Children's Museum advisory group Chairman Larry McGee and vice-chairman Allyn Roe (right) explained future plans for the Discover! Children's Museum to the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce Monday afternoon.
With promising results from the Discover! Children’s Museum pilot project in hand, officials are working to secure funding and a new, larger and permanent home.
Children’s Museum Advisory Group Chairman Larry McGee and Vice Chairman Allyn Roe updated the members of the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce Monday as to what lies ahead for the project’s future.
“The focus is, let’s gear up for the capital campaign,” Roe said.
The Children’s Museum Advisory Group, which operates under the nonprofit Friends of the Chehalis Community Renaissance, is considering renting some of the space to early childhood development programs and local preschools.
To build the proposed 18,000-square-foot building, the organization needs to raise $3 million, which they’ve been working to raise since January. That total has been broken down into three $1 million pieces, each targeting local, state and national revenue sources respectively.
At the local level, Roe said, a feasibility study is being done to assess how to raise the money, but $450,000 has already been committed.
The group has been working with state representatives Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, and Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, to get another $1 million from the state Legislature next year.
“If there’s an opportunity we’ll do that. Otherwise maybe we’ll break it out over two years,” Roe said. “There’ll be lots of issues if we can fit in as a priority.”
The remaining money is projected to come from national foundations and granting bodies. Roe said the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust encouraged them to apply for one of the trust’s $500,000 grants.
The group hopes to have all of the funding secured by the third quarter of next year.
While most children’s museums cater to ages 10 and under, Roe said, Discover! will cover a broader age range.
Many children’s museums charge up to $12 per child, but Roe said Discover! will charge between $4 and $5.
The experimental pilot museum opened in the Twin City Town Center last February for a six-month trial run that was later extended for an additional five months. More than 14,600 adults and children paid for admission to the museum, nearly tripling projected attendance.
Terms over real estate with the Chehalis city government are still being worked out.
In February, the Chehalis City Council voted to have city staff work out a lease agreement on city property on Northwest Louisiana Avenue. The museum group proposed a 20-year lease with options to extend it for six additional five-year terms, to total 50 years.
“Nothing has been finalized between the two parties as of yet,” said Chehalis City Manager Merlin MacReynold.
The pilot museum closed Dec. 29 last year.
Organizers project 22,000 paid guests per year once the permanent museum opens.
