El Paso Children’s Museum working to get funds needed to make museum a reality

The El Paso Children’s museum is working to find the extra funds needed to upgrade the original vision of the museum voters approved in 2012.

During a meeting with the Downtown Management District, El Paso Children’s Museum founding director Paul Kortenaar said they are looking for additional dollars from the City and County of El Paso.

The museum, expected to be completed in fall of 2020, will be located at the former Greyhound lines maintenance facility at 201 W. Main street in Downtown El Paso.

The budget, as ABC-7 first reported, is still around $60-million, more than triple the original $19-million approved by voters. For exhibits, officials estimate it’ll cost between $20-$25 million dollars.

“That turns out to be somewhere between $500-$600 a square foot and so we’re looking at 40,000 ft.² of exhibits in order to accommodate a large visitation to the museum and so that 40,000 ft.² of exhibits will cost somewhere between $20 and $25 million dollars,” Kortenaar said.

There are two ways the museum is working on getting the extra money. Kortenaar tells ABC-7 an official request for more money from the city was made just before the holidays. It’s unclear what the amount was, and when that will be decided. A spokeswoman for the city has not yet returned our request for comment.

The museum and the El Paso Community Foundation also have established a public-private partnership, where they will commit one dollar for every two dollars the city commits. In addition, they will also ask the public to donate money in a capital campaign.

Kortenaar also told the board they’re in talks with the county, too.

“We have begun to start talks with the county, we have not yet made an official application with the county but but we have started those talks just to look at whether there’s an appetite in the county as well to be a part of this exciting project to make sure everyone in the county has access to the museum because we can help people living Socorro and Ysleta and we can help them as well to lower these achievement gaps and to really improve education for everybody in El Paso County. And beyond,” Kortenaar said.

ABC-7 contacted El Paso County Judge Ruben Vogt for comment on a possible partnership but he says the initial conversation happened before his term.

While the museum works on finding additional funds, the design process is underway. Kortenaar says the exhibits will be an educational experience for children of all ages.

“The exhibit area will have young children from very young from toddlers to months old to really give them educational experiences that are hard to create at home.”

The public vote for the architecture firm is currently being tallied. El Pasoans decided between three firms including, Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Snohetta and 10 Arquitectos.

“We will make a decision in the upcoming weeks of which architecture we’ll work with and then will reveal that to the public and will start sharing the actual design of this new museum,” Kortenaar said.

The vote will be one component to the final decision. The museum will also need to ensure the firm chosen can meet their budget.