"This grant represents a unique opportunity to contribute to an important community project at an early and critical stage of its development," Quantum president Jeannett Corbett says. "The rapid pace of technological advancement guarantees that science literacy will be critical for future generations." The museum has occupied its current home at 4801 Dreher Trail behind the Palm Beach zoo for more than forty years, expanding to maximum capacity in the 22,0000-sf space. At its new location on an 11.2-acre plot on Kirk Road, the museum will have 96,000-sf in which to grow, and will offer visitors classrooms, labs, a theater, aquariums, an observatory and a planetarium in state-of-the art surroundings.

County commissioners, who had to give the okay for the museum to move from the city-owned Dreher Park to the county-owned Lake Lytal Park, arranged for museum officials to lease the property for a minimal fee. Permission to move, however, was contingent upon museum officials' development of a funding plan and the achievement of specific milestones annually. Even prior to selecting a new site, the museum's board of directors hired Boston, MA-based E. Verner & Associates in 1999 to develop the master plan. There is no set start or completion date for the project.