Children Learn Through Play
While Austin Children’s Museum announced in 2008 that they would be moving to Mueller, it took until July 2011 for the non-profit to file it’s site plan with the City. They have a 0.64acre tract in Mueller Town Center on which they plan to construct a 28,000 sqft building, hopefully breaking ground in Spring 2012.
The story of the museum is quite amazing – starting in 1983 without a venue, they opened a 5,000 sqft museum four years later. After another decade, they raised $4.8 million to open in their current location at the Dell Discovery Center, on 2nd and Colorado. One issue they face is the parking challenge Downtown, though I have never had to park more than a few blocks away on the weekend – when I typically visit. I can only imagine that the weekday story is much different.
It was certainly exciting when they announced a move to Mueller, and they cited some of the reasons that Mueller was a good fit as “parking, outdoor space and a diverse community.” It will be interesting to see how the parking is designed for the town center – as a central set of amenities it will draw vehicles from outside the neighborhood, and I’m sure from inside the neighborhood too.
One of the Museum’s beliefs is that “children and communities grow together”, and I’m looking forward to seeing the new location being a venue for different communities of children to interact. I’ll update this post when more news comes out.