Secret donors bailing out Discovery Place nature museum

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Mecklenburg County has a reached a tentative agreement with Discovery Place that would allow the Charlotte Museum of Nature to open thanks to secret donors.

The multi-million dollar museum near Freedom Park has been sitting empty as the bills pile up. It’s been promoted as a “nature haven” and “world class museum,” featuring trails, a treetop canopy walk, an owl aviary, frog bog, river otter habitat, and more.

Discovery Place started renovating the property in 2019. Mecklenburg County owns the building and the land. A neighbor who didn’t want to be identified tells WCCB she’s tired of seeing the facility go to waste.

“They’ve got it all fenced out nobody can even get in there now and it’s at least 7 acres of county owned property,” the neighbor said. “It needs to be turned back to the county whose already paid for it and use it for county use.”

The county has spent more than $26 million dollars on the project. The deal started back in 2019 when the county agreed to fund $16 million dollars under the condition that Discovery Place would repay $14 million dollars. Discovery Place asked for more funding in 2023 to pay for rising construction costs. The county agreed to fund $10 million dollars at that time.

After years of non-payment County Commissioners consider Discovery Place in default. Now the County Manager has announced secret donors are stepping up to bail them out.

“They diverted a crisis,” Commissioner Laura Meier said. “Honestly, you know they they get all the credit for saving the otters because the otters are in a little plastic bowl.”

The county is considering leasing the building to Discovery Place for $1 every year for 35 years. Discovery Place would pay back $13 million dollars over five years. Some commissioners are divided about approving the deal.

“I’m very concerned about talking about a 35-year lease with a partner who has truly been default, and so I’m extremely uncomfortable with that many years of a lease. I feel like we have to be a lot smarter in our contracts,” Commissioner Elaine Powell said.

Some taxpayers believe the county should check Discovery Place finances before executing a new deal.

“The problem is nobody did their due diligence on finances from the very beginning nobody really asked the neighbors,” the neighbor who didn’t want to be identified said.

County commissioners will vote on a tentative agreement before the end of the month. If commissioners approve the deal, Discovery Place would have to make its first payment of $2.7 million a few days later.