Business & Tech

With Wardenclyffe Sale Official, Tesla Museum a Go

Shoreham nonprofit closes on Tesla lab.

Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, the nonprofit group that was the beneficiary of a $1.37 million fundraising campaign and is aiming to preserve Nikola Tesla's final laboratory in Shoreham as a museum, have finally closed on the property last week.

With the sale now in the rearview mirror and the property officially in the hands of the nonprofit group, the process to preserve the property and create a museum in Nikola Tesla's honor can now begin.

"Since the world helped contribute, as we raised money and were able to crowd source funding, we would like to listen to ideas and crowd source those as well," Alcorn said. "While we have our own ideas as well, there are a lot of creative people out there who could have ideas for the site."

With the help of former Assemblyman Marc Alessi, Tesla Science Center was able to secure an $850,000 grant, which will be reimbursed to the nonprofit after the purchase is complete. Web comic 'The Oatmeal' launched a fundraising campaign online, aiming to match the $850,000. It ended up raising over $1.3 million.

    From there, however, much work still remains to be done until a science center is actually built up. Alcorn said she hopes to replicate the previous viral success as the process of drawing out that museum moves along.

    The group put a call out to its 12,000-plus followers on Facebook, with more details to come, Alcorn said.

    Stay tuned to Patch for much more from Wardenclyffe next week.


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