Challenger Space Center facing costly, tricky move from Peoria home
Oct 16, 2017, 2:59 PM
The Challenger Space Center (Facebook Photo)
(Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — The Arizona Challenger Space Center is facing a costly and logistically demanding move away from the facility it has called home for nearly 20 years.
The 28,000-square-foot building near 83rd Avenue and Lake Pleasant Parkway houses exhibits, artifacts, interactive displays and even a full-sized satellite, among other items.
All of them will need to be wrapped, crated and moved to a storage facility and then to the center’s new home, which has yet to be decided. All of that will come at a cost.
“All of the trucks to make this move, it’s going to be between $350,000 and $500,000,” Beverly Swayman, the center’s executive director, said.
The center’s iridium satellite model will likely be the biggest logistical headache, as it was installed on the ceiling prior to the roof being built.
According to a GoFundMe posted by the center, the entire move should cost in the millions. Private donors have given to help the center, but the public can also contribute.
Swayman said she wants to keep the center located in the West Valley because of its ties to the community.
“Those are the offers we’ve looked at first and foremost because we do have a community robotics team that we host,” she said. “That needs to stay positioned in the West Valley for it to continue to function.”
Swayman said she and other officials were narrowing their options for the center’s future home.
“We’re very close to a decision on exact location, but this a complicated, time-consuming process,” she said. “We are entertaining multiple proposals from other cities as well as private individuals and development groups.”
The Challenger Space Center opened in Peoria in 2000.
