By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Development of the Mosaic Children's Discovery Center in downtown St. Joseph is continuing to go smoothly officials with the Mosaic Life Care Foundation say.
Mosaic Life Care Foundation President Julie Gaddie says things are at a very exciting place currently with the Discovery Center
"We've been working with our partners at Bayer Construction, and they've been working on demoing the inside of the building," Gaddie tells reporters during an Open House at EmpowerU in downtown St. Joseph. "We're also at a great place in design, and today we're so excited to welcome people in to see those concept drawings, and we're really here to get their feedback, to think through what they like, what they'd like to see us consider as we continue through the design process."
Support from all over has been shown for the Children's Discovery Center.
Numerous donors have stepped in to help the project and one million dollars was built into the state budget, currently on Governor Mike Parsons desk, for the project.
Gaddie says this project has really brought everyone in the community together
"We are very excited to have partners in the city, in the county, Mosaic Life Care, our foundation, we have private donors who have stepped forward to help us, and we're welcoming new donors all of the time into the project," Gaddie says. "Things are going really well and we're on track to complete the project as planned."
Gray Manufacturing and the Sunderland Foundation are two local donors that have contributed to the project.
Community members also got an opportunity on Thursday to see some of the exhibit designs that they may have helped influence during design sessions earlier this year.
Design renderings from Catton and Co were on display during an open house at EmpowerU, many focused-on things around northwest Missouri.
Gaddie says the museum hopes to show off how to achieve its goal of health and wellness in northwest Missouri
"So, we've chosen themes in the Discovery Center that really highlight some of the exciting things about our region," Gaddie explains. "We want this to be completely custom to St. Joseph and to northwest Missouri, so throughout the Discovery Center we're working hard to bring in those elements that families will easily identify."
Gaddie says the open house was a great opportunity to show the community these design ideas and get back input on the designs.
Hopes are the center will be completed in the Fall of 2024.
