In his travels, retired Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert J. Papp often finds himself asking: "Why not New London?"

Even if its a flock of 80-year-olds, fresh off a cruise ship, roaming the streets of Anchorage, Alaska, where Papp recently traveled on State Department business.

He is the department's special representative for the Arctic.

When making his daily stop at the coffee shop in his hotel in Anchorage, Papp couldn't get to the counter one morning "because the lobby is filled with 80-year-olds."

He described how the visitors usually spend a few days in the city, touring the museums, patronizing the "great pubs" and "great restaurants." 

"I'm saying, 'Why don't these 80 year old Americans visit New London?'," Papp said Thursday during an interview at The Day's office.

He's in town for the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival.

"I don't know why we can't attract those large numbers (of people) like some of these other places," Papp said. "We ought to be able to do it."

And he's thinking the National Coast Guard Museum planned for downtown New London is the way to do it.

The $100 million project will be built adjacent to Union Station, which was purchased by the chairman of the National Coast Guard Museum Association.

Originally the projected opening date from the museum was in 2018, but that has been pushed back to around 2020, Papp said.

The state has committed $20 million of the total cost for a pedestrian bridge that will connect to the museum from Water Street.

When he's not on the job for the State Department, Papp spends what spare time he has, aside from spending time with his grandchildren, making the museum a reality.

He said he's energized by the full-time staff the museum association has put in place, including former Boston attorney Dick Grahn as president and former captain of the barque Eagle Wes Pulver as executive director.

The museum association also has full-time offices on Bank Street.

"We struggle with this as a board of directors: Do we bring on full-time people? Can we really afford to do it?" Papp said. "My response is we can't afford not to because we have to have that full-time presence."

While he conceded that it'll be tough for a couple of months, Papp said, "I think the money flow is going to pick up here shortly."

Papp wouldn't talk specifically about the amount of money the association raised but said that the museum association has "some very significant donation commitments that have me encouraged and excited."

The museum association has passed the 25 percent mark of its fundraising goal, Pamela Fink, with Quinn & Hary, which is handling public relations for the museum association, told The Day in July.

"You can never raise enough money soon enough," said John Johnson, the museum association's treasurer. "The reality of it is $100 million is a lot of money."

"When we started off," Johnson explained, they raised the first $100,000 in 15 days. "It gave us a level of excitement that this wasn't going to be as tough a job as it's proven to be," he said.

The longer it takes to raise the money, Johnson said, "the more you're going to need to add to that $100 million because of escalating costs for construction and all the rest of it."

On Tuesday, before coming to New London, Papp spoke with officials at Lockheed Martin. The company didn't make a commitment but Papp said he's confident "they'll come through with something."

Recently Papp was in New Orleans and "came back with an individual who donated $1 million." The museum association is not ready to disclose who that individual is, he said, but he added that there are "a couple more of those in the works."

Chairman James J. Coleman Jr., a business man from New Orleans, has helped facilitate contacts there, Papp said. He'll be returning to the city next week.

Johnson said the museum association is also in talks with Electric Boat, and that officials there have connected them with Bath Iron Works. They also plan to reach out to General Dynamics.

But for defense contractors and the other businesses the museum association would like to reach out to, it's not the most opportune time to give.

"A lot of the typical companies that we would go to are in the offshore oil business ... building ships, towing companies and all that business is down right now, particularly because of the lowering price of oil," Papp said.

On the defense side, contracts are down and defense budgets have been squeezed, he said.

"We could not have started this in a worse time unless it was the Great Depression or something," he said. "Nonetheless, I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing."

In talking to professional fundraisers, Papp has heard that this is typical of "what you go through," first establishing contacts, working them, establishing relationships.  

"That's the tough part," he continued. "Then you take it to the next step. I think we're doing OK."

j.bergman@theday.com

Twitter: @JuliaSBergman