Hunley charts course to final home

COLUMBIA -- Members of the state Hunley Commission decided Thursday to make North Charleston the permanent home for the Confederate submarine.

The commission has spent about two years deciding where to build a $40 million museum to display the vessel. Members voted 7-2 to locate the museum in North Charleston and asked the City Council to produce a resolution confirming details on financial arrangements.

The Legislature still must approve the recommendation of the commission.

The Hunley sank with its crew of eight on Feb. 17, 1864, after sinking the Union blockade ship Housatonic off Charleston.

The sub was raised in 2000 and brought to a conservation lab at the old Charleston Naval Base.

The panel also had considered Charleston and Mount Pleasant. But North Charleston had the edge, offering $13 million to fund a state-of-the-art museum on the banks of the Cooper River.

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said he was excited to make the Hunley museum a key focus of the city's burgeoning tourist attractions.

"North Charleston has become a viable location for many things -- the museum, arts, culture," Summey said. "This will give us a larger piece of the tourism pie."

Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston and chairman of the Hunley Commission, noted that the Hunley has drawn 200,000 visitors to the conservation lab at the old Charleston Naval Base, where it has been held since being raised in 2000.

"It's clear to me ... she will bring crowds," McConnell said. "She is going to be an asset, not a liability."

Since the cities made their initial bids, Mount Pleasant withdrew $7 million of the $8 million it offered to build at Patriot's Point. City officials withdrew their money last winter and publicly criticized the commission for taking so long to decide.

Charleston, which offered about $5 million, dropped plans for a solo Hunley museum on the waterfront and instead offered to display the sub in the Charleston Museum.

Limehouse questioned whether North Charleston could come through with the funds it promised. Part of the $13 million comes from a $10 million bond which has not been issued and from property which has not yet been sold, he said.

McConnell said the state Budget and Control Board had completed financial analyses on all three proposals and found them viable. He also said there is a possibility of getting federal grants for redevelopment of the old Charleston Naval Base, where North Charleston proposes building.

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