Robert Powell, III// May 6, 2014//
The Children’s Science Center Museum plans to build a 50,000-square-foot museum in Kincora, an approved mixed-use development in Loudoun County.
The museum, which will include 33,000 square feet dedicated to interactive exhibit areas and active visitor space, will represent an estimated investment of $40 million.
In addition to hands-on exhibits and activities, the center will offer 240 classes annually for children ages 1 to19. The center is expected to bring more than 300,000 visitors a year to Loudoun.
The Loudoun Board of Supervisors approved a $250,000 grant to the Children’s Science Center, consisting of building fee waivers and cash that will help offset costs of the museum’s first two years of operation.
The grant will be provided subsequent to Children’s Science Center raising necessary capital construction costs.
The museum is expected to create 32 full-time and 11 part-time jobs.
Children’s Science Center was begun in 2004. Its mobile lab, Museum Without Walls, has visited District of Columbia and Northern Virginia high schools since 2010, reaching more than 15,000 children in 2013. It plans to open a temporary location in 5,400 square feet of space at Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax County, which will open in mid 2015, until the permanent location is ready at Kincora. That location is expected to open in 2019.