Jersey City Science Center Kicks Off $40M Expansion, To Include Goats, Otters, Mini Golf

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Liberty Science Center in Jersey City broke ground Thursday on Project Supernova, a $40 million expansion set to include interactive science attractions such as physics mini golf and a River Otter Habitat.

The science museum is also embarking on a Sept. 11 Memorial Garden featuring original World Trade Center bars.

New attractions planned for the Science Museum, located in Jersey City near the Hudson River, include Kids Corner — a space where goats and children will have parallel playgrounds and supervised interactions — and Physics Mini Golf, an 18-hole miniature golf course designed around scientific principles.

The project also includes River Rising, a 6,600-square-foot exhibition gallery focused on climate change impacts on the region's marine life and environment.

The opening of River Rising at the center will mark the completion of the reimagined Our Hudson Home gallery, which already includes the Izzo Family Touch Tank and the virtual reality Climate Time Machine.

Other planned additions include a River Otter Habitat with indoor and outdoor viewing areas, and the Weston Family Pollinator Garden, a green roof with native plantings meant to support local pollinators and other wildlife.

The center also will someday include Big Balloon, a 90-foot-high artwork by Argentinian conceptual artist Leandro Erlich, and a modernization of the Jennifer Chalsty Planetarium, which Liberty Science Center said is the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere.

Project Supernova was funded, in part, by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's first award under its Cultural Arts Facilities Expansion program, along with support from Dr. Richard Hodosh and other donors.