Renovated Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry will reopen Saturday

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - A family favorite in downtown Charleston is reopening its doors after it was closed for about two months.

The Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry has been operating out of a temporary location at the Citadel Mall since January so renovations could be done to the building on Ann Street downtown.

Most of the updates are structural. The museum now has new walls, ceilings, an HVAC system upgrade and new bathrooms that are ADA compliant. You will also see a few updates to their current exhibits. The work on the privately funded, non-profit cost about half a million dollars.

“We strive to provide an atmosphere that engages children and we are happy to provide a safer and cleaner environment to welcome children and families,” Nichole Myles, executive director of the museum, said. “These renovations are just one step in a larger plan to provide the best experience for families, and we were so pleased to be able to provide the temporary space during this necessary closure.”

Myles said her team had so much positive feedback while at the Citadel Mall that they are exploring options for a second campus location. She said they are also working on a new exhibit space at the current museum location.

“We have just started to explore the idea of what we are calling the ‘Play Pavilion’ and this is a way for us to bridge the gap between needing more space and being in a historic building,” Myles added. "We can’t really easily expand so this will provide an indoor/outdoor space that will allow us to put two to three new exhibits outside, interact with our inside building and really expand on the experiences our children and families can get when they come downtown.”

According to a release, nearly 6,000 people visited the museum’s temporary pop-up location at the mall since January 15.

For more information about the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, visit exploreCML.org.