Big plans for Marine Science Institute in Redwood City

The nonprofit’s 13,641-square-foot home, located at 500 Discovery Parkway along Redwood Creek, was constructed in 1995 and the office component is a couple of trailers acquired around the same time that are in need of repairs. 

The plan is to tear down that facility and replace it with a 30,862-square-foot one with a publicly-accessible aquarium more than double the size of the existing one, ample teaching space, a community room that could be rented out for private events, a boathouse and housing for its employees. 

The expansion, estimated to cost about $50 million, has been a dream of Executive Director Marilou Seiff since she took on that role in 2003. 

“This could be a transformational gift to MSI and the community for the next 50 years,” she said. “Something like this could be that magnet and destination for local citizens, give them a way to get out on the water, learn about stewardship, sea level rise and get the kids outdoors playing in the mud.” 

For Seiff’s dream to become a reality, she and her colleagues will first have to convince landowner Abbott Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, to sign on to the project. 

“I’m feeling confident, I’m 100% behind this project and I won’t give up on it,” Seiff said, adding that she’s also exploring other possibilities, such as convincing a real estate developer to purchase the 17-acre property and include the new MSI headquarters in the redevelopment plans. MSI currently occupies 1.5 acres and Seiff hopes the new facility, if it’s built, would occupy 4 acres. 

Abbott Laboratories bought the 17-acre property, 3 acres of which are underwater, from Cargill in the late 1990s for $42 million, Seiff said. She last heard it’s worth $28 million.

Abbott purchased the property with the intention of redeveloping it with a research and development facility, Seiff said, but those plans have not yet materialized, and so the company has continued to let MSI remain on site with a year-to-year lease.

Seiff added that there are no other locations in the region that meet the nonprofit’s needs, which include deep water access, a beach and close proximity to freeways so schools can easily access the facility.

Designed by EHDD Architects, which is responsible for the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Exploratorium in San Francisco, MSI’s new home would emphasize sustainability. Portions of the building would be raised on pilings in anticipation of sea level rise and it would sit atop a restored living marsh, Seiff said, emphasizing that the plans do not include filling in the Bay. The building aims to be net zero energy and will be equipped with a living roof and potentially an on-site “living machine,” a method of treating wastewater that mimics the cleansing function of wetlands, according to project plans.

The 7,800-square-foot aquarium open to the public would feature a kelp forest and multiple species of shark, crab, jellyfish and other ocean life native to the Bay.

“We get a lot of calls from people wanting to bring their kids to the aquarium and we’ve never been set up for self-guided tours and with the aquarium we could sell tickets to classes and have self-guided tours open to the public,” Seiff said. “It won’t be a Steinhart or a Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it’d be local.” 

Four teaching spaces would be outfitted with wet labs, the community room would offer views of Bair Island and the Bay and the boathouse would be used by local rowing and paddleboard organizations and could potentially offer boat rentals to the public as well.

The workforce housing component hasn’t been fully fleshed out, but would likely be able to accommodate six to eight people, Seiff said, noting that employee retention because of the high cost of living in the Bay Area is one of the biggest challenges facing the nonprofit. MSI currently has about 30 employees, including 12 full-time.

MSI hopes to secure a land deal as soon as possible so that it can begin fundraising during its 50th anniversary, which is in 2020. In an ideal world, the new facility would be open by 2023, Seiff said.

“I love what MSI does, you may go out on that boat 100 times a year, but each time you’re taking a group of kids seeing it for the first time and seeing that excitement and that passion build up is invigorating — you can’t beat it. And that excitement also helps protect the Bay because unless you notice the importance of the Bay you may not have a need to protect it,” she said. “We want to have a facility where we can really walk the walk and talk the talk and show the importance of the Bay.” 

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102