At one of the informational tables lining the hallway of the Performing Arts Center during Town Meeting, Duxbury Bay Maritime School Development Director Georgia Cosgrove was making the case for building a new $3.5 million multi-purpose building for the school.

“Another new building in town?” asked one resident.

Plans for the new DBMS multi-purpose building have it replacing the old tin shed on the bay.

“The difference is our building is going to be condemned,” said Cosgrove.

Another difference is that DBMS is not a town entity, and the school will pay for the new building through fundraising and private donations.

To call the building that currently houses the DBMS offices and classrooms ramshackle would be putting in kindly. Walking through the front entrance toward the heart of the building, visitors encounter a warren of makeshift office spaces and warped wood paneling that went out of style more than 40 years ago.

Squeezing into the cramped conference room, Cosgrove apologized for the dirt footprints covering the conference table.

“Those are permanent, otherwise we would have washed them off,” she said.

DBMS Development Director Georgia Cosgrove points out where wooden beams were added to the back of the current administrative building to add support to the walls. Rowers training on the second floor were known to cause the building to shake when doing calisthenics against the wall.

While the DBMS administrative building may be on its last legs, the sailing and rowing programs offered by the school are stronger than ever, according to DBMS Trustee Tony Chamberlain.

The idea for a maritime school on Duxbury Bay took shape in 1996 when about a dozen people met at Frank Clifford’s house, Chamberlain said.

“We were looking at the last piece of property on the water possibly being used for condominiums,” Chamberlain said. “We wanted to keep the public connected to the bay.”

More than a decade later, more than 1,700 people take part in DBMS programs each year and the school hosts the high school’s top-notch sailing team.

“We’ve had a lot of good luck, good fortune and good people involved,” said Chamberlain.

With that success and good luck has come a lot of strain on the administrative building that was already in rough shape before the maritime school moved in.

During the school’s busiest summer sessions, there can be up to 500 participants moving through the school’s doors at any one time.

With no dedicated locker rooms, people have to change in the crowded hallways, Cosgrove said.

A 3D rendering of the proposed erg room at the new DBMS multi-purpose building.

Structurally, the building started straining under the force of the students using the wall in the exercise room to stretch, she said. Two wooden beams were attached to the outside of the building to help stop the wall from buckling.

By next year, the dilapidated conditions at the campus could be a thing of the past. The school’s Building Connections campaign is looking to raise $5 million for the construction of a new multi-purpose building, improvements to the existing campus and the creation of a fund to maintain facilities and fund future programs.

“We already have $2.7 million committed or in the bank and we have a financing deal so we can move forward,” Cosgrove said. “The best case is that the building will be ready by summer of 2009. Realistically, we hope to be done by the fall of 2009.”

The new building will essentially have the same footprint as the old tin shed on the bay that the school uses to store boats and equipment.

“We want room to grow, storage for our boats and indoor space for classes and fitness programs,” Cosgrove said.

Other highlights of the new building include outdoor space for classes, an indoor rowing facility, room for off-season programs, locker rooms for high school sailors and rowers, inside boat storage, accessible office space and accessible facilities for the Accessail program for special needs students.

There’s also the possibility that the new building will have function and meeting space the school can rent out to help cover some of the school’s costs.

“The building will also be an aesthetic improvement for the waterfront,” Cosgrove said.

In addition to the new building, improvements to the parking area and traffic flow are also planned. Once the building project is completed, Cosgrove said the school would have three to four times as many parking spaces.

Major work on the building is scheduled to begin after Labor Day, Cosgrove said.