The Clay Center plans to redo its Washington Street parking lot and put in a pedestrian crossing for visitors.
The center's board voted Thursday to move forward with the project, which will cost around $335,000.
The Clay Center lot is adjacent to a Charleston Area Medical Center parking lot. The project will redistribute the parking lots so that they are the same size but CAMC's lot is closer to the hospital and the Clay Center's customers are closer to its building, said Al Najjar, the Clay Center's president and CEO.
"We thought at some point of switching but we came up with a much better idea where we can actually take the front part of the parking lot and make it ours," Najjar said. "Essentially it's the same amount of space, we just redistribute and CAMC will take the back part."
The Clay Center will install a pedestrian crossing with lights and signs that will lead customers across Washington Street to the steps to the museum's building.
Najjar said while there haven't been any accidents involving visitors crossing Washington Street, there have been close calls.
"Luckily we haven't had any accidents, but we can actually look at the cameras - the security cameras and see some pretty close calls," he said. "Families walking with kids and strollers and senior citizens, because the only way to cross is either to go all the way down to Leon Sullivan or to Brooks, which is a huge walk."
The board on Thursday also agreed to open a line of credit for the renovation projects that's going on at the museum, of which the parking lot is a part, Najjar said.
Fundraising for the project is going well, he said, but the pledges come in over time.
"It's a cash flow issue," Najjar said of the need for credit.
Najjar said the parking lot project would start in the spring and be done by the summer.
Also at Wednesday's board meeting, education director Kayte Kincaid said opening week for the Clay Center's new My Town and Ashton's Climbing Sculpture were well attended. On opening day for the exhibits Nov. 19, 635 came to the Clay Center, Kincaid said. The entire week, 3,690 visitors came to the museum, including 683 on that Tuesday, which is rare, she said.
Najjar announced an event scheduled for February during which school children from all over the state will be invited to the Clay Center to talk live with an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. Najjar said the Clay Center is working with U.S. Senator Joe Manchin's office on the project.
Members of the Clay Center board include Charles M. Avampato, Alisa Bailey, Sara Busse, Fred Clark, Andy Cooke, Stephen P. Dexter, Robert E. Douglas, Michelle Easton, Horace Emery, Michael Fidler, Scott Freshwater, Amanda Gianola, David Haden, David J. Hardy, Lloyd G. Jackson II, Dee Kapourales, Virginia King, Kyle Mork, Al Najjar, Eric Nelson, Nate Oders, Steve Robey, Brad Rowe, Sharon Rowe, Missy Ruddle, Sandra Thomas and Janet Victorson, Kristin Anderson, Claire Barth, Bobby Blakey, Greg Burton, Gaston Caperton, Ellen Cappellanti, David Carrington, Loren Claypool, John Elliot, Hap Esbenshade, Georgette George, Timothy Gibson, Michael Graney, Eric Iskra, Danny Jones, Andrew Jordon, Tom Kittredge, Adam Krason, Roger Nicholson, Andy Paterno, Doug Skaff Jr., Joanne Tomblin and Rev. Matthew J. Watts.
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