JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On Tuesday night’s City Council agenda is a proposal that would move the Museum of Science and History from its longtime home on Jacksonville’s Southbank to a new home on the Northbank that is yet to be built.
The council will discuss a plan to authorize the Mayor’s Office to move forward with a 40-year lease agreement between the Downtown Investment Authority and MOSH.
The museum wants to build a new 75,000-square-foot facility at the Shipyards on the Northbank, where the USS Orleck — the centerpiece of the Jacksonville Naval Museum — is already set to relocate.
MOSH would pay just $1 a year under the agreement.
The goal is to create a Museum District, along with the Jacksonville Fire Museum.
The deadline for the Orleck to move from its temporary location outside the Hyatt Regency is Friday.
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“I mean, part of the work we’re doing with MOSH to get them over there is to again have this vibrant downtown riverfront that we’re seeing in other areas, but finally get the shipyards area, a part of that process,” Brian Hughes, Chief Administrative Officer of the Mayor’s Office, said previously. “So that’ll always be a mix of private development, public amenities, and we think, you know, a museum presence would be a great attraction.”
There is still work to be done in the area. MOSH needs to receive funding from the City of Jacksonville and a state grant in order to do it.
“This is going to be a great place where you’re going to bring your family for a day, as opposed to going to just a Naval Museum,” Jim Webb, Executive Director of the USS Orleck, said. “Now we’re one of, you know, several museums all walkable from each other.”