CAPE MAY – With two repair estimates coming in at more than $300,000, Cape May City Council will not repair Convention Hall for use this summer, it was decided at a workshop meeting Tuesday, May 6.
“Why throw good money after bad?” was the way Mayor Jerome Inderwies put it.
The city closed the hall to the public in early April, after a structural investigation found the building’s floor was unsafe for use. City manger Luciano Corea said the city would look into ways to shore up the building so it could be used for the summer.
The city was already looking to replace the building, said for years to be in deteriorating condition. It was built to replace the old Convention Hall, which was damaged in the March, 1962 storm. Officials and residents continue to wrangle over the design of the new building, and some residents, including some candidates for City Council in the May 13 election, say it should not be built on the beachfront at all.
Corea presented the reports from two of the three companies called in to give estimates on repairing the building. One came in at $311,000, the other was $345,000. The third gave no estimate, he said.
Council members expressed regret that the building would be out of commission for the summer, but said it would be irresponsible to put that kind of money into a building already slated for demolition, and Councilman Niels Favre added that the estimate does not include engineering costs.
Council now plans to have the building torn down by the end of the year, and at the same meeting, approved $400,000 for the architectural firm Kimmel Bogrette to work on the design.
Skip Loughlin, the chairman of the committee working on plans for the new building, said the plans are almost done, and that there has been a great deal of input from the public on the new building, which will be larger than the old. It is expected to cost more that $10 million.
Loughlin and council members suggested that the design for the interior of the building are satisfactory, but that the public would likely prefer it if the architect returned to the former façade proposal for the building, which looked to recapture the appearance of the old Convention Hall.
However, at least two council candidates are calling for a complete reworking of the plan.
The hall seems almost daily use in the summer, and is well used in the winter as well, serving as home to craft shows, dances, concerts, roller skating and numerous other activities. Some of those groups had indicated that they would be hard pressed to find a new spot while the building was under construction, but will now have to find alternate accommodations a year earlier than expected. 
-- Bill Barlow