Patriots Point Looks to Build New National Medal of Honor Museum

Patriots Point is in talks with Mount Pleasant town council to purchase and relocate a portion of Patriots Point Boulevard so that a land-side National Medal of Honor Museum can be constructed.

"It's been in the works for quite some time," said Mount Pleasant Mayor Billy Swails, who sits on the Patriots Point Board, referring to the museum construction. "Anything we do has to be done fairly quickly."

An official announcement for the museum could come as early as mid-August, said Patriots Point Executive Director Mac Burdette. But he would not say specifically what would be located on the property, but he called the proposal a "home run."

"I can't say much more about the project, except that we are in negotiations with outside groups," Burdette said. "It would be complimentary to what we are doing out here and our greater mission."

Patriots Point for several months has mentioned talks with the Medal of Honor Society in its closed-session agenda, but there has been no public announcement about the nature of the negotiations.

The USS Yorktown already has a Medal of Honor Museum aboard the ship. This landside museum, however, would be larger in scale, and hopefully raise Patriot Point's profile nationally, Swails said.

The deal also would generate revenue for Patriots Point, which has for years struggled with high repair costs and debt.

"Any agreement is going to be something that results in financial remuneration of the property," Burdette said without specifically saying the project was for the Medal of Honor Museum. "We have to determine the fair market value ... and our board is all about the appropriate use our property for the benefit of the naval and maritime museum."

Burdette, along with the organization's board chair and an attorney for the museum, met behind closed doors Tuesday with Mount Pleasant Town Council to discuss the property sale. No vote was taken, according to the council's clerk.

Patriots Point has over the last year been discussing how it could turn its 36 acres of state-owned land into a national tourist destination that still focuses on military history. It has hired PGAV Destinations, a St. Louis firm that helped redevelop the Biltmore House, to create a long-range master plan for Patriots Point.

For now, the facility has only announced a multi-million-dollar overhaul of its exhibits aboard the USS Yorktown.

"Anything we build is going to need to sustain Patriots Point and help with some of its current funding challenges," Mayor Swails said.

If given approval, the land-sale plans call for moving the four-lane Patriots Point Boulevard closer to the College of Charleston's sports complex, Burdette said. That also means a Cold War memorial would be relocated.

"It's a complicated process that involves a lot of negotiations with entities that all want to protect their own interests," Burdette said. "And anything we do would ultimately have to be approved by the state Budget and Control Board, since we are a state-owned property."

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the government. Only 3,476 medals have been awarded since its creation in 1862. Only 10 have been presented since 2001.

The area around Patriots Point is popular with developers. Two large-scale projects will soon be underway on either side of maritime museum.

By January, work could be under way at Bridgeside II, a development that will bring two hotels, apartments, retail, dining and class-A office space to 40 acres just east of the Ravenel Bridge.

And to expand its operations into a second building that add 90 hotel rooms, convention space and a rooftop restaurant and bar.