The construction of a free-standing exhibition hall at Mid-America Science Museum will get underway in early 2019, Executive Director Diane LaFollette said earlier this week.
City voters approved issuing up to $2 million in bonds to fund construction of the 7,000-square-foot facility in a Sept. 11 special election, to be repaid using revenues from the existing 3-cent advertising and promotion tax on prepared food and lodging inside the city.
The Hot Springs Board of Directors on Oct. 30 authorized the private placement of a $1,575,000 bond issue. As of Dec. 13, about $1.5 million needed for the project had been secured by the city of Hot Springs.
"The goal was always to get $1.5 million for the project, but the museum asked for $2 million because we didn't know what the interest rates were going to be on the bonds," Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison said. "The bonds were sold and the money funded. It's with the city now and they'll start investing that into the project.
"Obviously (the museum) won't use the whole $1.5 million in the first month. Until then the money will be invested throughout the project and any interest will be invested back into the project."
LaFollette said the museum plans to break ground in March, with a projected opening on Labor Day weekend.
"We have B&F Engineering working with us and they are acting as the overseers, construction manager capacity," she said. "They're doing some of the work themselves and then hiring all the subs. We're working with French Architects for the design. It's a real straightforward, simple design."
The construction committee will meet again in January to finalize the budget for the project. This could cause some design adjustments, she said, adding a few changes have already taken place.
"We went from all windows to just a few windows because it controls the light better," she said of the design. "It just eliminated some costs of having to have additional curtains. They did not draw any pictures with an exhibit in it because we're trying to figure out placement right now.
"On the north side is where the restrooms are, the prep kitchen, the A/V booth. On the south side of the property is all storage and where the exhibits come through. That's all right now without having gone through the budget. This could all change."
While walking through the museum property where the structure will be built, LaFollette told The Sentinel-Record that there will be some necessary excavation and a few trees will go away, "but not many."
"Around the corner will be the garden area," she said. "I don't know how big this will be for sure, but we're going to make a patio out here so when you're in the gallery, there will be a couple of doors. If you're in a conference, you can come out here and take a break, enjoy the weather, things like that. We can also do programming out here."
The building will be accessible from the museum's parking lot for after-hours events, she said.
"The cool thing is that this is our 40th anniversary so we'll have some cool celebrations and events next fall," she said.
The next fundraising steps the museum takes will contribute to bringing in traveling exhibits.
"I think probably our next fundraising steps would be to get the exhibits because now our gallery is fully funded," LaFollette said. "Our next thing will be to find sponsors and people to help us get some exhibits in here. We're looking at next summer -- 2020 -- but in the meantime, we'll have lots of events."
Local on 12/23/2018