NSHOF State Lease Extension Approved

Following a hearing with the Maryland Board of Public Works on February 8, the National Sailing Hall of Fame (NSHOF) has been granted a three year lease extension to support their effort to build a new facility and provide a home for American sailing in Annapolis, Maryland.

“We appreciate the support from Governor Larry Hogan, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Treasurer Nancy Kopp,” said Gary Jobson, president of the NSHOF. “The new facility will enhance the extensive educational and public programing that has already been developed.”

The nonprofit organization’s existing lease with the state, a deal in which the organization pays $1 a year, had a deadline of February 23 in which the museum was to have raised $9.5 million to begin construction.

The National Sailing Hall of Fame needed more time to raise money for its planned development of a building on City Dock. To better achieve its goal, the organization will be scaling down the building size from 12,000 square feet to about 7,000-square feet.

“We are well into our Capital Campaign which will provide space for the Hall of Fame Gallery, classroom space for our STEM Sailing, additional space for the Tom Morris Library, a sailing center for our outreach and educational programs, an operating fund and an education fund,” reports Jobson.

The museum has raised about $4.3 million, with $1.25 million of that coming in state money. The rest is a $1 million pledge and $2 million in cash. The museum is up to get another $1 million in state funding in Fiscal 2019, according to Gov. Hogan’s Fiscal 2018 budget proposal.

Source: Capital Gazette, NSHOF