City eyes Sci-Quest for downtown move
Hands-on center may be next Big Spring attraction
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Along Huntsville's downtown skyline, you can see the changes as buildings under construction grow a little taller each day. The goal of all this development, local officials say, is to lure more people to live, work and play in the city's center.
If they have their way, there will be another reason to go downtown: the Sci-Quest Hands-On Science Center.
U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer said Wednesday he's working with local officials to get the museum to a downtown site near Big Spring International Park. Sci-Quest currently occupies space owned by Calhoun Community College across Interstate 565 from the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
"Sci-Quest is important to our community, like the space program has been," he said.
Cramer was in town Wednesday to have a look at the progress of current projects downtown.
He said he has gotten $2 million in federal money that could be used to renovate a building for the museum. He declined to specify any potential sites.
Sci-Quest director J.D. Horne said he and the Sci-Quest board support moving the children's hands-on museum downtown. "We'd welcome that. There's no big negative I know of," he said.
Horne said the rent at Calhoun is cheap ($1 a year), parking is plentiful, and there's ample, unobstructed space inside (42,500 square feet) - ideal for a children's museum.
Relocating to the Big Spring International Park area would help draw visitors from other popular downtown attractions like the Huntsville Museum of Art and the EarlyWorks complex with its children's museum, Historic Huntsville Depot and Constitution Village. Sci-Quest, in turn, could help steer visitors to those attractions, he said.
"It would make it convenient for people traveling and staying in the hotels downtown or coming in on school field trips to visit two or three attractions at a time within walking distance," he said.
Horne said Sci-Quest, a nonprofit organization, is looking for a place with reasonable rent, adequate parking and room for growth.
Cramer said he's committed to seeing Huntsville's downtown become attractive to residents - those who already live here as well as those who will move here with jobs brought by base realignment and closure during the next few years. He said he's working with city and state government to get money to pay for roads, bridges, an amphitheater and other features that could enhance the downtown area.
Although there is talk in Washington about cutting money for some projects to help pay for hurricane relief, Cramer said those cuts would be across the board, not aimed at entire programs.
"We're all going to feel the pain of that," he said.
Mayor Loretta Spencer said city officials met with Cramer last week to review plans for downtown development and see where Washington can kick in some money to help see some projects to fruition.
Current downtown projects include Big Spring Summit office tower, 301 East condominiums on Holmes Avenue and the Embassy Suites hotel near the Von Braun Center. The Embassy Suites is scheduled to have a "hard-hat" tour for local officials today.
Huntsville's downtown master plan is currently being updated to include areas north of Interstate 565, east of Memorial Parkway and south of Oakwood Avenue. Spencer said the city wants to acquire rights of way and change some zoning in the Lincoln Mill area to make it more appealing to residents and pedestrians.
"We're putting the plan together piece by piece, and we've got to have funding to do it," she said.
Times staff writer John Peck contributed to this report.
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