In a 17-9 vote this afternoon, the Board of the National Sailing Hall of Fame, led by local resident Gary Jobson voted to move forward with a proposed move to Newport, Rhode Island.
Newport agreed to sell their Armory to the Hall of Fame for $1.6 million dollars at their Council meeting last month. And as long as there are no hidden liabilities with the building, the transaction will convey before November 8th. It is expected that the Hall of Fame will take approximately a year to renovate and open in Newport.
Locally the organization just could not raise the funds needed. They had grand ideas for a City Dock presence in Annapolis that never panned out. They anticipated raising more than $9 million , but fell about $6 million short.
Jobson had claimed all along that it was not a done deal and that 11 of the 26 members of Board had ties to the Chesapeake Bay. However, apparently the lure of the Bay was not enough.
