Upgrade will close nature museum for 14 months
The Biodôme will close for 14 months starting this spring for long-awaited renovations.
One of the city’s most popular tourist destinations, the nature museum will be redesigned at a projected cost of $19 million to become a more immersive experience, said Laurence Lavigne Lalonde, the member of Montreal’s executive committee responsible for Space for Life, which includes the Botanical Garden, Insectarium and Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium as well as the Biodôme.
The renovations are expected to bring in additional revenues of $3.5 million in the first year after the Biodôme reopens, Lavigne Lalonde told reporters at city hall after Wednesday ’s executive committee meeting.
The Biodôme was supposed tohavebeenrenovatedin2016, in time for the city’s 375th anniversary, but former mayor Denis Coderre cancelled the project in August 2016 after the bids came in at more than double the estimate of $14.2 million.
Since then, the plans have been revised to better reflect the goal of improving the visitor experience, and plans to renovate the cafeteria and administrative offices have been cancelled, Lavigne Lalonde said.
“The Biodôme is one of the most visited places in Montreal. But now we are afraid that if we don’t go forward with this project, people will go less because the experience is not as interesting as we could (make it),” she said.
While the projected cost is higher than the original estimate, it is more reasonable than $31 million, which was the lowest bid the city got in 2016, Lavigne Lalonde noted.
She said the city is looking at three bids, the lowest is $19 million.
If that bid meets all of the city’s requirements, it will be approved by city council on March 26, Lavigne Lalonde said. The Biodôme would close a few days after council approval and reopen in about June 2019, she said.
The improvements will include new walkways where visitors can experience four eco-systems: a tropical rainforest; a northern hardwood forest; sub-arctic climate; and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The Biodôme was a pioneering concept when opened in 1992, but it needs a facelift to keep up with the times and maintain its appeal with tourists and Montrealers, Lavigne Lalonde said.