(Feb/Mar 2007) GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Like Topsy, plans for a new museum and visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park keep growing.

The cost of exhibits has doubled, the amount of land involved is twice as much as originally planned, and the cost of the project will climb above $100 million.

"We feel it's an investment in the future of the people visiting here," said Dru Anne Neill, spokesman for the Gettysburg Foundation.

The private foundation has started construction on the new facility, now projected to open off Hunt Avenue in late spring of 2008. It will replace the park's aging complex on Taneytown Road as well as the adjacent Cyclorama Center. Both buildings will be razed and the historic Ziegler's Grove restored.

Neill said it was uncertain how high the project cost will climb. Now $95 million, it was initially estimated at $39 million. According to Neill, the final number will be over $100 million.

The new figure will reflect a doubling of the cost of exhibits, from $7 million to $14 million, Neill said. She cited "opportunities we couldn't pass up," including new interactive exhibits and other improvements in technology since the exhibits were first conceived.

Expanding the exhibits "was a conscious decision on our part," Neill said. "We've been committed to doing this project right."

The geographical size of the project has also mushroomed, from 47 acres to 100 acres. Neill explained that park officials approached the foundation to expand in order to improve wetlands on the nearby Fantasyland property, park land that once was home to a theme park.

"It was something we willingly took on," said Neill. The Fantasyland parcel will hold overflow parking, with two pedestrian bridges bringing visitors to the new facility.

The decision to install a geo-thermal heating and cooling system has added another $1 million to $2 million to the project, according to Neill. More than 200 wells 6 inches in diameter and 400 feet deep will tap into the earth's year-round 55-degree temperature. "Traditional" heating and cooling equipment will be employed as well to ensure that artifacts have optimum conditions.

Neill said the geo-thermal system was more expensive up-front, but costs would eventually be recouped. She called the system the "centerpiece" of the project's environmental aspects.

The debt limit has been raised from $12 million to $20 million, the amount of commercial loans to supplement private donations. Neill said the $20 million represented 27 percent of the project cost, "well below the industry average for debt financing for a project of this scale."

Original plans called for private financing of the new facility, but $12 million of the total is coming from the federal government to fund restoration of the Cyclorama painting. The money was "never asked for," said Neill. "It was just appropriated."

The foundation is focusing on construction of the new gallery for the Cyclorama painting, with an eye to moving the painting into the new space as early as April. Restoration of the painting will continue in its permanent home.

Neill said the Park Service has "approved every change" as the project has grown. "They've been with us every step of the way."

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