JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Museum of Science and History is short tens of millions of dollars to build its new museum on the Northbank.
And as MOSH leaders look to secure more funds, they are also proposing to reduce the number of on-site parking spaces at the planned building down from 75 to just 30.
Museum leaders said that it will save them more than $5 million in construction costs.
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“We knew from the beginning that we would be looking at our primary parking solution as being an off-site parking solution,” Dr. Alistair Dove, the MOSH CEO, said during a city meeting on Monday. ”There is abundant parking available within walking distance of the lot x site.”
They are looking at utilizing off-site spots near the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Action News Jax mapped out the distance, and it would be about a 7-minute walk from there to the Northbank, where the new building is planned for.
However, that distance has some council members concerned.
“The parking that they are recommending is a couple of blocks away,” City Councilmember Ron Salem said. ”Mothers with children, strollers, etc., would have a great deal of difficulty with that.”
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The City of Jacksonville contributed $50 million toward the project.
MOSH has raised an additional $45 million in other donations, but with the total cost anywhere from $131 million to $141 million, they are still short.
Action News Jax reached out to MOSH for an updated timeline on construction, and we asked if they needed all the money before construction could start. We did not get a response before this story was published.
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