Please Sign the Petition to Save the Paint Factory
 
Sitting at the entrance of Gloucester’s inner Harbor the Tarr and Wonson Paint Manufactory has guided Gloucester’s fishermen and women home for over 150 years and stands proud as an icon of Gloucester’s magnificent maritime heritage.
 
When Ocean Alliance bought the Paint Manufactory, it was a polluted, dilapidated eyesore on the Gloucester waterfront, ready to be turned into condos. Two buildings were falling into the water and every building was in a state of serious decay.
 
Ocean Alliance owns the site free and clear (no mortgage), they have invested over $1.5 million into toxic remediation, and another $2.25 million into building stabilization and restoration. Of the six buildings on site, one is fully occupied as Ocean Alliance’s offices and two more are close to final restoration. Over $250K has gone into site stabilization and remediation, including stabilizing the sites foundation and sea walls. Two buildings have been taken down and Ocean Alliance is working with a grant from the Economic Development Administration for their replacement and adaptive reuse as a makerspace innovation center.
 
Alas the one building that has remained untouched is the Manufactory building and this is the building that most people see every day, the restoration of this building has been estimated at $3 million dollars. Ocean Alliance’s goal is to maintain the exterior façade of these buildings, the interiors would speak to the future, but the exteriors speak to the past.
 
Please Help Ocean Alliance Save the Paint Factory
 
To date 90% of the funding Ocean Alliance has raised to save this site, these buildings, has come not only from outside of Gloucester, but from out of state.
 
Ocean Alliance needs to let city, state, federal and general funders know that the restoration of this site is important to the community and to the history of Gloucester. You can help Ocean Alliance achieve that goal by signing a petition and saying that you care!
 
Please sign the Paint Manufactory petition, so that we can continue the restoration of this site and make sure that the Paint Manufactory remain an icon on the Gloucester waterfront for another 160 years.
 
Our goal is to collect 10,000 signatures and show that Gloucester cares about this significant piece of its history. This is not a fundraising appeal, but donations can be made online at www.whale.org
 
Please note that the buildings have been deemed eligible to go on the National Historic Registrar of buildings as a small industrial site.
 
Thank You.
 
About Ocean Alliance
Ocean Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to protect whales and their ocean environment through research and education. In 2008 Ocean Alliance purchased the iconic Tarr & Wonson Paint Manufactory in Gloucester, Massachusetts, for their headquarters. For more information go to www.whale.org