Alexandria Living Magazine
The small, timber-frame building along Alexandria's waterfront is noticeable — and it may be joined by another building as the Alexandria Seaport Foundation looks at expanding its space and services.
The original building, the McIlhenny Seaport Center, is home to the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, the local non-profit that provides a safe space for at-risk youth and teaches them skills through boatbuilding to navigate a successful future.
The foundation wants to build a second waterfront building on the north side of the pier near their current location, allowing it to serve more youth and have space for larger projects.
The new building would be similar in design to the current one but would be larger, more open, more accessible to the public and, most importantly, more functional for the growth of the foundation.
The Alexandria Seaport Foundation was founded in 1982 to facilitate acquisition of The Schooner Alexandria and to honor the City’s maritime history.
In 1992, the McIlhenny Seaport Center was built, and the foundation’s focus shifted to its current mission serving at-risk youth and its apprenticeship program began.
According to their website the apprenticeship program offers youth a “three-tier curriculum that teaches them the crafts of woodworking and boat construction; the soft skills of resilience, problem solving, and communications; and the life skills of relationships, self-care, and empathy necessary for them to become resilient and productive adults and assets to their community.”
The Foundation lost 8,200 square feet of space in 2013 when the Robinson Terminal was sold for development.
Currently, the foundation is at capacity with 12 students in the 1,200 square foot McIlhenny Seaport Center. Executive Director Kathy Seifert says a second facility is greatly needed.
The foundation recently expanded the apprenticeship program from ages 18-22 to 16-22 in order to reach at-risk youth before they drop-out of T.C. Williams, making the program not only rehabilitative but preventative as well. This expansion has caused the wait list for apprentices and mentors to grow even longer.
The new building would be two stories and a combined 1740 square feet of space. Architect Chris Cowie, who is working on the project, explains that “a cathedral style ceiling along with large overhead door openings on both sides that can accommodate larger [boat] projects.” The new building would have classroom space and smaller rooms where one on one counseling can take place.
The foundation staff will also be able to move from an offsite location back to the new building. The building will be on a floating platform, allowing it to be relocated anywhere along the waterfront if necessary. The current building is already on a floating platform.
Seifert says that community support and campaigning is crucial for city approval of the second location. The foundation intends to submit a special use permit to the City of Alexandria in January with a public hearing in April and a city council meeting sometime following.
For more information on the Alexandria Seaport Foundation visit alexandriaseaport.org
