The proposed National Coast Guard Museum was a top priority of now retired Coast Guard Adm. Robert Papp when he was commandant of the Coast Guard.

Museum planners have said 2017 is a crucial fundraising year for the estimated $100 million project, which really got going in 2014 with the donation of land from the City of New London to the Coast Guard.

In a phone interview with The Day on Friday, Papp discussed the current state of the museum project — new fundraising initiatives, the potential for the museum to revitalize New London, and how the downtown site is a done deal.

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Q. Are you satisfied with the museum effort at this point?

A: I'm beyond satisfied. I'm very happy with the efforts thus far. We've made great progress despite multiple obstacles — environmental, fundraising, and quite frankly part of it is negativity expressed by readers of The Day in the New London area. Revisiting the issue as to whether the museum should be at the waterfront or at Fort Trumbull or some other place is a waste of time and effort at this point. The Coast Guard has chosen the location and we're moving ahead with it.

Frankly, when I go around to some potential major donors around the country, these people can spend money wherever they want and have multiple nonprofits coming to them, so they do research. One of the first things they'll do is go to the local news media to see the stories that have been written, the comments to the editor and the newspaper. Some have expressed concern that perhaps people in the New London area are not behind this.

Q. On the subject of fundraising, why do you think no big, eight-figure donations, for example, have come in?

A: Fundraising is tough. We've been on it for about two years now. We're approaching the $10 million mark on private donations. ... We've got some rather significant, perhaps eight-figure donations coming from some companies. We have to get through their board processes. We're cultivating these contacts. We get new contacts every day.

We haven't really made an effort to reach out to Coast Guard officers. We just started a flag officer and senior executive campaign. We've set a goal of $25,000 each for all of the former commandants, a level of $15,000 for three-star (admirals), and a level of $10,000 for all rear admirals and senior executives. Within the first week of sending out the mailings, a rear admiral sent us a check for $10,000. All of the former commandants have committed to $25,000 donations. The next step will be to reach out to the active duty admiral corps. I have to talk to Adm. Paul Zukunft (current commandant of the Coast Guard) about that, I can't go to them first.

Q. Is there competition with the Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association and the Coast Guard Foundation for donors?

A: Of course there is. That's inevitable. They are working on projects that are about sustainment and continuing support. ... We're really focused on one project. All of those groups go after the same people. We'd like to get (academy) alumni involved as well. But working for the federal government doesn't necessarily make a person a wealthy individual, and there's competition for whatever charitable work they want to do.

Q. What about the role of the Coast Guard Museum Association board of directors in all of this?

A: We're working on revising our board. ... We need to bring on a more diverse group of people to our board. We need to set standards for our board members in terms of how much they should bring in as a condition of being on the board.

Q. What impact could the museum have on the New London area?

A: I get up here at intervals, and I'm not sure people who live here see the incremental progress. The city is looking cleaner and newer. When you drill into it, it's because people believe in the museum and the revitalization of downtown.

There are a lot of people right now taking a position of wait and see how things develop. People even from out of town are buying up properties and investing in New London right now just on the prospect of the museum being here.

Q. What are the next steps that need to be achieved in the near future?

A: We've got to get over the remaining hurdles of the environmental requirements — the NEPA review (an environmental assessment underway). We have to have funding in place to pay the architect to do the detailed design. That's the next goal in six months so that we stay on schedule for opening.

j.bergman@theday.com