Walls can come down on the Downtown Southbank at the closed Museum of Science & History now that the city issued a permit Feb. 16 for demolition.
Contractor ELEV8 Demolition of Jacksonville can take down the four-story, 83,299-square-foot building at 1025 Museum Circle at a project cost of $835,000.
ELEV8 intends to demolish the structure and foundation and remove the debris.
The city owns the 7.8 acres where the museum building was developed in 1968.
MOSH was founded in 1941 and moved to the Southbank building in 1969.
MOSH closed Sept. 1, 2025, as it raises funds to move to a proposed Northbank facility in the Shipyards area.
The Downtown Investment Authority board voted Jan. 21 to approve a $875,000 budget transfer to demolish the 58-year-old museum. The funding also would provide for asbestos abatement related to the demolition.
The site is next to The Related Group’s land where it intends to build the South Bank Residences 25-story tower and adjacent eight-story residential building and garage.
MOSH said the building was structurally sound but needed extensive updates of its plumbing, wiring and mechanical workings.
On Jan. 12, Downtown Investment Authority CEO Colin Tarbert told the Jacksonville City Council Special Committee on the Future of Downtown that the MOSH building would be returned to city control.
The new MOSH site on the Downtown Northbank is part of 8.68 acres on the west bank of Hogans Creek where it meets the St. Johns River, south of VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and VyStar Ballpark.
In March 2025, Council approved an amended agreement with MOSH, the city and DIA to allow for the new facility’s construction.
Under the agreement, MOSH will construct the building and design a surrounding park, with the city providing $880,000 toward the park’s design.
The city will own the building and lease it to the museum over a 40-year term at $1 per year.
The city will build the park, provide roadway and utility work, and construct a length of the Northbank Riverwalk on the property as part of $20 million in improvements already funded in the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.
The city has committed an additional $50 million plus the funding for design, and at the time, MOSH had raised $50 million in private donations.