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Harbour move a bust for Maritime Museum

The Maritime Museum of B.C. and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority have failed to reach a deal to move the museum to the waterfront CPR Steamship Terminal, the B.C. government said Friday.
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Maritime Museum of B.C. at Bastion Square in Victoria. The province has told the museum it must vacate by the building by the fall.

The Maritime Museum of B.C. and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority have failed to reach a deal to move the museum to the waterfront CPR Steamship Terminal, the B.C. government said Friday.

Citizens’ Services Minister Amrik Virk, whose staff have been assisting with negotiations, said the museum and harbour authority, as landlord, were unable to agree on a lease after nine months of talks.

“The asking price from the harbour authority and the amount that the Maritime Museum could afford is too far apart to conclude a deal,” Virk said.

“So, as such, I’m advised that that negotiation has ceased.”

Virk said the museum also was unable to cover the cost of about $1 million in upgrades to prepare the Steamship Terminal for its collection.

“The Maritime Museum can’t afford it and if there’s an expectation that the public was going to pick up that leasehold improvement, that’s not affordable,” he said.

Clay Evans, who chairs the museum board, said society members and volunteers were “very disappointed” by the government’s announcement.

“It’s too bad,” he said. “The provincial input would have been about $2 million spread out over 10 years, which, for a world-class maritime museum, is really small potatoes, particularly when you think of the economic spinoff you can get from creating another cultural attraction in the harbour.”

Evans said the board plans to hold an emergency meeting Monday evening to discuss the museum’s future.

The government, through Shared Services B.C., owns the museum’s existing home in the old courthouse at 28 Bastion Square, which closed last October due to safety concerns.

Virk said the government has been trying to help the museum secure a new location, while paying about $10,000 a month in “bridge financing” for staffing and storage of the museum’s artifacts.

The government said the financing will end Sept. 30, when the museum is required to vacate its Bastion Square location to allow for repairs.

Virk said the museum will have to look for alternative and affordable locations.

“We’ve also offered them museum-quality archival space to store their collection until they figure out where they’re going to go,” he said.

The harbour authority, meanwhile, said it will pursue other tenants for the bottom floor of the four-storey CPR building.

“We, as an organization, have invested over $2 million in upgrading and beautifying that facility, and we’re losing money,” said Ian Robertson, chief executive officer.

The authority hopes to have a viable tenant in place by the summer of 2016, he said.

“I think we’ve pretty much determined that this particular summer is a writeoff, but I’d like to find somebody soon so we can bring some activity and life into that building.”

lkines@timescolonist.com