

Hughes Corp. officials have said they are waiting for a response from the museum before settling on a site.

In January, the museum is expected to complete a feasibility study that will make recommendations for the institution’s future. Some of its findings, Boulware said, “are already becoming clear.” One is that the museum building, now closed, needs to remain in some capacity on Schermerhorn Row, where it now has 25,000 square feet of gallery space.

“We absolutely must, must, must have space in Schermerhorn Row,” Boulware told the committee, to the cheers of a contingent from Save Our Seaport, the group at the forefront of the fight against the Hughes Corp. plans.

Paul Hovitz, a member of the committee and outspoken opponent of the plans, wasn’t convinced that the museum would get its wish. He asked Boulware if he had informed Hughes Corp. that the Seaport Museum would like to remain at Schermerhorn Row.

Boulware said that he had. “[But] whether it’s the same exact spaces or not, it’s premature to say,” he added.

“Jonathan, Jonathan,” called out Chris Curry, Hughes Corp.’s senior executive vice president, from the back of the room. “Please tell the folks here that you’re not fighting with Howard Hughes for space. We’ve told you that we’re going to make the space available to you that you need.”

“Chris is right,” Boulware said, adding that the museum will present a “space study” to the city, the ultimate decider on what space the museum can use. “And, you know, Chris has assured me that the space that we have need of on Schermerhorn Row, he’s got no designs on and that he will support.”

Besides the space at Schermerhorn Row, the museum also needs more docking space to operate effectively, Boulware said. When the museum first opened, it used Piers 14 through 18 to dock its ships, as well as visiting vessels. Now, it only has Pier 16.

As a result, Boulware said that last summer he had to turn away the Coast Guard’s Barque Eagle from docking at the Seaport because of lack of space.

Boulware added that the museum building proposed by the developer for Pier 16, next to the historic ship Wavertree, could be used for ticketing, small events or a shop.

“[We need] a structure alongside Wavertree with gangway access, elevators, maybe even bathrooms––all things that we don’t have to put into the ship,” he said.

Boulware also told the committee that the feasibility study has indicated a need for the museum to downsize its fleet of 11 vessels, which includes historic ships and service boats. He said he agrees.

“We have 7,000 tons of ships,” he said. “Now, 7,000 tons of ships in excellent condition would be very expensive to maintain. Seven thousand tons of ships in poor condition is an absolute crushing debt. And that’s what we’re facing.”

Community Board 1 will hold its second and last Landmarks Committee meeting about the Hughes Corp.’s plans for the Seaport Historic District (including Schermerhorn Row and Pier 16) on Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. at the National Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling Green. At the meeting, which is open to the public but will not hear public comment, the Landmarks Committee is expected to take a position on Hughes’s plans in a resolution.

Those plans are expected to go before the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission the first week of February, Curry told the committee.