Fredericksburg Slavery Museum in Jeopardy

According to the Richmond Time-Dispatch, the future of the Fredericksburg Slavery Museum is very much uncertain. It turns out that the museum owes a bit of money in delinquent taxes – $81,000 to be exact; and court records show that they also owe $49,614 for engineering and surveying services provided back in 2006.

The paper tried to reach out to former Gov. Doug Wilder, the museum chairman and executive director, for comment and he has yet to get back to them. The former Governor has some explaining to do. It was just back in October 2001 that Wilder announced that Fredericksburg had been selected as the site to house the U.S. National Slavery Museum.

The first signs of trouble for the museum started emerging back in December 2007. At that time, the Free Lance-Star (FLS) noted that fundraising for the museum fell “nearly 60 percent” from 2006. The FLS went on to note that the “museum [also] posted a deficit for 2006.” All of this was despite a well publicized and attended 2006 fundraising gala that featured Bill Cosby and Ben Vereen, which sought to raise funds for the museum.

Another troubling sign was some questionable accounting of the museum’s finances by organizers. It claimed to have received $50 million in cash and “pledges,” since Wilder formally announced the museum back in 2001. Based on a 2006 tax return, it would appear that most of the supposed money raised was in the form of “pledges.” A 2006 tax return detailed $17.6 million in assets, much of it reflecting the land value of where the museum was to be built. The land is actually a prime piece of real-estate, overlooking the Rappahannock River in Celebrate Virginia. The Silver Company donated the land to the museum in 2002.

Wilder has indicated that the heavy real-estate tax burden has hindered the project from moving forward; and has also indicated that his focus on his duties as Mayor of Richmond (from 2005-2009) has also contributed to the delay. As such, he has pledged to re-focus his efforts on this project and asked the City of Fredericksburg, last year, to provide a real-estate tax exemption to the museum. The city, nearly unanimously, rejected Wilder’s request.

Construction of the museum was originally slated to be completed in 2004; however, it has been repeatedly delayed due to continued funding problems and a total lack of focus on behalf of museum organizers. Of the 38 acres where the proposed museum would sit, the only significant development to actually take place within the property was a 0.3 acre garden. The Spirit of Freedom Garden opened back in 2007. A recent visit by the Richmond Times-Dispatch to the garden site

found it to be neglected, if not abandoned, with torn or weatherworn displays, untrimmed bushes, and rusty or dented benches.

With the project stalled, it would appear that the property is headed towards a tax sale by the City of Fredericksburg this December. The only question is will anyone actually want to purchase the land? According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Celebrate Virginia South LLC recorded in Fredericksburg Circuit Court a “supplemental notice of covenants and restrictions” on the land.

The filing says it restates language from a 2002 transfer agreement limiting the site’s use for an African-American heritage museum of at least 125,000 square feet, or for “charitable educational or public purposes and related uses,” excluding drug counseling, medical procedures and other uses.

In my opinion, the limited potential use of this property would be a major sticking point in any potential sale of the property.

The economic viability of this project could also be waning, with the Smithsonian Institution planning on opening the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2015 and a Richmond-based group in the planning stages for a slavery or African-American museum.  Given the stigma associated with this project, it may be difficult to raise the necessary funds to compete with these other projects.

I honestly don’t understand why the city didn’t originally provide a real-estate tax exemption to the museum. Given that this was originally billed as a huge tourist attraction to the area, you would have thought that something like this would have paid for itself. It isn’t so unusual to provide real-estate tax exemptions to non-profits.

With all of that said, I agree with the city on rejecting last year’s request by Wilder for a real-estate tax exemption. This project has been so mismanaged that I wouldn’t cut them any additional breaks, even if they should have been provided some from the beginning, unless an agreement involves replacing Wilder and the rest of the museum management team. I would also demand to see a true accounting of museum finances before agreeing to any new deal. This is the only way forward, if this project has any chance of regaining its credibility amongst potential investors. Sadly, it may be too late.

[Image via Robert A. Martin, FLS/AP]