Organizers of the effort to build a National Hurricane Museum and Science Center in southwest Louisiana are preparing to put a bid out for specific plans for the project.

Jill Kidder, project manager for the center, said organizers hope to send out a request for proposal for firms to bid on the contract for schematics and architectural designs for the project by the end of May.

She said the project plans to use up to $1.3 million of a federal grant from the Federal Highway Administration through the state Department of Transportation and Development to pay for the design work.

What the contract winner will design will be a center dedicated to educating people about hurricanes of the past, such as hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005, and about the mechanics of the big storms.

The Creole Nature Trail Commission — which works in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes — and the Southwest Louisiana Convention and Visitor’s Bureau are the driving forces behind the plan.

Backers of the project selected a dual site plan last year, with the Lake Charles waterfront near the old Harrah’s casino site off Interstate 10 being the choice for the main museum and Cameron Parish courthouse square in Cameron being the site of a smaller memorial to storms that hit that area, such as 1957’s Audrey and 2005’s Rita.

Though initial master plan documents included a range of scopes of the project and costs, organizers have decided to try for the most expensive version, with an estimated price tag of about $100 million.

Studies done for the master plan showed that only the most-ambitious design would be enough of a draw for the museum to meet annual operating costs, estimated to be in the $9 million range.

Kidder said the money will mostly have to come from private donors through donations or such means as selling naming rights to different parts of the museum.

She said that the organizers of the proposal are realists, and will be ready to deal with having to devise alternative plans if fundraising falls short of the $100 million target.

“It may come back that we have to do it in phases,” Kidder said. “If we can’t raise the money, then we can regroup.”

She said she is confident the money will be made available for the project.

Kidder said the group has not begun trying to raise private funds yet, saving that effort for when the work of the architect is done and backers have something to show investors.

She said she expects a contractor to be chosen within a month of the initial request for proposals and hopes to see the finished plans four to six months early.