$40M Museum Gets Cash Infusion

WEST PALM BEACH-The South Florida Science Museum gets a much-needed $500,000 grant for the construction of the $40 million Quantum Science Education Center at the Science and Discovery Center, to be located at the museum’s new home in Lake Lytal Park. The gift comes from the Quantum Foundation and will be matched dollar-for dollar by a $10 million challenge grant originated by local philanthropist Elsie Dekelbaum of the Dekelbaum Foundation last year.

“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.