Doo-Wop Museum

Wildwood to bond funds for recreation center, doo-wop museum
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006
Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2006

— The city plans to issue bonds to complete the funding puzzle for construction of a new recreation center at Maxwell Field and a combination doo-wop museum and amphitheater at Fox Park.

During Wednesday's City Commission meeting, the commissioners introduced several bonding ordinances that would provide as much as $3.5 million for the community center and $500,000 for the amphitheater.

A public hearing and final vote on both bond ordinances is scheduled for the regular commission meeting Feb. 22.

The city sold its Rio Grande Avenue recreation center but continues to operate in that space under a lease agreement until a new center can be built.

Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. said the community center would be home to programs for both young and old.

“I want to emphasize this will be a community center. There will be adult programs, after-school programs. This will be a first-class community center,” Troiano said.

The building's design is still being revised to meet both the community's needs and the city's budget, but it is expected to be more than 15,000 square feet and will sit between the baseball and football fields at Maxwell Field on Park Boulevard.

Construction costs will be supported by the bonds along with $1.7 million the city already had set aside and a
$1 million donation from the Byrne Fund for Wildwood Inc.

If all goes as Troiano plans, the center could be completed by this fall, he said.

Also Wednesday, the commission introduced the bond ordinance that would provide additional money for construction of a doo-wop museum and amphitheater across from the Wildwoods Convention Center.

The museum and amphitheater would be housed under the roof of the old SurfSide Restaurant, which was taken apart and stored in a warehouse in 2002.

Development director Lou Ferrara said the concrete-and-steel frame of the former restaurant would be reassembled. The museum, which would make up about 20 percent of the project, would house doo-wop memorabilia.

The remainder of the building will be part of an open-air band shell for concerts and other events. A neon garden of old doo-wop signs is also planned outside the museum.

Ferrara said the amphitheater is being funded with the $500,000 bond, $168,000 from the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority, $400,000 from the Byrne Fund, and a $200,000 loan from the state Green Acres program.

Bids for that project have already been received and work is likely to begin in the next few weeks.

In other business, the city set the new mileage reimbursement rate for operating a personal vehicle while conducting city business at 44.5 cents, in line with the IRS mileage rate, and approved an application to the state Urban Enterprise Zone for $1 million for Boardwalk restoration.