Museum to bring WOW factor to block
A row of abandoned buildings on Sacramento Street in Downtown Lodi sit withering away and waiting to be purchased and re-utilized.
Across the street is the World of Wonders Science Museum (WOW), a once-blighted building itself that sat vacant from 2001 to 2009 before being revitalized.
In the coming months, WOW expects to own five of the boarded-up properties facing the museum. At that point, renovations can begin that will bring a WOW factor to the block, a transformation that Sally Snyde, president of the museum, envisioned back in 2016 when she shared her dreams of a $19 million expansion with the community.
WOW plans to convert the buildings into a dazzling science plaza, giving the nonprofit museum four times the amount of exhibit space that will cover the entire 100 block of Sacramento Street.
“We are not pursuing the Hassan building on the northwest corner, nor the last two buildings on the southwest corner,” said John Della Monica, a member of the WOW board of directors. “But we are looking at everything in between.”
Before WOW purchased the buildings, it was unlikely they’d be utilized again anytime soon, as some of them have sat vacant for decades.
The amount of work and money the renovations would require could be the reason for the buildings’ prolonged vacancy.
“Vacancy is a building’s worst nightmare and the majority of them (on Sacramento Street) have suffered this consequence,” Della Monica said. “With no occupancy, no preventative or on-going maintenance is in place to deal with the potential of water damage, infestation, vandalism, etc.”
The museum’s grand plans could be a boost for the six operating businesses amongst the strip of vacant buildings. And they can also change perceptions about Sacramento Street.
The museum brings in people from different cities and schools for field trips. Snyde said that only 20 percent of WOW visitors are from Lodi.
Having the boarded-up buildings in front of the museum isn’t good for business in Lodi, Snyde said.
“If a family comes here and they come down the street, this is exactly what happens; yes they come to the museum, they come into the museum, but they don’t want to go to Downtown Lodi,” Snyde said. “They walk out this front door and they’re thinking the rest of the town looks like Sacramento Street.”
Snyde said she talks to the visitors and convinces them to walk a few blocks down to School Street to see what Downtown Lodi really has to offer, leading to visitors returning to Snyde to compliment the town, saying they’ll return.
Snyde is excited about the face lift coming to Sacramento Street.
The museum is one of the recipients of a Brownsfield Grant, which will help pay for the renovations.
The planned exhibit will consist of a planetarium with a 60-foot media dome that will display movies, 3D videos and more, along with an amphitheater for live events, music and outdoor movie screenings.
Near the amphitheater will be a centrifugal carousel, with hand-carved and painted indigenous
“They walk out this front door and they’re thinking the rest of the town looks like Sacramento Street.” SALLY SNYDE, PRESIDENT OF THE WOW MUSEUM
animals of the Central Valley.
The 100 block N Sacramento Street will be closed off and turned into walking space for the science plaza.
“Its going to be landscaped so it’s very natural, but yet it’s going to be very scientific and some of the trees that we’re going to put in are going to be solar,” Snyde said. “So we’ll be able to use a lot of solar energy.”
Plans also call for solar panels to be installed atop the new building.
Stretches of Sacramento Street have been looked at as the slums of Lodi, according to Snyde. There aren’t many businesses there, but within the coming year or so, that might change with the new science exhibit.
“I’m from San Jose,” Snyde said. “When we started this museum, people didn’t believe, even the town didn’t believe we could do it because it’s on Sacramento Street.
“But I didn’t see it that way, because I didn’t see it as the slums.”