Decaturs Cooks Pest Control unveils new $15M plan for new natural science museum

DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) Cooks Pest Control announced in Januaryit would spend $7 million revamping the Cook Museum of Natural Science in downtown Decatur.

Officials said the expanded attraction would lure up to 200,000 visitors within its first year of operation and bring new life to a vacant auto parts store in the heart of the River City.

Since Januaryplans for the 34-year-old natural science facility have changed, big time.

Cooks said Thursday it has come up with a new plan for themuseumbased on attendance projections. The estimated cost for expanding the nonprofit organization is now $15 million, up from $10 million eight months ago.

Its been a family legacy and a student filed trip staple in the tri-county area for decades, but now the museum is on the move.

My grandfather passed away with pancreatic cancer five-and-a-half years ago and as a family we had to decide what we wanted the Cook Museum to be, explains museum board president, Brian Cook.

What started as a small insect collection turned veritable wildlife menagerie will now expand to exciting new heights.

Cooks now plans to tear down the existing museum on 133 Fourth Ave. N.E. and construct a 57,000-square-foot multi-level building on the former site of the Car Quest Auto Parts building at Lee Street and Fourth Avenue.

The new facility will also have 5,000 square feet of traveling exhibit space.

The current museum operates on more of a look and see model.

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Decaturs Cooks Pest Control unveils new $15M plan for new natural science museum