Explorium
Lexington, KY - After a rocky start to 2012 with the firing of its executive director and hiring of an interim successor, Explorium of Lexington has been working to rebound with a program expansion and rising attendance numbers. But the downtown family and school group destination and program center is operating without a lease at Victorian Square, raising concerns about its future there. That concern takes on more gravity as the new owners of Victorian Square, The Webb Companies, in partnership with Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate of Cincinnati, plan big changes that include the Explorium’s exit.
“The museum had a tough spot at the beginning of the year,” said Tim Davis, Chairman of Explorium’s Board of Directors. That tough spot followed a Herald-Leader article raising questions about the organization's personnel practices, board membership, nepotism, adherence to open-meetings laws, funds due to the government and general operational issues. The museum, it was reported, was then in arrears to the city to the tune of about $291,000.
Last February, executive director Michael Gilmore was fired. Lee Ellen Martin, who years earlier had been associate director there, returned to the Explorium, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, as interim executive director to navigate the facility through rough waters. “She has done a tremendous job expanding revenue stream and has put us in a solid financial position,” Davis said.
Martin said discussions with LFUCG officials are underway and the financial issue is close to resolution. The talks were confirmed by Susan Straub, Director of Communications in the office of Mayor Jim Gray. “We are meeting with representatives of the Explorium to discuss their situation.”
Martin has overseen the enhancement of the 24,000 square foot museum's physical assets and the improvement and expansion of programs. Membership and participation at the Explorium have risen. Data shows that visits are up by more than 15,000 compared to the prior year. That included visitors from 114 Kentucky Counties, 45 states and a few foreign countries. “It shows that this board and staff are really interested in developing this as a great public asset in Fayette County,” said Davis.
Now, however, Explorium’s future is in doubt as it waits to see what happens with its tenancy at Victorian Square.
“The Explorium was discussing a long-term lease with the previous owners, when this process was interrupted by the sale of Victorian Square,” said Martin. “We are very interested in keeping Victorian Square as our home, and look forward to finalizing a long-term lease with the new owners.”
Martin said soon after the sale and on the advice of Webb Companies Vice President Ken Michul, she placed a call to Mark Fallon, the Cincinnati-based Anderson Real Estate executive who manages leasing. The call was never returned.
“The agreement of our partnership (with the Webb Companies) is that the day-to-day operations, discussions and any correspondence or conversations while we formulate our redeveloping and re-tenanting of the entire project would be handled by the Webb Company. They’re dealing with existing tenants while I’m focusing on the big picture and what Victorian Square will become,” said Fallon, Vice President of Real Estate, Jeffrey Anderson Real Estate.
Fallon said Jeffrey Anderson Real Estate was notified by its partners that the tenant did not plan to renew.
“With that,” Fallon continued, “our partners notified us that we have a vacancy there, and I’ve gone ahead and am in active negotiations with a replacement tenant for that, as well as some other spaces within the project. Once they proactively told us they did not have an interest in staying, we didn’t second guess their judgement or assume they were kidding or posturing and so we moved forward and made plans for them to exit comfortably and we are actively working on securing a replacement for the space. So, that horse is out of the barn.”
However, former Urban County Council member Doug Martin, now an attorney in private practice and husband of Explorium director Lee Ellen Martin, said attempts had been made to communicate to the developers that the children’s museum would like to remain in Victorian Square under a long-term lease.
“After the sale I reached out to Ken Michul to invite a conversation between their Cincinnati partner and the Lexington Explorium,” he said. “In that conversation, I emphasized that the Explorium wants to be a long-term resident and partner at Victorian Square and that I believed that the Explorium would do whatever it took to be a long-term partner there. And I have since had that conversation with Mr. Dudley Webb.”
Woodford Webb, president of The Webb Companies, said that the Explorium’s lease at Victorian Square is currently under evaluation.
“We are big proponents of that organization,” Webb said, in reference to the Explorium. “Our children frequently go there and enjoy the facilities. It is certainly a tremendous asset for our community. That we can all agree on. With regard to their lease, we are currently evaluating this situation and the Explorium’s current position within the center, and it is our intention to work with them to find a mutually agreeable solution to this matter.”
Webb added that his company has been taking into consideration the ideas and recommendations put forth over the past two years by architect Gary Bates, the Rupp Arena Task Force and its chair Brent Rice, the task force’s Arts and Entertainment Committee Chair Stan Harvey and Mayor Jim Gray, in examining the potential of a revitalized Victorian Square.
“We have a tremendous amount of history with Victorian Square,” Webb said. “It is a very special complex with true historical value and is very important to the overall success of downtown Lexington. It is good in its current composition, but it is our goal to energize and improve the facility and make it even better.”
Webb said that his company, along with Jeffrey Anderson Real Estate, is doing what it can to re-energize the whole of Victorian Square.
“This will involve much internal analysis and many steps, including a potential renaming and rebranding of the entire project,” Webb said. “As such, we are closely analyzing every aspect of the operation of the center, including parking, and are working towards an improved overall center.”
The Explorium estimates its annual economic impact in the immediate vicinity of downtown Lexington, as well as its external events, at approximately $840,000.
Lee Ellen Martin said that the number of Explorium programs has increased many fold over the past year to more than 50 a month. In-house programs have such titles as Baby Explorers, Mini da Vincis, Lil’ Book Worms Club, Science Lab, Family Art Workshops, and Kaleidoscope Room.
The Explorium offers a Parents Night Out on Fridays that gives folks a chance to enjoy a night in downtown starting at 6 p.m. with pick-up of children by 10 p.m. There’s a Parents Morning Out on Wednesday morning from 9 a.m. to noon.
A coming installation, said Lee Ellen Martin, sponsored by QX.net and Best Buy, is a new Eye Click, which projects computerized games on the wall or floor. She said other new installations and exhibits are being planned.
The annual Museum Go-Around, held each fall at Triangle Park, presents a fun setting with bounce rooms, bubbles and art activities along with an art fair where last fall about 35 kids sold original art. “The works children brought were amazing,” she said.
The Explorium now offers Field Trips to Go. Instead of bussing kids to downtown Lexington, schools can bring special programs to their grounds. “Last week we took a program on fossils to Breathitt County,” she said. “The program traveled to one school a day for nine days.” School children saw a display of fossils, learned about them and then made replica fossils with art supplies.
“The Explorium hasn’t communicated with us about a possible relocation but our funding would be based on their ability to provide arts programming and services to the public and wouldn’t be dependent upon being located in Victorian Square,” said Lori Meadows, executive director of the Kentucky Arts Council. The state arts agency supports the Explorium with state tax dollars.
“We’d like to stay where we are,” said Lee Ellen Martin. “We are one of the oldest children’s museums in the United States, and we believe we are an asset to this city. We’re on our second generation of visitors. We have parents who come who say, ‘I remember coming here as a child.’ And now they’re sharing that experience with their children. And we certainly want a third generation to be able to do the same thing.”