Fountain Construction Co. won the bid to renovate the Russell C. Davis Planetarium in downtown Jackson.
The bid, which was opened on July 18, will be reviewed by the project architects and submitted to the Jackson City Council for approval, said former Jackson Mayor Kane Ditto, who served from 1989 until 1997 and is involved in the fundraising efforts for the planetarium.
Located at 201 E. Pascagoula St., the facility has been closed since April 2018 due to roof damage, but is scheduled to re-open in the spring of 2025 after an $18.3 million renovation.
“We have raised and have committed about $13.4 million for the project,” Ditto said.
Funds raised include $6 million from the city of Jackson bond issue, $1 million from the state that was appropriated in 2020, $500,000 from the Community Block Grant Development program and $1.5 million from Hinds County, Ditto said.
Funds raised also include $1 million from the Community Foundation for Mississippi, $500,000 from the Junior League of Jackson and $400,000 from foundations that have supported the planetarium, he said.
In addition, about $2.5 million in funding, some of which is from family foundations, has not yet been announced, Ditto said. Another $2 million to $3 million is anticipated from the New Markets Tax Credit Program, he said.
Ditto continues to reach out to individuals, corporations and foundations for large gifts, but all donations are welcome. “We accept gifts of all amounts,” he said.
Anyone who wants to help move the project ahead should donate to the Friends of the Russell C. Davis Planetarium Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi, he said. Ditto said anyone who needs more information about the project is welcome to call him at 601-624-7091.
Renovation plans for the planetarium have continued, despite the governor’s veto of funding the Legislature appropriated for it.
Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed the $2 million the Legislature appropriated for the renovation of the planetarium in 2022 and 2023. He said he had “serious concerns about its ability to sustain itself as an ongoing concern, and a $2 million cash infusion will not change that opinion.”
Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons Architects + Engineers is providing architectural design services and Falcon’s Treehouse LLC, which specializes in themed entertainment design, is handling exhibit design. Falcon’s Treehouse has provided services for institutions such as the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at Cape Canaveral and the Singapore Science Center.
When it re-opens, the planetarium will be a state-of-the-art facility that will be transformative for science education and a boost for tourism in the city and state, Ditto said. “There’s no doubt it will be the best when it opens,” he said.
Plans include renovating the interior of the planetarium, developing new educational exhibits around the exterior of the planetarium theater and building a new three-story entrance that will connect it to the arts center and give it more prominence.
The second floor of the planetarium, which has been used as office space, will be gutted and turned into an adaptive learning space with an open floor plan and equipped with furniture that can be moved according to its use.
An exhibit about Mississippi’s space program would be located on the second floor. Astronaut Ronald McNair, who died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986, spent two years at the Davis Planetarium learning what he needed to know to become the first orbital cinematographer.
Many adults in the metro area have fond memories of attending programs at the planetarium, which opened in 1979, Ditto said. “We run into lots of adults who went to the planetarium when they were children,” he said.
David Lewis, then deputy director of cultural services for the city of Jackson, told the city council in October 2022, that the planetarium is not expected to be a revenue burden for the city.
Based on other museums, the planetarium should easily draw about 60,000 paying visitors annually, which is a conservative estimate, he said. Admission was estimated to cost $10 to $15 per person, he said.
Besides admission, revenue will also come from concessions, merchandise, space rentals, special events and after-hours programs, Lewis said.
