Environmental Nature Center Wants to Buy Dream Home

The Environmental Nature Center has wanted to buy the Newport-Mesa Unified School District headquarters for years. Now that the offices next door are for sale, they need to raise money to realize their dream.

“It is going to be an incredible challenge to do it,” said Bo Glover, the center’s administrator.

Though the nature center, based in Newport Beach, is a rich resource for the community, it is not wealthy.

Its main source of funding comes from the school district, which donates $36,000 each year to its treasury.

The district has not named its price for the cluster of buildings on Sixteenth Street in Newport Beach, but the land was recently valued at $850,000.

Undaunted by the high price tag, Glover said he will attempt to raise the money because the center has outgrown its current home. The center, he said, needs additional land and office space to open a science center and expand its botanical garden.

The garden is one of the few spots in Orange County where California’s natural habitats still exist. Small but pristine redwood tree forests, coastal sage scrub and a freshwater marsh thrive on the center’s 2.5 acres.

It is also one of the few spots that still welcomes the raccoons, skunks and snakes that are native to the area.

Perhaps because most of the 8,000 people who visit the center each year are school children, district officials said they would love to see the property sold to the nature center. The district is moving to new quarters in Costa Mesa.

“We would be very happy if they could buy it,” said Supt. Mac Bernd. “But our primary goal is to raise as much money as we can for our students.”