Explore. Learn. Grow: How a Children’s Museum Revitalized Downtown Coldwater

Project Description

Early education. Downtown revitalization. Historic preservation. That’s what we accomplished when the Coldwater Downtown Development Authority (DDA) began a project to help expand the Children’s Museum of Branch County (CMBC) and relocate it to a vacant downtown storefront. After a robust fundraising campaign that raised $160,000 (including $50,000 from MEDC’s Public Space Community Places grant), and a $350,000 loan from the City, the DDA and the CMBC renovated over 6,000 square feet in an iconic downtown building.

In April of 2023, the CMBC reopened with a brand-new space, new exhibits, and the capacity to welcome even more students and families for hands-on learning in an engaging environment. Museums are becoming a tool for downtown revitalization and community building. Not only do they bring families into a key commercial corridor, the CMBC is now located within a 10-minute walk of half of Coldwater families.

Is your project easy to replicate in other communities (clear in its impact and execution for other communities)?

The public-private partnership model can have a tremendous impact unique to each community. In short, the process to be replicated is as follows:
• Identify the need and purpose for the project: who it benefits (directly and indirectly); what goals it helps achieve.
• Identify the plan options, costs, and existing resources.
• Explore financing options. Seek a loan from the local governing body, if bonding is cost-prohibitive.
• Identify the project cost gap. Apply for appropriate grants.
• Work with local partners to fundraise and cross-promote; build an awareness for your project before, during, and after fundraising.
• Partner wherever possible and look for in-kind contributions.
• Be flexible!
There are many purposes that can make a similar project worthwhile in other communities. For us, it was expanding an educational resource for local families (where 80% of students qualify for Title 1 funding, and adjacent census tracts rate high on the social vulnerability index); renovating the ground floor of a vacant commercial building on a key corner in our downtown; providing more room for the museum’s retail area and helping to diversify its income stream; and helping achieve our Main Street transformation strategy which focuses on creating a family-friendly district with an emphasis on arts and culture.
But there are many other “why” questions that a project like this can answer too. The Association of Children’s Museums Trends Report shares further insights: museums are increasingly used as a tool for downtown revitalization and local job creation; museums play a unique role by providing services and experiences to nontraditional families; museums engage a wide range of age groups; staff can develop competencies and skills that translate to the childcare workforce; and museums can induce significant economic impacts for its neighbors.
Even if not centered on a children’s museum, the model of collaboration can be applied to many other purposes and goals. The DDA purchased the building in 2019 to help prevent further deterioration, reduce blight, and use the property as a tool to incentivize strategic development within the community, without knowing what precisely the end use would be.

What is the Community Wealth Impact (based on one or more of the categories you selected) of your project?

The City of Coldwater’s efforts to relocate and revitalize the Children’s Museum meet 5 of 6 of the community wealth impact categories. For Lifelong Learning, our Children’s Museum provides families the opportunity to learn about farming, electricity, and more through hands-on engagement. The museum is designed for parents and children to play together and admission fees are low. The highest rate structure is $5 per adult, or $3 per adult for those who receive public assistance benefits.

In the Public Health Category, the new location downtown provides better access to the facility. It is now located within a 10-minute walk of 50% of the city’s population, and along US-12, a key roadway. The project not only increases our citizens’ quality of life by expanding another “third space” to the community, but encourages families to use non-motorized methods of reaching the museum. Third spaces have shown to reduce stress from work or school, and have become even more important in the post-pandemic era.

The Children’s Museum meets the Arts and Culture category by creating a safe space for children to express their creativity and explore the arts. The museum features a stage for children to dress-up and act out their favorite plays and hosts many special programs throughout the year including STEAM-centered classes and craft projects. The museum is now located across the street from the historic Tibbits Opera House, and has plans to increase its partnership with both the opera house and the historic Branch County District Library located just a couple blocks West, also downtown.

Relocating and expanding the Children’s Museum to Downtown Coldwater also ensures financial security for families and downtown businesses. With general admission costing $5 per person, and discounts for groups of 10 or more, the Children’s Museum offers an affordable experience that can be enjoyed by everyone. The museum further reduces rates for families who receive SNAP benefits.

Financial literacy is important to the museum and its financial supporters who have partnered on a new interactive banking exhibit and have discussed using the museum as a location for family financial literacy education classes/resource open houses.

Additionally, we expect the Children’s Museum to bring an increase in foot traffic downtown and tourism into the area. The expanded space has already led to an increase in the number of school field trips and birthday parties scheduled at the museum, in addition to the over 6,000 visitors that they received annually in the former location. These things will help ensure the economic vitality of our community.

Finally, the Children’s Museum fits into the sustainability category by reusing, renovating, and revitalizing an existing building in our downtown area. Funds were spent on preserving and utilizing the building that was already there. The community did not pursue new construction for this project that would have otherwise required use of additional natural resources. The CBPU has also partnered on a solar flower installation for the museum in addition to donating an electric bike to demonstrate local power and energy efficiency.

Describe the creativity and originality of your project.

Relocating and expanding the local children’s museum required a great deal of creativity: in financing and fundraising for the project; in creating partnerships to reduce costs of demolition and other renovation expenses; and making a well-rounded case for the project that extended beyond downtown revitalization.

The last time our DDA renovated a building, state laws allowed DDAs to seek traditional bank financing for projects. Since then, regulations have changed. Traditional financing was no longer an option, and bonding for the project would have been too expensive for the scope of a $500,000 renovation. We worked to explore other options and gained support of the City Council who agreed to loan a portion of the funds to the DDA at a 1% interest rate – better than any alternative funding source could have provided – and ultimately helped make the project feasible, in addition to the DDA’s $50,000 cash commitment and the $160,000 of funds raised.

We also worked to develop a lease that kept initial rent low for the museum, slowly increasing over time as they grow and adjust to a new environment but never exceeding the rent payment that they were accustomed to in their previous, smaller location. The DDA was able to budget for loan repayment, and also brought needed retail to the downtown district by including a retail requirement within the lease.

In addition to the creativity of financing the project and the rent structure, we spent time and resources to secure up-to-date data sources and information that showed how important the museum project would be to our community at large, our downtown, and to the museum’s own goals of growth in our county.