City leaders want to enhance uptown’s Discovery Place; could it be demolished?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Year after year, the Discovery Place is ranked as the top museum and cultural attraction in Charlotte. Leaders want to keep it that way but said major changes need to be made

The Discovery Place has been a fixture in uptown since its opening in 1981. From field trips to adult-only nights, the museum still has some of uptown’s best offerings.

“It is the number one attraction for us and hugely significant for our STEM education and workforce going forward,” Mayor Vi Lyles said. “The facility has been around for a very long time. When we look at other STEM-based museums like that, they are constantly changing, so they are more agile and flexible.”

In 2017, the city spent $700,000 on a study to determine how to best position the museum for the future paving the way for change. At the Charlotte City Council’s retreat in Durham, senior city staffers informed the council there are two scenarios -- rehab the building or demolish and rebuild it.

Discovery Place opened in 1981. Meg MacDonald covered the museum's opening for @wsoctv. 39 years later, leaders are considering demolishing the museum and rebuilding it #CLTCC pic.twitter.com/JsePJ2FPw8
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) January 16, 2020

"If we have to tear down to build… then that is what we will do," Lyles said.

The city owns the Discovery Place building and taxpayer dollars will likely go toward whatever scenario is decided, in addition to private fundraising.

The mayor said Discovery Place is vital for STEM education and Charlotte’s workforce, and that it needs to be refreshed to remain competitive with similar museums in the state and across the country.

The city is expected to contribute tax dollars to whatever Discovery Place’s future ends up being.“For about two years, we have been engaged in a master planning process alongside our partner, the city of Charlotte. Our facility, which is owned by the city, was built in the 1980s for the population of that time," President and CEO of Discovery Place Catherine Wilson Horne said. "In the three decades that have followed, not only have we have seen the population more than double, but we’ve seen exponential growth in the need for education related to science, technology and nature. The master planning process has been dedicated to looking at the options, which range from renovations to a rebuild that will enable us to serve the science education needs of this community and to maintain Discovery Place’s leadership position for decades to come.”

It is unclear when a decision on the museum's future will be made or how long demolition or a renovation of the building would take. Funding for the project would come from Charlotte's tourism fund, which cannot be used for things such as affordable housing or the police department.

One example of a change that will likely be made involves IMAX. Currently, Discovery Place uses film, which limits the kinds of movies they can show because a lot of movies are digital. Other potential changes include a modernized entrance way and more hands-on labs. The city provided more than $30 million for Discovery Place renovations in 2010.