Margie Fishman

The News Journal

The Riverfront Development Corporation will take over the Delaware Children%27s Museum

Golf course would cost %24400%2C000

The Riverfront Development Corp., a taxpayer-funded nonprofit, has taken over day-to-day operations of the financially beleaguered Delaware Children's Museum. Its first major proposal: Build a miniature golf course in the Wilmington museum's backyard.

The 18-hole, $400,000 mini-golf course could be built as early as this summer, according to the museum's newly elected president Kent Smith. The RDC will sublease a half-acre property from the museum for $2,500 a month. Located between the cheery yellow museum building at 550 Justison St. and the Riverwalk, the course would incorporate natural elements and attract all ages, according to proponents.

The RDC, with a $3.15 million budget that is entirely funded by the state, would pay to build and manage the course. If the attraction turns a profit, the RDC would give an annual donation to the museum above the lease payment to support operations, Smith said. A dollar amount has not been determined.

Half of the course's construction cost is expected to be funded through private sponsorships of holes, said Megan McGlinchey, the museum's new operations director, who also serves as the RDC's operations director. The RDC also owns and manages the DuPont Environmental Education Center on the Riverfront.

The idea of bringing in a golf course to help revitalize the Riverfront predates the RDC's involvement in managing museum operations, said McGlinchey. But given the museum's immediate revenue needs, it was "perfect timing," she said.

"They're on the Riverfront. We want them to succeed," she added.

McGlinchey, 42, is part of the latest shake-up in museum administration. After years of deficits, the museum is now projecting an estimated $34,000 surplus this year on a $1.3 million budget. McGlinchey has added a second staff member focused on educational programs, a position that sat vacant for two years.

At the same time, a half-dozen museum board members have left in the last year. Two of those moved out of the area. The current board counts 14 members, including RDC executive director Michael Purzycki and RDC comptroller Fran Lucey, who also serves as museum treasurer. McGlinchey took over quietly in January after former board president and volunteer interim CEO Ron Street resigned his post. Street had been named temporary director in May of last year, after the museum board chose not to renew the contract of former director Julie Van Blarcom to cut costs, Smith said. Van Blarcom's salary was nearly $141,000, according to 2012 tax records.

Street stepped aside so he could devote more time to his work and give the museum a fresh start, Smith said. Street did not return phone calls.

Financial records show that before Street joined the board, his Ardmore, Pennsylvania, company, NorthStar Advisors, won a $115,000 contract to manage construction of the museum building that opened in April of 2010. The project came in on time and under budget, Smith said. Street was later invited to join the board and was elected board president in January of 2011. He received no compensation for his service.

Another board member, William Smith, serves as president of Environmental Alliance in Wilmington. Records show that his company was awarded more than $121,000 in environmental remediation contracts in 2009 and 2010 to clean up the museum site. Smith joined the board in 2002 and later served as board president. Smith followed board policy by recusing himself from voting on the contract, according to current board president Kent Smith (no relation), who voted in favor of the contract. The museum sent out a request for proposals and Environmental Alliance delivered the lowest bid, he said.

Since taking over management responsibilities, McGlinchey said she has trimmed expenses by streamlining staff responsibilities and having the RDC take over exhibit maintenance and financial accounting responsibilities at an annual cost of $25,000 to the museum. About 15 percent of Lucey's salary as the RDC's comptroller is included in that $25,000. Lucey is also a museum board member.

The RDC is not charging the museum for McGlinchey's service, according to a one-year management agreement signed between the parties. Museum leaders will resume their search for a new executive director once the institution is on solid financial footing, Kent Smith said.

"The RDC is consciously not trying to take over the mission of the DCM," he said. "They're treating it like a business and that's what it needs."

Like other arts organizations, the museum has struggled with declining donations and attendance. Its blockbuster fall exhibition, "The Wizard of Oz," brought in thousands of visitors but ultimately lost money, Smith said.

Compounding the problem is that the museum leases its building and has no endowment -- a fund that institutions rely on to stay afloat during tough years.

Museum leaders initially wanted to use the back outdoor space for exhibits or a play area, but could not raise enough funds, Smith said. The museum site is the former home of the Kahunaville night club. Since a golf course is not within the museum's nonprofit mission, the museum was happy to partner with the RDC, Smith said. The RDC has never before managed a golf course, McGlinchey said, but executive director Purzycki is a former golf course owner. The museum's landlord, Pettinaro, is donating a piece of neighboring land to the project.

Over the last 17 years, the RDC has transformed the Riverfront from a derelict industrial park to a new city neighborhood of condominiums, restaurants, a movie theater complex and conference center, with the help of about $250 million in public money. The new Westin Wilmington hotel adjacent to the Chase Center was financed with $3 million in city and state loan guarantees.

Jonathan Justice, associate professor of public policy at the University of Delaware who has researched the Riverfront redevelopment, said he couldn't evaluate the public benefit of a miniature golf course because he wasn't familiar with the details of the proposal.

But the usual model of urban redevelopment is to encourage private investment after an initial public contribution, he said. "The standard rationale for public intervention is the market failure rationale," he said. "You step in where there is a potential gain to society that's not being realized by private investors who can't take on that level of risk."

The Riverfront has attracted private commercial interests, such as the 28,000-square-foot Stratosphere Trampoline Park, which opened last month next door to the Children's Museum.

The RDC hopes to offer combination tickets for admission to the museum, the trampoline park and golf course, McGlinchey said. Starting June 20, the museum will stay open late on Fridays until 8 p.m. to encourage more visitors.

In evaluating the museum's rocky start, Smith compared it to the "Titanic."

"We did not hit the iceberg," he said. "But, boy, we came close."

Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882or mfishman@delawareonline.com.