MOSH moves forward with plans to build new museum to Jacksonville’s Shipyards

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — MOSH has gotten the green light to move forward with plans to bring a new museum to Jacksonville’s Shipyards on the Northbank.

Brianne Relaford brought her son Michael to the Museum of Science of History (MOSH).

“I like seeing the planets and seeing the animals that I never saw before,” six-year-old Michael Relaford said.

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Together they explored a new exhibit that just opened at the end of January. MOSH is on track with its timeline to open its new museum.

“We are looking at all new exhibits, very interactive, very engaging,” Bruce Fafard, MOSH’s CEO said.

We met up with Bruce Fafard in the newly renovated Hixon courtyard. Last month the downtown investment authority voted unanimously to allow the museum to move forward to negotiate a final lease for 4 acres on “lot X”, the development of the shipyard near TIAA Bank Field.

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“The next thing that we’re doing right now is we’re identifying exhibit designers to join the team, that we should have done by early March,” Fafard said.

The new museum will double the size of this museum so it can bring in more interactive exhibits. Fafard said what we’ve seen so far have just been renderings of what the museum “could look like” but he said the museum is planning its “big” reveal on April 30, for the actual design.

He told us they plan to submit a full site plan for the DIA to review by the end of September. In the meantime, the existing museum is still open to the public.

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Parents like Relaford can’t wait to be there when the doors finally open by its projected 2026 date.

“Anything new especially for education-wise is always a plus especially for something that’s hands-on which is why I always love MOSH,” Brianne Relaford said.

So far MOSH has secured more than 36% of its total estimated project cost of $85 million.

MOSH is hoping for a groundbreaking ceremony at the end of the year or early 2023.

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