DANIELLE MALOTT/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA President Pete Likins speaks in support of the proposed Rio Nuevo science center at last night's town meeting.

By January 2008, the Flandrau Science Center might be moving off campus to a new sprawling downtown science facility that spans both sides of the freeway, if President Peter Likins and others in the community get their way.

Last night leaders of the proposed Science Center project held a town hall to discuss their plans with approximately 50 members of the community, which included UA faculty and administrators.

The new facility, which will be called the University of Arizona Science Center, will be part of a larger downtown rejuvenation project called Rio Nuevo.

The science center will cost an estimated $72.6 million, said Alexis Faust, the director of the Flandrau Science Center.

Although no construction costs will be covered by the university, if the project is approved, the university will have the task of raising up to $20 million to build an endowment, which would cover ongoing costs, Likins said.

The university will also continue to give the center approximately $500,000 annually, added Likins.

The center will include exhibits about research being done by UA faculty in an effort to bring the community and the university together, Likins said.

Likins said the university is disconnected from the community, but he said he believes this project will provide a necessary link between the UA and the community.

Likins and other officials who spoke at the town hall also mentioned that the Arizona Museum and Arizona Historical Society might move into the same facility, but this is still in the early planning stages.

The center consists of east and west side facilities with a large bridge over the freeway connecting them and the Tucson Convention Center.

The bridge will be open all hours and will provide safe and easy transport for pedestrians and bicyclists across the freeway. The bridge will include science exhibits and moving sidewalks to aid those who need it.

Plans also include a giant screen IMAX-style theater, a Unispherium ÷ a large planetarium ÷ and a Reality Science Exchange, which will provide a scientific look at real world events like the Arizona wildfires.

Other attractions might include the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a butterfly vivarium, a 24-hour observatory, and a teacher resource center.

DANIELLE MALOTT/Arizona Daily Wildcat Above is an artists rendering of the Rio Nuevo project. The Flandrau Science center is scheduled to move to the project in 2008.

Likins will propose the project to the Arizona Board of Regents this month. Then the Citizens Advisory Council, the Rio Nuevo Board, the mayor and Tucson City council must give their stamp of approval in October or November.

Last year, the Flandrau Science Center was one of 16 programs put on the chopping block under Focused Excellence. A few months later, Likins kept the center away from the axe, but moved it out of the College of Science and dropped its funding by over $100,000.

The City of Tucson has wanted to move Flandrau into the revitalization project since 1999, when voters approved the project by passing Proposition 400.