Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Henderson OKs $1.2 million more for planned science center

The Henderson City Council approved $1.2 million for the Henderson Space and Science Center on Tuesday night to allow its board to recruit an architect and design team.

The $1.2 million comes from $21 million in the city’s land fund already allotted for the project, city spokeswoman Kathy Blaha said.

When an architect for the project is chosen within the next two months, the science center’s board will be able to return to the council and ask for additional funds.

The science center’s board Tuesday night had asked for $4 million of the $21 million set aside for the project. Council members reduced the amount to $1.2 million because of concerns that the board wouldn’t be able to raise private funds – about $40 million – to complete the center.

By doling the money out in allotments, council members are able to keep track of how the money is spent.

The museum is expected to cost $63 million, with about one-third of that money coming from the city. The museum will be near U.S. 95 and Galleria Drive – an area that city officials hope will become a mixed-use development and valleywide destination, with the museum as its centerpiece.

Councilwomen Kathleen Boutin and Debra March said they wanted the science center’s board to perform a “feasibility study” to show it could raise the additional $40 million from private donors. March also raised concerns that the group didn’t yet know where the museum would be placed on the site.

March was the only council member to vote against the $1.2 million allotment.

“I’m concerned that we’re in a process, and there are some steps in the process we may have stepped over,” she said. “If you’re going to pull the plug, you better darn well be successful.”

Board members Larry Carroll and Jack Clark, the group’s vice president and a former Henderson councilman, argued that waiting to provide city money would prolong the process of building the museum.

“Any project that’s worthwhile, there are going to be issues,” Carroll said. “This is sometimes like pushing a rock uphill at the beginning. It is a huge undertaking.”

“We’re confident we can raise that money,” Carroll said, referring to the $40 million from private donors.

Finding an architect, Clark said, would help the group begin to raise money. And renderings of the building would help show donors where their money was going, he said.

"Without being able to show things to prospective donors, that’s a complicated transaction," Clark said.

Clark said the group has had a successful year. The center brought in its first exhibit, "Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins," which had about 25,000 attendees during its three-month stay at Galleria at Sunset Mall.

The group is planning to bring in another exhibit next year, he said, which will likely be about robots.

The museum is expected to be complete within about five years, but a timeline hasn't been set for its construction or design.

For more information about the project, visit www.hendersonspaceandsciencecenter.com.

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