MOSH weighs relocating museum from its Southbank site in downtown Jacksonville

[CityLife]

At yesterday's DIA meeting, a Resolution was put forward that gives MOSH additional time to meet necessary fundraising goals and puts them on the clock for design and permitting of the project. The Resolution says MOSH has been diligently pursuing fundraising, but has been delayed in the design of the museum building itself. The original agreement (dated May 22, 2023) says that MOSH has to raise $40 million (excluding City contributions) for a total capital investment of $85 million. The $40 million was supposed to be raised by December, 2023.

The updated agreement says that MOSH has to have secured $30 million by February 29, 2024, $35 million by April 30, 2024, and $40 million by June 30, 2024. It says that failure to secure these amounts will not enable MOSH to commence construction by December 21, 2025 and will result in termination of the agreement. It says MOSH has to have commenced design of the Museum Project by June 30, 2024; completed Schematic Design and submitted plans by October 31, 2024; completed Design Development Phase and submitted plans to the City by March 31, 2025; completed 100% of construction drawings, and submitted all construction permits by September 30, 2025; commencement of construction by December 21, 2025; and completion by July 31, 2028.

From what I can deduce/speculate, MOSH has $30 million (excluding city contributions) already secured, hence the February 29, 2024 deadline for that amount; but the DIA wants to force fundraising of the remaining $10 million to happen quickly. I'm also guessing that the DIA thinks that the total capital cost of $85 million is possibly no longer realistic and wants to speed up the design process to get an answer on that question. Will be interesting to see what happens over the next 6 months on this one.

[CityLife]

Still committed. ~4 years to open, apparently.

MOSH CEO hopes to open new museum in late 2024

https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/mosh-ceo-hopes-open-up-new-museum-late-2024/CDLVQTCGI5CRNEHSHUVSHJQKSM/

Bump. It's ridiculous to suggest that this would be open by late 2024, when it is now 2024 and this is nowhere close to being ready this year. It also notes that the anticipated price tag is $85 million (in early 2021). Using a simple inflation calculator, $85 million in January 2021 is now $100 million. Construction and labor costs have likely increased higher than standard CPI index, so you are likely looking at a number higher than $100 million.

It looks like this is another project at risk of dying.

[Steve]

This feels like Deegan is forcing this along. In a lot of ways, good: the biggest challenge we've had is things taking forever, which thereby kills the synergies between projects.

That said.... this seems like one that I could be supportive of some COJ funds. Not sure where these funds will come from - I hear the Jaguars are asking for a couple bucks - but if we can find it, I'd be down.

[marcuscnelson]

^ Agreed, as much as I'm not a fan of the cost, I think it'd be worthwhile to have the cohesive museum district along Bay. Maybe need to really hunt for potential grants. Or, hey, use the money saved from not giving incentives to Ford on Bay or the Riverfront Plaza tower. Either way, perhaps figuring out project phasing is in order.

[thelakelander]

Any chance at value engineering to save a few bucks?

[Charles Hunter]

VE-MOSH

[Ken_FSU]

It's kind of astounding when you think about it. About eight years ago, one of the few vibrant, existing building blocks that downtown had was that tight cluster of complementing uses anchoring the Main Street Bridge on the Southbank. MOSH, with plans for a big redesign at its existing location. Friendship Park, with plans for a big redesign. And River City Brewing Company, though in need of a fresh coat of paint, as one of our few riverfront restaurants/bars. Yet we've somehow managed to demolish the restaurant, commit over $20 million dollars toward moving the MOSH to a contaminated parcel on the periphery of downtown with a half-demolished highway ramp wrapped around it, and essentially leave Friendship Park orphaned.

Why was this shift initially concocted (all Curry, btw, can't blame the DIA for this one)

1) To feed diners and shoppers into a Lot J project that was voted down by City Council
2) To create synergy with a USS Orleck museum that may not be sustainable long-term

It's just baffling how much money we're going to end up throwing at MOSH to essentially start over in a worse location.

This strange, Jacksonville-specific shell game of planning and subsidizing Fantasy Project 2 based on the unsubstantiated needs of Fantasy Project 1, again, speaks loudly to the need for a real master plan.

Big fan of MOSH, I hope their capital campaign bears plenty of fruit, but now that we know the scale is not going to be what we once initially thought, I personally wouldn't be heartbroken to see MOSH go back to their original plan of expanding their current Southbank location to interface directly with Friendship Park. That's a hell of a 1-2 punch anchoring the south side of the Main Street Bridge's pedestrian path opposite Riverfront Plaza and Laura Street to the north. And our $20 million+ in city contributions feel like they would stretch a lot further without having to subsidize remediation and new construction on the other side of the river.

Reminder of what the original plan looked like:

[jaxlongtimer]

The City bears a lot of responsibility for this new predicament as I believe MOSH was all in on staying where they were with a much more modest and realistic plan to update and expand.

My theory.... is that Curry and Khan wanted to bridge Downtown to Lot J and the Four Seasons and have something active in between to keep too much riffraff from taking up the void.  They twisted MOSH's arms and added an inducement of some City dollars and $5 million from Khan.  The MOSH board buckled under the pressure and agreed to the Shipyards and a much more expensive and time consuming project.

To put things in perspective, few nonprofits in this City have raised $100 million or so from locals in a single campaign.  UNF, JU and Baptist... can't think of anyone else.  And, those are much larger nonprofits with bigger and wealthier constituencies.  Asking MOSH to raise $10 million more in 4 months after struggling to raise $30 million over 3 years or so is a big ask.  Can't say miracles can't happen, but...

Curry is gone but maybe Khan wants this bad enough to help further close the gap with an additional donation from him and a few calls to his friends.

I would also be curious, with a much larger and fancier building, what MOSH's economics are for maintaining and programming a much more expensive and extensive operation.  I worry that they find themselves hanging with the Orleck people one day, biting off more than maybe than they can chew.

[Jax_Developer]

The idea of sinking money into the MOSH development but telling the Jags to piss off would be a mistake. For some reason we have an obsession with our trophy parcels being dedicated for public use. Fine, but you can't do that across the board & expect change DT by improving streets & parks.

The Jags are asking for a ton of money, I get that.. but we only have so many Billion dollar operations in town. The MOSH doesn't profit more than $5M a year in its current form & it's a 'non-profit' so those profits don't have anywhere to go. Also that parcel will literally never generate property tax revenue (along with the rest of our Northbank riverfront). The Jags/Stadium, at the very least, generates a ton of sales tax. They also aren't asking for one of the best parcels in our entire DT.

The MOSH has been a pipe dream for a while now... like the Doro, they expected more to be done by 2024. It will take another 3+ years before this opens. The collective waiting around for projects to start has cost the taxpayer more opportunity cost than any incentive package this city has seen. Simple math proves this.

My prediction is they will get another extension, the Construction Costs will be "higher than anticipated" and City Council will come in the figure out the delta. Shovel won't be in the dirt until late 2025.

[CityLife]

To put things in perspective, few nonprofits in this City have raised $100 million or so from locals in a single campaign.  UNF, JU and Baptist... can't think of anyone else.  And, those are much larger nonprofits with bigger and wealthier constituencies.  Asking MOSH to raise $10 million more in 4 months after struggling to raise $30 million over 3 years or so is a big ask.  Can't say miracles can't happen, but...

You may be right about the Khan/Curry connection, but I disagree with this take.

-Many donors to higher education that live in NE Fla opt to donate to UF, FSU, UGA, Michigan, or their alma mater or whatever school they have allegiance to. I would guess that NE Fla residents donate at least double to outside higher education institutions than they donate to UNF/JU. It may be well above double.

-IMO, MOSH should be the most high profile donation someone or a company can possibly make in NE Florida. Jax is relatively light on major museums to donate to. It's basically MOSH, Cummer, and MOCA. It's highly visible along the river, most families attend, kids go on field trips/summer camps there. It's ingrained into the fabric of Jax.

-I'm legitimately surprised that there hasn't been a major donor step up and donate $15 million plus for naming rights. The Frost Science Museum received a $35 million gift for naming rights back in 2011. The South Florida Science Center in WPB got $20 million in 2021 from the Cox family in 2021 for naming rights and just got $8 million from Ken Griffin (peanuts for him).

-Jax has a very well developed middle class, but does not have the type of wealth you have in South Florida, the Tampa Bay Area, SWFL, or in cities like Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte. While Jax doesn't have the type of wealth other cities have, the fact that Jax is struggling to raise $40 million for it's signature institution is honestly pretty shocking.

[Steve]

-Jax has a very well developed middle class, but does not have the type of wealth you have in South Florida, the Tampa Bay Area, SWFL, or in cities like Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte. While Jax doesn't have the type of wealth other cities have, the fact that Jax is struggling to raise $40 million for it's signature institution is honestly pretty shocking.

I think this is a big issue. For example, the reason Atlanta has an awesome aquarium is because Arthur Blank (Home Depot Co-Founder, Atlanta Falcons Owner) is not only loaded, but extremely charitable.

[CityLife]

To add on to my above point, a similar process is happening at the Cox Science Museum in West Palm Beach (posted about earlier in thread too). They had initially started a $45 million dollar capital campaign well after MOSH started theirs, but with increased construction costs upped it from $45 million to $85 million in early 2023. They now have $80 million secured and had to increase the campaign to $115 million in late 2023. This is also a science museum that is tucked away in a city park, not close to the water or downtown. Not nearly as high profile as MOSH, and there are 2 other really good science museums within an hour.

The fact that they had to increase their capital campaign from $45 million to $115 million is all but confirmation that MOSH's capital costs are going to go up substantially or will have to be significantly value engineered.

Hopefully there is a hero out there in Jax that is ready to make an 8 figure donation soon. Otherwise, things look bad for MOSH. Like Ken suggested, they might have to pivot back to a remodel, which may not be the worst thing in the world. The good news is now there is a vacant parcel right next to it, that doesn't look to get built on anytime soon...

[Ken_FSU]

The City bears a lot of responsibility for this new predicament as I believe MOSH was all in on staying where they were with a much more modest and realistic plan to update and expand.

My theory.... is that Curry and Khan wanted to bridge Downtown to Lot J and the Four Seasons and have something active in between to keep too much riffraff from taking up the void.  They twisted MOSH's arms and added an inducement of some City dollars and $5 million from Khan.  The MOSH board buckled under the pressure and agreed to the Shipyards and a much more expensive and time consuming project.

100% what happened, though I don't think that much arm-twisting was needed when $20 million suddenly appeared in the CIP to "lure a cultural attraction to the Northbank." Plus the $5 million from Shad. Can't blame the DIA for this one. The deal was made behind their back, and they were blindsided and made to look like fools to Related, who were expecting their proposed development to have synergies with MOSH.

[Ken_FSU]

Hopefully there is a hero out there in Jax that is ready to make an 8 figure donation soon.

Though it's great that the Khans donated $5 million, and it's totally unfair to expect them to give more, how much good will would they gain with the public going into stadium negotiations if they upped that check to $20 million? Slap their name on the building. Ensure a high-quality amenity near their Four Seasons investment. Would be a great legacy gift to the city.

[Captain Zissou]

I was told by someone within the downtown echo chamber that an individual had committed to donating the remainder of the private money if that amount was not reached by the end of 2024.  This is someone who believes $8B in downtown development is imminent, so take it with a grain of salt.  Curious to know if that person exists and had a change of heart due to a larger than expected financial gap between raised to date and $40M, or if they never existed at all.