LOWELL -- The city is forming a partnership with a local nonprofit group to build a science center at Kathleen Johnson Memorial Park.
NWA Space received approval Tuesday from City Council to move forward on a plan for a long-term lease of 20 acres in the park, which is just west of Interstate 49, according to a news release from the organization.
Officials have begun developing a master plan for the center. The NWA Space board has solicited proposals from a number of architectural firms. The board will soon launch a fundraising campaign, according to the release.
Based on the agreement with the city, the planning phase needs to be completed within six months and construction should be finished two years after that, according to Katherine Auld, NWA Space board chairman.
The site will serve as home of a 36-foot-long, century-old refracting telescope NWA Space received last year from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. It was built by the John Brashear Co. in 1911 and is tied with another device as the sixth-largest refracting telescope in the United States.