UPDATE: Easton wanted to move Da Vinci Science City, not kill it, mayor says

The planned Da Vinci Science City won’t be built in Easton’s Downtown, Da Vinci Science Center’s CEO said Wednesday afternoon in a news release.

Lin Erickson, who is also executive director of the Allentown-based organization, said it decided to look elsewhere after “learning from the City of Easton of its intention to rescind its previous financial commitment to support the project and to provide the Easton-owned site on Third Street.”

Easton bought and tore down the Days Inn at South Third Street and Larry Holmes Drive and had invested nearly $6 million in what could have been $30 million in city money for the proposed educational venue.

The organization will “remain steadfast in our commitment and vision for a new major science center,” Erickson said.

Da Vinci Science Center has “generous support” from the state, Northampton County and community leaders as well as Da Vinci staff and board members, Erickson said.

“We’ve made significant progress toward the planning and fundraising for the project which can be transferred and adapted to a new site,” Erickson said.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr., who has championed for the project, could not immediately be reached for comment. His office said he will give a full update at Wednesday night’s city council meeting, which starts at 6 p.m.

Panto, who won the Democratic mayoral nomination on Tuesday, said in February he was running again to see through certain projects, including the science education facility.

The city and the center had been trying to come to terms on a developers agreement, which had been delayed.

Panto in March said there were limits to the city’s commitment to the project.

“We’ve said from the very beginning to Da Vinci and to the public we will not support that project if it doesn’t give back enough to the city to pay the debt service,” Panto said last week. “The city taxpayers are not going to pay for a science center to be in our city. We’ve said that from day one. We think we’ve worked a deal out that does that. They have to agree to it.”

To be economically feasible, Da Vinci would have had to generate at least 400,000 visitors a year, Panto has said; a marketing study predicts it would’ve surpassed that, bringing in as many as 635,000 visitors a year.

Da Vinci Science Center, based in Allentown, was working to open the Easton facility in 2022.

City Councilman and Vice Mayor Peter Melan said the impact of the loss of the venue will likely be “minimal” to the city because “the land will be very attractive for developers.”

He had soured on the project in recent months after not getting straight answers from Erickson to what he said were “very pointed questions.”

Melan voted against extending the temporary agreement until June 30 while the permanent one was being negotiated.

He said Erickson’s projections of “visitorship” were “completely off base,” the construction costs were “astronomical” and she “wasn’t up front about who the donors were.”

Efforts to reach Erickson to respond were unsuccessful on Wednesday afternoon.

He said he learned about Da Vinci pulling out from a reporter. City council, of which the mayor is the president, wasn’t advised either in public or in executive session that the city was withdrawing its support, he said.

“The administration to me has really gone awry with this decision without even consulting with us,” Melan said.

That lack of communication is “a huge issue for me,” he added. “It’s unconscionable what happened just now. … They should have spoken to us about this. … It’s infuriating.”

With city council meeting Wednesday evening, Melan said residents shouldn’t be surprised if members are asked to formally support the decision to leave the project, even though it’s not on the agenda.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.