Eighteen months ago, a group of marine conservationists bought the Tarr & Wonson Paint Factory site on Rocky Neck with plans to keep the symbol of Gloucester's industrial heyday — and subsequent decline — from becoming another mansion.
Now entering its second winter with the property, the Ocean Alliance is poised to begin work, but struggling to raise the money necessary to realize its vision for a working headquarters, research and visitor center.
Unable to land a major private donation to match $3 million in seed money from the Annenburg Foundation, the Ocean Alliance is turning its focus toward government grants to keep the project moving.
"The fundraising has not gone as I had hoped, and Ocean Alliance has changed its fund-raising strategy toward government grants," Ocean Alliance CEO Iain Kerr said this week. "We still need another major gift to get it over the edge."
There has been slow, steady progress at the site, pointing to the sincerity of the organization's plans and determination to see it through, even if it takes years.
The alliance received permission from the Conservation Commission this fall to start the first phase of cleanup, beginning with the three brick buildings on the site that are covered in lead paint but easier to fix than the three wooden structures.
The federal government has committed to do $125,000 worth of work in the initial cleanup, and authorized another $200,000 grant and a $150,000 low interest loan for the alliance to remove paint and tanks on the site.
While there has been no construction activity yet, in the past year the Ocean Alliance has performed 17 tests around the factory on everything from the substances found inside the buildings to identifying the seaweed and mollusks in the water below.
The results of those tests have eased some concerns; the soil below the factory is not dangerous and no oysters will be harmed by the work. But they have raised others.
The wooden beams that hold together the iconic red "Manufactory" building that has presided over the harbor for 146 years, now known as Building C, are covered with layers of old paint and chemicals.
That building, where Ocean Alliance wants to house its offices, was the main paint-mixing space and its interior surfaces contain a cocktail of unpleasant substances, including lead, arsenic and mercury.
How the Ocean Alliance deals with those beams and the chemicals on them at that most visible and recognizable building has yet to be determined.
The organization has committed to preserving the historic exterior of the building and keeping the original beams in place will keep numerous non-conforming aspects of the site grandfathered through the renovation.
But whether cleaning off the wood without dismantling the building is practical or financially feasible is uncertain.
"It is in our benefit not to deconstruct Building C," Kerr said. "In our case, we are not building a museum. These are going to be working waterfront buildings, and they have to be safe."
Even if the beams have to be taken down and planed to remove chemicals, or if some of the beams cannot be saved, the alliance will put them back as close to the way they were as possible, Kerr said.
"If Building C has to be deconstructed, it will be reconstructed the same," Kerr said. "We are totally committed to the facade."
Decisions about the high-profile wooden buildings will be made over the coming months and likely with a large dose of advice from Environmental Protection Agency officials helping with the cleanup.
In the EPA-approved first phase of work, which could begin as soon as January, workers will remove oil and solvent tanks along with mixing vats, a furnace, lead paint from the brick buildings and asbestos from others.
Befitting the Ocean Alliance's focus on pollution study and prevention, the paint will be removed not by conventional sand blasting, but with dry ice blasting, in which paint is strafed by pellets of frozen carbon dioxide.
Unlike sandblasting, which leaves piles of spent sand mixed in with the paint chips being removed, the dry ice pellets evaporate after being used, leaving less waste.
The EPA-approved remediation only focuses on exterior cleanup and things that pose an imminent threat to the soil or harbor, so Ocean Alliance will have to do things such as interior cleanup and roof repair itself.
Kerr said Ocean Alliance hopes to do that work on the brick buildings while the EPA work is under way and scaffolds are erected, to save money and time, but the organization needs another $150,000 to get it done.
The Paint Factory was built at the tail end of the civil war by Tarr & Wonson, inventors of copper-based marine anti-fouling paint used by vessels around the world, including the famed Gloucester fishing schooners.
The complex has been vacant since the 1980s despite numerous plans to convert it to residential use, all of them thwarted by economic problems and community opposition.
While it continues to raise money, the Ocean Alliance this winter and spring is working on completing the maze of permitting needed for the entire project.
The alliance has pegged the amount of money needed to realize its vision for the Paint Factory at $11 million, with the understanding that, if that cannot be raised, the plans may have to be scaled back.
The first milestone the organization has been shooting for is $3 million above the initial Annenburg grant.
When he reaches $3 million, Kerr has promised to move out of the former barn he restored in Acton and come to Gloucester full-time. Right now, he said, he is at about one-third of that goal.
Kerr said he would move to Gloucester immediately if the Ocean Alliance can secure $3 million in federal stimulus funds it has sought through the federal Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.
In addition to the government and large foundations, Kerr said there was one more group of potential donors the Ocean Alliance is keeping contact with: celebrities.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or via e-mail at panderson@gloucestertimes.com
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
