By Samuel Lauf

News Correspondent

The Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum, a monument to one of the most important events in American history,is scheduled to reopen before the summer of 2012 at the Congress Street location.  The museum was forced to close almost a decade ago after being struck by lightining and burning down.
Historic Tours of America (HTA), a tourism and entertainment company, announced in a press release Sept. 19 that it will head a group effort to reopen the iconic museum. The project, which is expected to cost $25 million, will be assisted by an $18 million contribution from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) and a $3 million contribution from the city of Boston.
The museum once housed artifacts from the famous Boston tea party, where colonists threw tea into Boston Harbor as an act of rebellion against the British.
“The Tea Party [Museum] has been such a void in Boston Harbor for 10 years,” said Shawn P. Ford, vice president of HTA.
“It’s a shame it’s taken this long. The good news is, Boston now will have a world-class attraction that is representative of the Boston Tea Party, and the men and women who sacrificed their lives and careers and their families’ future to the cause of patriotism and freedom.”
The museum was struck by lightning and burned down while being renovated in 2001, and HTA had been unable to get the project back up and running. Numerous impediments stood in the way of this project’s completion, but, Ford said, the project is approved and ready for its stretch run.
“When building on the water, it is very difficult and different than building on land,” Ford said. “Being in a navigable channel in the middle of a bridge – a working bridge – that is owned by the city, that’s managed by [The Massachusetts Highway Department], there are a number of rules and regulations to follow.”
The construction has already begun; HTA spent the past six years building two tall replica ships in Gloucester, which are close to completion, according to the press release. The ships will be transported to the museum’s location as soon as they are finished.
“But you won’t see any activity in the channel, on the Congress Street Bridge, until this fall … into December,” Ford said. “So we’d like to say we’ll be breaking water in the next six to eight weeks.”
The new museum will feature not only three replica ships but also a theater, a gallery space, a tavern and a tea room.
“It’s going to be the place to go,” Ford said.
The HTA also possesses one of only two existing tea crates from the original Boston Tea Party.
“It’s coming back to the exact location where it was thrown overboard and destroyed almost 240 years ago,” Ford said.
The MCCA’s investment is expected to turn a profit of over $10 million in the next 23 years following the creation of the museum, according to statistics in the press release.
HTA also agreed to allow the MCCA to use the museum’s event space for future conventions and meetings, said Mac Daniel, director of communications for the MCCA.
“[The museum] will actually make more money for the MCCA than if that initial $18 million had just sat in a bank account accruing interest,” Daniel said.
Daniel said in addition to making money, the MCCA believes this museum will fill a large hole in Boston’s “destination allure,” allowing tourists to better understand and appreciate the events of the Boston Tea Party.
The City of Boston and the Boston Redevelopment Authority, a group which helps develop Boston’s future by helping to train workers, provide human services and create jobs – will provide $3 million, which they received from Boston Properties as part of its Atlantic Wharf project.
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a press release that he is glad the Boston Tea Party Museum will now have a “permanent home,” where people can come and relive the historic event.