Revolution Center general takes his stand

If you can't imagine the American Revolution museum and conference center being built on private land inside Valley Forge national park, try picturing it 200 miles away.

In, say, Yorktown.

"We've had indications from Virginia that they would welcome the museum," said H. F. "Gerry" Lenfest, the media entrepreneur and philanthropist who leads the museum board. "But we've not entered into any discussions to do so, because we believe Valley Forge is the preferred location."

Opponents of the museum complex would cheer its departure to Yorktown, where British Gen. Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington's army in 1781, an event that secured victory and independence for a fledgling nation. But no one working for the project is packing up.

During an interview last week at his foundation offices in West Conshohocken, Lenfest emphasized that constructing the museum on the north side of the Schuylkill remains his first, best choice - but that he recognized the development could not continue to endure endless delays.

"How long we're going to stick around remains to be seen," he said. If the project drags on indefinitely, "we may well lose the support of the board and abandon it."

Lenfest is chairman of the nonprofit American Revolution Center at Valley Forge, known as ARC, which wants to build a museum, conference center and trailhead structure on 78 acres it owns inside the park.

Organizations such as the National Parks Conservation Association, an independent parks advocate, deride the plan as a desecration of a national treasure, site of the 1777-78 winter encampment of Washington's Continental Army. Opponents foresee traffic, noise and pollution.

ARC officials say none of that will happen, that in fact their first-class development will enhance Valley Forge, drawing thousands to learn the story of the Revolution.

Lower Providence Township gave ARC preliminary approval to proceed with its plans, which include up to 99 rooms of lodging. The NPCA and several local residents are trying to block the project with a zoning appeal.

"It's not a little museum that's going to close at 5 or 8 at night. It's a huge, commercial development," said Joyce Cluley, a history devotee and one of the petitioners who lives near the park. "Once they pave this, it's gone forever. It's going to break my heart, is what it's going to do, because this land should belong to all Americans."

On Wednesday, debate commenced anew in a Montgomery County courtroom, as ARC attorneys asked a judge to order the NPCA and the homeowners to put up a bond to proceed with their appeal. A witness for ARC, Lee Huang of Econsult Corp., testified that each month's delay cost the group $971,000 in lost fund-raising and added administrative costs.

Yesterday, Common Pleas Judge Bernard Moore issued an order denying ARC's request for the bond.

"It would have been very easy to give this up," Lenfest said in the interview. "It's been a severe aggravation to me." But, "the cause is too important to bend."

As recently as last year, the estimated cost of the project was $150 million. Earlier this year, it was $250 million. Last month, ARC president and chief executive officer Tom Daly told reporters that the rising cost of construction materials, along with a $50 million endowment, would push the price to $375 million.

Lenfest said that projection was too high.

"I don't think it's 375 in today's cost," he said, adding that "375 would scare the hell out of everybody."

He instructed Daly to confer with planners and come up with an accurate, present-day cost. The next day, Daly offered a lower figure: To build the museum complex now, with no endowment, would require $250 million.

Lenfest was asked when he expected to break ground.

"That's a good question," he said. "It depends on the cloud we have over us from NPCA."

That cloud takes the form of a potential court challenge, which the NPCA may bring if its zoning appeal fails.

Lenfest said if everyone stays out of court, construction will start in three years and the doors open in five.

That would place opening day in 2013. "It's long overdue," he said.

He put the museum on par with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Curtis Institute of Music, both of which he serves as board chairman. He sees the museum as the third side of a historical triangle, joining Gettysburg and Independence Mall as major Pennsylvania attractions.

Groups like the Friends of Valley Forge, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees and the NPCA "have their own parochial reasons why they are opposed to it," he said. "They don't want a successful museum next to a park that's deteriorated. . . . Bureaucracy and the government is often petty."

NPS officials and others say their dislike of the project is based on the harm they believe it would cause: destruction of landscape, potential loss of archeological resources, visibility of the buildings.

"Our concern is the impact of this museum development on the historic character of Valley Forge," said Joy Oakes, senior director of the NPCA's mid-Atlantic regional office. "This is the wrong development for this place."

No one disputes that Valley Forge park needs repairs. The park has put off $23 million worth of upkeep, so called "deferred maintenance," on everything from roads to buildings. Park Superintendent Michael Caldwell said the backlog has shrunk and, given the size of the park, "isn't an outsized number." Multi-million-dollar repair needs are all too common at national parks, which have been hurt by years of strained federal budgets.

When proposed nearly a decade ago, the museum was to stand near the park's welcome center as part of a public-private partnership. But the alliance between the NPS and ARC fell apart last year amid disputes over fund-raising, management and control.

Lenfest said he's still willing to talk with park service officials about a rapprochement. He denied any intention to turn the museum into a money-making operation.

"For profit? For whose profit?" he asked.

If there's one thing Lenfest doesn't need, it's money. In 2000, he sold his Suburban Cable company to Comcast for $7.6 billion. Today, he's known for giving away millions in grants and property. Last year, he donated $4.1 million so ARC could buy the land for the museum.

Sometimes he loses track. Lenfest didn't know his name was among big sponsors of the Dalai Lama's recent visit to Philadelphia. Nor could he recall how much he gave.

"Somebody must have asked," he said. He donated because he admires the Tibetan leader as a man of peace.

Peace is in short supply at Valley Forge these days.

So too, according to Lenfest, is proper credit to ARC.

The group is keeping 75 percent of its land as open space, as required by local law. That stewardship is one reason, he said, that he hasn't pursued "casual" contacts from Virginia officials.

"If we did," he said, "what would happen to the 78 acres?"

One possibility, he said, is that a new developer might pack it with houses.

"We've protected that land," Lenfest said. "If we build [the museum], it's going to be good for the park. And the park would be good for ARC."