COOS BAY - Although the Coos Historical & Maritime Museum's plans for a new location on the waterfront won't take place until 2009, the effort has prompted other investors to make plans to revitalize historic Front Street.

City and museum officials believe the museum, which currently is located in North Bend near the McCullough Bridge, will serve as a keystone to reinvigorating the area, bringing new businesses and a new look to Front Street, which once served as the community's main street before much of it burned in the early 1920s

The museum site, which is located between Hemlock and Elm avenues, where Front Street merges into U.S. Highway 101, was chosen for high visibility.

“It's not so much a museum project, as a waterfront redevelopment project,” said Anne Donnelly, executive director of the museum. “Placing a cultural institution by an otherwise neglected or over-looked natural amenity has a phenomenal ripple effect. (It's) been demonstrated over and over again in cities of comparable size.”

She said once visitors see that the area is beautiful, they'll want to remain for a while, and that means other businesses will benefit.

“Once you get people out of their cars, they are only happy to stay out of their cars if there is something to do and to see,” Donnelly said. “The really great thing is that every entity that's involved with the waterfront along this side of the bay, from North Bend on down, has a shared vision of a more pedestrian friendly and accessible waterfront.”

She said the project has become a possibility because the city of Coos Bay is donating the nearly 4-acre parcel of land to the museum and some of the maritime businesses on Front Street are moving to the North Spit or the lower bay, which will leave room for condominiums, shops and other visitor-serving businesses, including the museum itself.

“We now have this waterfront that has lots of gaps and holes in it or empty buildings and a phenomenal opportunity to create a 101-free waterfront. This is one of the very few places, at least on the south end of the bay, where a person can get close to the water without the 101 traffic roaring in their ears.”

In addition to the museum, Eastwood Homes, a development company in Grants Pass, is expected to construct a mixed condominium and retail development north of the museum site.

Donnelly said the continuing presence of maritime industry, such as Sause Bros. Ocean Towing Co., located south of the museum site, will give visitors a sense of what a working waterfront should be.

“We have a great opportunity to showcase our working waterfront heritage,” Donnelly said. “Sause Bros. will be moving to the property just south of us and is as enthused as we are about creating an opportunity for people to watch working tugs from the museum plaza.”

Dale Sause, the president of Sause Bros., said his company purchased the land south of the museum site in the 1980s, and plans to use it for offices and a shop area for the business's tug operations in Coos Bay. He said no timetable has been set, but he hopes to complete engineering and preliminary site preparation in 2008 and start construction in 2009.

The museum already has gathered nearly $5 million for the $10 million project, and officials are waiting to reach a “critical mass” before seeking local support and approaching foundations and corporations, Donnelly said. That money may include $10,000 from the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay. Port commissioners unanimously pledged the money for the new facility on July 19, following a presentation about the project that night.

The relocation and construction project will mean a great deal for the museum, including a two-story structure with room for its collections, volunteers and employees, a research library, and additional exhibition space, Donnelly said, as well as a large plaza for cultural events. The building will be about 17,000 square feet, and the design has room for future expansions.

Although its current site in North Bend has served the museum for 50 years, Donnelly said the cramped quarters are hard on staff and volunteers.

“Our storage area is bursting at the seams. Our schools program ... classes have nowhere to meet and discuss,” Donnelly said. “We have no space that we can dedicate (to) or hold open for the researchers who come.”

Jay Eastwood, of Eastwood Homes, said his business already has received architectural approval from the Coos Bay Planning Commission to construct a 60-unit condominium project and retail development adjacent to the museum. He said he has purchased an option on the land but does not own it at this point. The development would feature two, three-story condominiums and a retail office building.

“I foresee a restaurant, shops and some office space on the second floor, something that will complement what the museum has there that will draw people from their development to ours,” Eastwood said, adding that he is working on details with the Oregon Department of Transportation to receive an access permit.

“He understands the (synergetic) relationship between cultural attractions and commercial activity,” Donnelly said.

While Eastwood said he was interested in the property regardless of the museum's plans, it did impact his decision.

“It was a very influential piece ... when we looked at that site,” Eastwood said. “It's something that we feel is going to be an ... asset to the community. We are anxious to get started.”

Coos Bay Mayor Jeff McKeown said he sees the museum project and overall redevelopment of the waterfront as a boon to the city.

“To me that project, along with the Eastwood development to the north and Sause Bros., that's going to change the whole face of the community that you see from 101,” McKeown said. “That's a section of our community that is frankly not very attractive right now.”

He said the city's Urban Renewal Agency is gifting the land for the museum's future site to the museum, because it goes hand-in-hand with the Coos Bay's Front Street project, a historic revitalization of the area. Design standards are in place and the mayor said plans are for one warehouse to be transformed into a gallery.

“We want to, as best we can, kind of remake that historic old town,” McKeown said.

Ron Opitz, the executive director for South Coast Development Council, said the museum's location became available nearly four years ago, when he asked the county to take the parcel off a list of properties that were to be auctioned for back taxes. He said he believed it would be a great site for the museum.

“The city of Coos Bay stepped up to the needs of community and purchased the property,” Opitz said.

He said he sees the museum and other waterfront revitalization projects as economic engines for the community, and believes they will draw a lot of interest from the community as well as tourists. Opitz also serves on the museum's finance committee.

“It was quite an accomplishment by ... the city and the county. It was an effort that was brought about by a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” Opitz said.