Downtown El Paso children's museum might get $31 million financial boost

Raising the price tag of the future children’s museum by about $31 million might become a reality as the city renegotiates an agreement with its private partners for the project.

The City Council on Tuesday revised its memorandum of understanding with the nonprofit EPC Foundation to increase funding for the children’s museum by having the city match $1 for every 50 cents donated by the nonprofit.

The city also will continue to negotiate with them to finalize an updated agreement, which will take about 10 days, officials said.

“What this does is pave the way to come up with a definitive agreement to develop the museum,” said El Paso Community Foundation President Eric Pearson.

The community foundation acts as the fiscal sponsor to the nonprofit.

“What we are interested in is the dream. We have a development agreement that allows us to build a world-class museum,” Pearson said. “We are really excited to add value to the project.”

The city had originally budgeted about $19 million for the new museum, which would mostly be used to build the facility and program some exhibits. The museum is one of three signature bond projects approved by voters in 2012.

That budget grew to about $29 million after the city entered into the memorandum of understanding for the public-private partnership with the EPC Foundation in 2016. The foundation pledged to raise an additional $10 million for the project at that time.

But research and recommendations completed by Gyroscope Inc., an architecture, museum planning and exhibit design firm based in Oakland, Calif., determined that a state-of-the-art and world class museum would cost about $60 million.

The plan calls for an 80,000-square-foot facility that will house a variety of interactive displays and exhibits, as well as features such as child centers with interactive sound and wind tunnels.

In December, the nonprofit promised to double the original $10 million contribution if the city would throw in another $20 million in order to make the master plan a reality.

“The city, everyone has had an unwavering commitment to the project,” Pearson said.

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The project also may get a funding boost from the county, although officials said no decisions have been made at this point.

The El Paso County Commissioners Court on Monday discussed negotiations with the community foundation regarding funding for the children’s museum.

County Commissioner David Stout said he could not share details of the discussion that was held in executive session, but looking at possible funding for the project has been considered.

“It’s definitely something that we have considered,” Stout said. “The issue is that the project is underfunded and there were questions as to whether the county would be able to come up with some money to help. We have definitely considered it, but we haven’t come to any decision.”

Pearson said the community foundation approached the county for possible funding and ways to partner on programs that will provide access to people throughout the county, including unincorporated areas such as Fabens.

“In my opinion, it’s a viable project for the county to get involved in because of all of the residents in the El Paso city limits,” Pearson said. “And to be honest, we need that help. It takes time to raise money and we thought they might be an excellent partner.”

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The proposed museum will be located at 201 W. Main St. between the El Paso Museum of History and the El Paso Museum of Art, within the Downtown Arts District.

The city bought the old Greyhound Lines Inc. maintenance facility near Southwest University Park for the project in January 2016 and has prepared the site for construction.

Pearson said the nonprofit has selected one of the three architectural firms that competed to design the museum and is in the process of negotiating a deal.

“Conversations have begun with the firm to see if they can come up with an agreement,” Pearson said, adding that they will not reveal the firm until an agreement has been reached.

Officials hope to begin construction this year and have the museum open by 2020.

Elida S. Perez may be reached at 546-6137; eperez@elpasotimes.com; @ElidaSPerezEPT on Twitter.