Sugar Land Museum of Natural Science Satellite Facility a Closer Reality

Letter of Understanding Presented to City Council

Sugar Land is poised to turn Telfair’s Central State Farm building into the first satellite museum for the Houston Museum of Natural Science outside Houston’s museum district.

At its regularly scheduled meeting on December 19, City Council authorized City Manager Allen Bogard to sign a Letter of Understanding among the three parties involved in the project: the City of Sugar Land, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and NNP-Telfair, LP. The Letter of Understanding serves as a basis to negotiate a contract.

“Our citizens and City Council have identified cultural arts as a priority for our community, and this opportunity will enrich the cultural, educational and historical character of our area, opening up new possibilities and potential for our residents and community,” said Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace.

After looking into potential venues introduced by the City, the Houston Museum of Natural Science expressed interest as their preferred site the old prison building, at 12910 University Boulevard, in the Newland Communities’ Telfair development. All three parties toured this site, a Greek Revival structure built in 1930 to serve Central State Farm prison. The Museum’s Board has provided a positive direction going forward with the projected $10 million deal. If approved, a targeted grand opening date would be spring 2008.

“The Houston Museum of Natural Science is very excited about the opportunity to partner with the City of Sugar Land and Newland Communities to create a satellite educational facility that will complement the programs and exhibitions offered at the Museum’s main campus in Hermann Park,” said Joel Bartsch, president of the Houston Museum of Natural Science. “While there is still a great deal of work to do, this Letter of Understanding is the next step in the process of determining whether or not those resources are available. The $3 million of in-kind support that the Museum is providing means that once the building is finished, we will be ready to fill it with all kinds of cool stuff, most of which has never been publicly displayed before. These exhibitions will serve as the core around which we will build a wide array of educational programs for area schools, as well as for all of Sugar Land, Fort Bend County and beyond.”

As part of the 2006-2007 City Council Work Plan, a strategic policy project has been underway to explore a partnership opportunity between the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the City of Sugar Land. During a September workshop, City Council directed staff to continue moving forward with the project.

According to the Letter of Understanding, the City will be responsible for securing funding for the design and construction of interior improvements to modernize the building and bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Additionally, the City is responsible for preparing a detailed cost estimate for construction and for spearheading efforts to raise an estimated $6 million to complete the initial interior build-out design and construction and site work.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science will enter into a long-term, 50-year lease with the City of Sugar Land and commit to contribute an estimated $3 million to complete the final interior build-out of the facility (such as display cases, furnishings and museum art and artifacts), to pay all advertising and opening costs and to provide space and opportunity to local cultural arts initiatives. Moreover, the Letter says that the Museum is committing to pay all future ongoing operational and administrative costs.

For its part, NNP-Telfair, LP has agreed to complete all exterior repairs to the building, including limited landscaping at the site, and to prepare the preliminary site plan design, which includes parking, driveway access, and ingress and egress.

NNP-Telfair, LP has also committed to work with the City on developing a means so that Sugar Land could obtain ownership of the building and possibly could contribute additional funding in the future, perhaps matching any grants or smaller private donations (less than $1 million) received to complete the project. The anticipated funding for this portion of the project is at least $1 million.

“When we envisioned Telfair, we felt that the cultural arts were going to be a vital aspect of the community,” said Travis Stone, senior vice president, Houston Division, Newland Communities. “We consider the Central State Farm prison to be an outstanding opportunity to create that focal point for the cultural arts. We’re pleased to work with the City and the Houston Museum of Natural Science to pursue this project, not only for Telfair, but for Sugar Land and the community at large.”

“The next step is to immediately begin addressing the funding gaps,” said Karen Glynn, Sugar Land Assistant City Manager. “We also want to proceed with preliminary engineering and firm up the numbers while working with the community to identify funding opportunities and outlining the City’s role.”