Park Service to pay $3.2 million in land swap for museum

The National Park Service is set to pay the private American Revolution Center, known as ARC, $3.2 million as part of a land-exchange deal, after which the center plans to operate for at least several years in a portion of the old Independence Park visitor center, according to documents obtained by The Inquirer under the Freedom of Information Act.

Under the broad terms of the swap, announced last year, the park service will receive 78 acres of ARC-owned land, located largely within Valley Forge National Historical Park. In exchange, it will relinquish slightly less than an acre of Independence National Historical Park on the southeast corner of Third and Chestnut Streets, site of the old visitor center.

The park service estimates that the entire cost of the deal, including direct payments to ARC and building refurbishments by the park service, will be more than $6 million, according to the documents.

Officials of the American Revolution Center have not described their immediate plans for the new property, but in recent interviews they said they had decided not to demolish the 1976-vintage building as originally indicated. Instead they intend to create a minimal but visible presence in the Philadelphia historic district.

The Valley Forge property was acquired for the center for $4.1 million in 2007 by philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, chairman of the center's board. But ARC saw its efforts to erect a museum complex at Valley Forge stalled for several years by opposition from local residents and conservationists, bureaucratic roadblocks, fund-raising issues, and other problems.

ARC officials regard the Philadelphia location as an opportunity for a fresh start with renewed fund-raising efforts, they said.

The old Independence Park visitor center, which occupies the Third and Chestnut location, now must be divided into two separate, stand-alone facilities - largely at the park service's expense - with separate utility and mechanical systems. Independence Park will retain that portion of the property where its parkwide cooling system is located.

Thus the estimated $6 million-plus cost of the total swap package.

"Land acquisition is something the park service does," said Phil Sheridan, spokesman for the park service's northeast regional office, which is overseeing the deal. "We had a chance to trade off the former visitor's center and some cash to protect 78 acres in Valley Forge."

The Valley Forge parcel is largely surrounded by national parkland, Sheridan said, and the park service acquires such so-called in-holdings "when they become available," if possible.

"The park service is comfortable" with the price," he said.

The funds for the deal will come from a park service account in Washington, with about $990,000 repurposed from a Cape Cod account.

The $3.2 million the park service must pay ARC for the Valley Forge land is the difference between the appraised values of the two parcels. The 78 acres, almost entirely open land zoned for residential development, was appraised at $4.485 million.

The lot at Third and Chestnut, less than an acre, was appraised at $3.25 million, but deductions were made for the cost of visitor center demolition ($1.2 million) and for archaeological and environmental issues that would need to be addressed before construction. The final appraisal, performed by Coyle, Lynch & Co. of Sharon Hill, was $1.275 million.

Bruce Cole, president and chief executive of the American Revolution Center, hailed the agreement. While it must be reviewed and approved by Congress, legislators are not expected to object.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Gov. Rendell, Lenfest, and other officials have scheduled a news conference for Sept. 10 about the deal, though the exact date of completion is still not known.

Cole said his organization was "now perfectly positioned" to build a museum facility.

"It has, I think, the most ideal spot for the first museum of the American Revolution," he said. "The land - that's big."

"The more I think of Third and Chestnut," he continued, "the more I get excited."

He was reluctant, however, to discuss what exactly ARC intended to do, when it would do it, and how much it would cost.

In general, he said, the goal is to build a museum to house the collection. The core of the museum holdings - archival material and artifacts - once belonged to the Valley Forge Historical Society and was acquired many years ago.

For as long as seven years, according to park documents, ARC will occupy a portion of the visitor center, using it for small exhibitions, office space, public presentations, and other events. That was preferable, Cole said, to immediate demolition or mothballing the building.

He would not discuss how much the center had raised so far, although he acknowledged that legal challenges to the Valley Forge site had severely constrained fund-raising efforts.

The $3.2 million from the federal government, however, will be added to the fund-raising pool, Cole said.

In 2002, the state authorized $10 million for the museum's Valley Forge project, according to Gary Tuma, Rendell's spokesman. (Rendell is a strong backer of the museum.) Some of that money was approved for disbursement, but since the suburban project is defunct, it now must be redirected for use in Philadelphia, Tuma said. An additional $20 million was authorized in this year's capital redevelopment budget, he said.

None of the $30 million has been spent, he emphasized. Such state funds are only released, if available, to reimburse expenditures.

"We're still waiting for more information on the [Philadelphia] project," he said.

In addition to the land, Lenfest reportedly has contributed $5 million to the museum, and Cole said other funds had been raised through educational programs.

How much will be needed?

It is "very hard to know," said Cole. When pressed, he estimated that "under a hundred" million dollars would serve to build the museum in Philadelphia.

If that proves to be the case, it marks a radical scaling back of plans. As recently as 2008, the museum was talking about a $375 million project on its Valley Forge property that was to include a museum, conference center, hotel, and other amenities.

The deal with the park service compelled Independence Park's award-winning public archaeology lab to vacate its home in the visitor center for cramped temporary quarters at 325 Walnut St.

The lab was to move directly across Third Street into the historic First Bank of the United States, but that building was found to require major upgrades to its electrical and mechanical systems.

Now the lab, which is analyzing more than a million artifacts excavated in 2000 and 2001, before construction of the National Constitution Center on Independence Mall, will remain closed to visitors without appointments for up to two years while the First Bank is upgraded.