🔒Connecticut Science Center eyes $20M overhaul

As the Connecticut Science Center approaches its 15th-year anniversary, plans are underway for a $20 million overhaul of the nonprofit museum’s prominent 150,000-square-foot facility, which sits on the edge of downtown Hartford near the Connecticut River.

A multiyear project will bring new, innovative exhibits to about half of the center’s 50,000 square feet of gallery space and repair timeworn “back-of-house” systems, including elevators, said Science Center CEO and President Matt Fleury.

A new “Exploring Space” exhibit is expected to open Dec. 14, during the holiday season. More will follow.

Space-exhibit visitors will be greeted by a low rumble of booster rockets. They’ll pass through light rings representing different sections of Earth’s atmosphere. A dynamic sun display hanging from the ceiling will be constantly roiling with flares.

Video displays will show views of space, including the Earth as seen from a space-station window. An avatar projection of an astronaut will mimic visitors’ movements.

“We are focused on providing excellence today, but we also have our eye on the future and recognize the world of our audience continues to change,” said Fleury, who has been the Science Center’s CEO since 2009. “Particularly when you are engaging people in science and technology, your offerings have to be current.”

The Science Center’s leadership has set a $20 million budget on a project guided by a 10-year strategic vision adopted last year by its board of trustees. State officials have already committed $10.7 million to the effort. The Science Center has raised $5 million more in donations and continues to fundraise.

The center also has plans to open a traveling exhibit, “The Science Behind Pixar,” in 2025. The popular “KidsSpace” exhibition, which offers water-powered fun and lessons for younger children, is also slated for expansion.

Other exhibits are in various stages of planning and fundraising. They will focus on environmental sustainability and energy; advanced manufacturing; using race car simulators to demonstrate principles of physics; and Connecticut inventions. Fleury said fundraising is also underway for repairs to the center’s movie theater, and for the expansion of youth programs.

Fun and relevant

The Science Center’s roughly 40-member board of trustees includes executives from many prominent companies and organizations, including Pratt & Whitney, Hartford HealthCare, Yale University and The Hartford, among others. Len Wolman, chairman and CEO of the Waterford Hotel Group, serves as its chairman.

The Waterford Group was the master developer of Adriaen’s Landing, a roughly 30-acre corner of downtown Hartford that today comprises the Science Center, Connecticut Convention Center, Marriott hotel, UConn satellite campus and Front Street retail and entertainment district.

The Science Center was built to serve as a beacon that draws people to Hartford, while also educating youth and connecting them with the sciences that power Connecticut’s economy, Wolman said. Involvement of key business leaders then and now keeps the center relevant, he noted.

The center attracts visitors from every city and town in Connecticut and is a draw for educational groups from Massachusetts as well, Wolman said. Still, it needs investment and upgrades to continue its mission and keep up with evolving sciences, he said.

“When you have a facility like this, you constantly need to have new attractions,” Wolman said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Science Center drew about 300,000 visitors yearly and employed around 80, Fleury said. Shut down for months at the onset of the pandemic, the center reopened in June 2020, with a skeleton crew of 30.

It drew 20,000 visitors in its first year back in operation. The center today employs 70 people and is on track to receive 200,000 visitors this year, Fleury said. In 2023, it reported $10.8 million in revenue and a $1.6 million deficit, driven in part by $3.3 million in depreciation expenses, according to its 990 tax form.

The center reported $115.1 million in assets at the end of last year.

“We gradually rebuilt, and now we are finding our way, like everybody else, into determining what the new normal will be,” Fleury said.

Renovations and technology initiatives will help the center continue to ramp-up attendance and increase its outreach and services to a remote audience, Fleury said.

A portion of the $20 million renovation budget will be spent on improving the Science Center’s website and mobile app. It will improve access for people who have difficulty traveling and those with economic constraints, Fleury said.

It will also serve to engage people through evolving modes of communication and information. App users, for example, might participate in a picture-contest tied to the center’s live butterfly exhibit, Fleury said.

Important asset

Connecticut Tourism Director Rachel Lenda said the Science Center’s appeal to a wide age range helps cement it as a key tourism asset. A state database using cell phone data to track trips to Connecticut tourist attractions in excess of 25 miles showed 8,777 trips to the Science Center in the 11 months between June 1, 2023 and May 1, 2024, Lenda noted.

The state’s system does not track mobile phone data of minors or foreign-issued cell phones.

“That puts this location as one of the key attractions in the state,” Lenda said.

The Science Center will be featured prominently in Connecticut’s display at The Big E fair in September, she said.

Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said the center’s value is clear to him as a father of five.

“The Connecticut Science Center brings residents and families together, boosts local businesses and provides a space for our youth to dream big,” the mayor said.