Plan sees profitable science center

A business model for a proposed science center in downtown Spokane shows the facility would be in the black in its first five years of operations and could bring in larger profits if attendance exceeds estimates.

Members of the Riverfront Park committee of the Spokane Park Board on Monday heard details of a business plan for a $33 million science center to be operated by a nonprofit organization on leased city park land.

The lease and construction of a science center in the park depends on Park Board approval of the business plan, which includes a plan to raise money for design and construction. Completion is anticipated in 2010.

The full Park Board is scheduled to hear the business plan during its meeting at 1:30 p.m. May 11 in Council Chambers at City Hall and could approve it at that time. The session will be televised live on cable Channel 5.

“We just really want a chance to do it,” said Gage Stromberg, executive director of the science center project. The project is sponsored by the nonprofit organization Mobius, which runs Mobius Kids, a children’s museum in the lower level of River Park Square.

Dave Remington, a member of the Mobius board and a retired chief financial officer for Itron Inc., studied financial and attendance data for science centers in 20 cities of similar size to Spokane and visited four of the centers.

He said he used conservative financial data in coming up with a plan that shows the center would in all likelihood be financially successful, earning a net profit of $150,000 by its fifth year.

Park Board members have said they do not want the city to subsidize a science center with tax money, and they want the center to succeed.

Remington estimated that annual attendance at a Spokane science center would be about 147,000, and that admissions and concessions would produce more than $1.3 million in the fifth year of operation.

The project calls for constructing a new three-dimensional IMAX theater at the science center, which would become an important moneymaker and a draw for visitors. Both facilities would be accompanied by a parking garage.

In addition, the science center would take advantage of ongoing sponsorships and grants to improve its cash flow, Remington said. “The key is sponsorships,” he said.

Construction would not start until 80 percent of the capital costs are raised. Mobius expects to ask state lawmakers for $6.5 million on top of a $1.5 million appropriation already received for designing the center. Federal grants and support from foundations are being sought. The plan also calls for development of five commercial buildings to boost income.

“We’re not talking about raising $33 million from Spokane,” Remington said. “It’s a much bigger world we’re talking about.”

Mobius has offered to follow a timetable for raising money, and if it doesn’t meet the timetable, the Park Board could rescind the long-term lease for the science center site on the north side of Riverfront Park.

The city used $3.5 million from a voter-approved bond issue in 1999 to buy former dairy land along Cataldo Avenue. The parks department then spent $310,000 soliciting public input. In 2001, the department sought private bids on developing and operating the center, and Mobius was chosen.

Ron Rector, a Park Board member, said he scrutinized Remington’s financial analysis and is satisfied that the numbers make sense. “It wonderfully works,” he said of the analysis.