New London - City, state and Coast Guard officials will meet next week to sign an agreement to help facilitate construction of a National Coast Guard Museum downtown.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Admiral Robert J. Papp, commandant of the Coast Guard, Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio, and James Coleman, chairman of the National Coast Guard Museum Association, will meet at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Union Station to sign a Memorandum of Agreement.

All parties will agree to support and assist with the development, design review and approvals for the museum and the site, on the city's waterfront near the train station.

In April 2013, the museum association, along with the Coast Guard, the state and the city announced the proposed location and design for the museum.

Plans include a four-story, 54,300-square-foot building with four floors of interactive exhibits, event space and lecture rooms. There also will be a reception area with a gift shop and café.

The Coast Guard's tall ship Eagle is also expected to dock adjacent to the museum. A proposed pedestrian overpass across the railroad tracks will connect the museum with the local ferry terminal and train station.

- Kathleen Edgecomb