The City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (Omni CRA) Board of Commissioners passed a unanimous motion late last week to release $2 million for the environmental remediation of the eight-acre site at Museum Park where the new Miami Science Museum (MiaSci) and Miami Art Museum will be constructed. This is an extremely important step forward for MiaSci and means that work on the site should start within the next few weeks with the goal of finalizing the process by the fall.

Aerial View of the future Museum Park with MiaSci and MAM

Dan Bell, co-chair of the Miami Science Museum board of trustees believes the economic impact of Museum Park factored into the positive Omni CRA vote. “The City of Miami and Miami-Dade County understand the importance of fast-tracking the development of Museum Park,” said Mr. Bell. “In addition to providing our community with world-class venues for arts, culture, and science exploration, Museum Park will stimulate much needed job creation and economic growth in our urban core.”

Once home to the Port of Miami and oil storage tanks, Museum Park’s bay front parcel of land must be tested and cleared of any possible environmental contamination before construction can be started. The remediation agreement will provide for the environmental site assessment and corresponding site rehabilitation of Museum Park.

The new MiaSci is moving ahead rapidly! With the support of the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County and the community, the new Museum is on track to be a one-of-a-kind facility, inspiring its visitors to learn, share and embrace science and technology.

The Miami Science Museum released final designs for its new $275 million downtown home at Bicentennial Park

BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI

aviglucci@MiamiHerald.com

The Miami Science Museum has finalized designs for a new $275 million home on Biscayne Boulevard that will combine a retro-modern look with sleek, undulating contemporary lines and an expansive open-air feel, while incorporating the latest green and interactive technologies.

“The most distinctive design of any building in Miami, from every direction,” the museum boasts in fundraising materials prepared for prospective donors.

The boast may not be far off the mark.

The museum — which plans to add an aquarium at its new home — released renderings of the new, five-level complex’s final schematic designs by noted London-based Grimshaw Architects that represent a significant refinement of conceptual images released eight months ago.

For the first time, the renderings also place the new science museum together with its neighbor, the planned Miami Art Museum designed by the Swiss firm of Herzog & de Meuron, providing a preview of the ensemble in its intended, park-like setting.

The two museum buildings are to anchor the new Museum Park on the 29-acre bayfront site of what is now half-derelict Bicentennial Park, at Northeast 10th Street and Biscayne Boulevard.

The design strives for maximum exposure to the outdoors, seizing on stunning views, the South Florida climate and the park setting to provide a welcoming embrace to visitors, said Science Museum Director Gillian Thomas.

The final plan comprises four interconnected, terraced structures: an oblong “Living Core” containing the aquarium and a massive Gulf Stream tank, a striking new planetarium orb overlooking Biscayne Boulevard, and two squared-off wings in a “V” containing exhibition space, classrooms and cafes. These main structures would be set around a soaring, open-air atrium lined with terraces and shaded by a canopy punctured by skylights.

“It’s an impressive building, but not impressive-frightening,” Thomas said. “We’ve tried to blend it in with the surroundings much more. Nothing’s hidden.”

The plans were endorsed by the city’s Urban Development Review Board last week with some minor conditions, and museum officials hope for final approval from the Miami City Commission this fall. That would put the museum on track for start of construction in the fall of 2011, Thomas said. The complex would open in 2014.

Release of the final schematics also marks the start of major fundraising for the project, which will be underwritten by $175 million in proceeds from voter-approved Miami-Dade County bonds — although the county has not yet decided when it will release the earmarked funds.

The museum, which must raise the balance of $100 million privately, already has some $23 million in pledges, according to a recent county report.

Although fundraising has been hurt by the economic recession, county and museum officials acknowledge, the project remains on track and backers say they’re confident the full amount will be raised.

“This is pretty much as planned,” said Michael Spring, the county’s director of cultural affairs. “When you get the design to this point, it’s the right time to talk to major donors.”

Together with an outdoor “science playground,” the complex totals 250,000 square feet, covering a footprint of about four acres.

The buildings would be clad in gleaming tiles. The Living Core, which would face the park, would be topped by an open canopy shading a series of outdoor gardens and aquarium exhibits designed by Thinc, a New York firm. The Living Core structure comes to a prow-like point angled at the bay.

At the structure’s core is a massive Gulf Stream tank with expansive views of the park and Biscayne Bay beyond it. As in the earlier conceptual plans, the bottom of the tank would be cut off at an angle and glassed in to provide dramatic upwards views of swimming sharks and rays.

The new planetarium dome — to be lit up with celestial projections after dark — would rise above Biscayne Boulevard where it meets the on-ramp to the MacArthur Causeway to Miami Beach.

Between the Boulevard and museum’s west wing, which would house a cafe among other amenities, the plans call for a marsh-like retention pond that would hold rainwater coming off the complex for watering the landscaping and other uses.

The entire complex, in fact, is supposed to act as a demonstration of ecological and sustainability principles, harnessing energy from water, wind and sun to power exhibits and conserve resources. The new museum will also incorporate wildlife exhibits popular in its present incarnation on South Miami Avenue on a portion of the former grounds of Vizcaya.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/05/27/1652263/final-design-for-miami-science.html#ixzz0pFNctj8B

According to a recent economic impact analysis, construction of the new Miami Science Museum will result in a positive impact on both the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County based on its $300 million total project costs. The estimated one-time City of Miami total economic impacts include: $488.7 million in expenditures of which $183.6 million would be wages and salaries; and 3,635 total full time and part time person-years of employment. The one-time total Miami-Dade County impacts are estimated at $616.9 million in expenditures of which approximately $183.6 million would be wages and salaries; and 4,516 total full time and part time person-years of employment.

The ongoing operations of the Miami Science Museum, and the off-site spending of resident and tourist visitors associated with their visit, will generate total annual economic impacts to the City of Miami estimated at nearly $60.5 million in expenditures, of which $26.6 million would be wages and salaries; and 635 jobs. The annual museum operating impacts to Miami-Dade County are estimated at $95.4 million in expenditures, of which $38.2 million in wages and salaries; and a total of 914 jobs.

Most importantly, the community development and educational benefits of the new Miami Science Museum may have the most profound and long-lasting impacts on the community.  This project will enhance the knowledge of and interest in science and technology and will enhance the City of Miami as a place to live and work, thus improving all aspects of the local economy and community.

For the full report, please visit: Miami Science Museum Impact Report – April 2010