First look at new Discovery Place Nature museum plans with treetop canopy walk, otters

Coinciding with Earth Day celebrations this weekend, Discovery Place Nature unveiled plans Friday night for its new building, nature center and gardens in Charlotte.

The 71-year-old, 13,000-square-foot museum on Sterling Road will be torn down and replaced with a building nearly twice its size, Catherine Wilson Horne, president and CEO of Discovery Place, told The Charlotte Observer on Friday.

The new museum, near Freedom Park and Little Sugar Creek Greenway, will include a nearly 26,000-square-foot environmental education center and a free public garden filled with native plants, according to Discovery Place.

The plan also includes using more of the 13 acres for outdoor spaces, on land that was donated to Discovery Place in 1951 by the Lions Club, Horne said.

“This is a huge step toward ensuring it remains a valuable learning resource for decades to come,” Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio said in a statement. The county owns the property and facility, and the nonprofit Discovery Place has operated the museum since it opened in 1947.

Discovery Place Nature museum construction is expected to begin next spring. The museum anticipates a late 2024 opening, Horne said.

Discovery Place Nature was the first nature museum in the Southeast, according to the museum.

Along with several exhibits and educational classes, the museum hosts camps, birthday parties and event rentals, according to the nonprofit’s website. It also has live animal exhibits, including flying squirrels, snakes and a screech owl.

Nature museum plans

The county and Discovery Place are partnering on the project, although a current cost estimate on the work has not yet been released.

Discovery Place expects it will pay more than half the amount of the county’s contribution, Horne said.

In 2017, the county approved spending $16 million on renovations at Discovery Place Nature, the Observer previously reported.

Charleston-based Liollio Architecture and California-based Hood Design Studio, led by Charlotte native Walter Hood, are planning and designing the new museum.

Discovery Place Nature isn’t the only upgrade the Charlotte-based museum at its four area locations.

In February, Discovery Place reopened its uptown IMAX dome theater with a new name, The Accenture IMAX Domed Theatre, and more than $1.2 million in renovations, including switching to digital technology.

Prior to COVID, Discovery Place served over 750,000 visitors annually across its four museums, Horne said. Attendance at Discovery Place Nature was about 80,000 people.

What to expect at Discovery Place Nature

When the Discovery Place Nature museum opens it will include several new features, including:

▪ A treetop canopy walk

▪ Naturalist lab

▪ Outdoor otter habitat

▪ Piedmont Explorations exhibit featuring native plants and wildlife

“The new museum will have more offerings for our growing population, including programming for all ages,” Horne said.

“It will also give us the opportunity to increase the number and diversity of the living collection of animals native to this region,” she said, “and will have space for additional amenities like labs, classrooms and spaces for educational programs.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 6:30 PM with the headline "First look at new Discovery Place Nature museum plans with treetop canopy walk, otters."