The National Park Service said it is looking into replacing the theater building at the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center “to address existing deferred maintenance, improve (the) visitor experience, and make the structure more resilient to storm surge and other natural hazards.”
The Park Service also is evaluating whether to modify and/or expand the existing museum buildings to better protect the artifacts on display, provide space for temporary exhibits and improve visitor circulation around the site, spokeswoman Emily Pruett said in an email.
A new $56 million Pearl Harbor Visitor Center was dedicated in 2010 on the 69th anniversary of the
Dec. 7, 1941, attack with new buildings — including the two new museum galleries — and walkways spread over a much larger area along 17.4 acres of shoreline.
Exhibit space was doubled to 7,000 square feet from about 3,500 square feet.
The new campuslike facility was constructed because the old visitor center, built in 1980, was sinking in the fill it was built on and because it was designed for 750,000 people a year — not the more than 1.5 million who visited one of Hawaii’s top tourist attractions in pre-coronavirus days.
“The current visitor’s center — across the harbor from the submerged battleship — is sinking because it was built on reclaimed land, causing water to seep into its basement. Engineers estimate the building will last only a few more years,” NBC News reported in 2008.
About 259 concrete piles were driven deep into the ground to support the new center. A new, $7.2 million parking lot was built with federal stimulus funding.
The new campuslike
center included renovations to the theater, centralized ticketing for the boat ride to the Arizona Memorial and three other nearby nonprofit museums, an education center, more restrooms, a bookstore, a snack shop and administrative offices.
The 1980 theater building includes two identical screening rooms that can accommodate 150 visitors every 15 minutes for a 23-minute documentary film introduction to the attack on Pearl Harbor and Oahu.
“Currently the theater is not in use due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, but the park film can be viewed on the open-air lanai behind the education building,” Pruett said.
She added that “the theater is not sinking.” The Park Service “is considering various repair and replacement options” commensurate with the visitor demand, operational needs and available funding.
“There have been no firm decisions regarding replacement of the existing theater building or the remodel/
expansion of the museum buildings,” so a proposed budget or schedule is not available, Pruett said.
