The EFSC Planetarium in Cocoa: Closure and Replacement Plan

In its April 11, 2022 master plan release, Eastern Florida State College called the old Cocoa planetarium permanently closed, citing severe damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017 (EFSC master plan release, April 11, 2022).

An April 26, 2018 college release had said the planetarium closed for safety reasons after Irma and would remain shuttered indefinitely (EFSC planetarium release, April 26, 2018). In its 2022 master plan the college moved from repair to replacement, listing a new planetarium at $21.6 million and saying an engineering study done after Irma had found serious safety issues, so the old building would be torn down (EFSC master plan release).

Two official sources in Cocoa describe the planetarium differently. On the City of Cocoa visitors page, the Planetarium appears in a list of community features alongside Brevard County Schools and the Chamber of Commerce (City of Cocoa visitors page), while the college's April 2022 release described the planetarium as permanently closed (EFSC master plan release).

It was a 48,500-square-foot planetarium and observatory built in 1974 on the Cocoa Campus, known for its telescope and laser light shows (EFSC planetarium release, 2018).

The college said in 2018 that the Cocoa planetarium's rooftop telescope was one of the largest public telescopes in Florida and had escaped damage in the storm (EFSC planetarium release). The same release noted that Brevard Public Schools had become by far the largest user of the building, sending about 12,000 students a year (EFSC planetarium release).

Before the storm the planetarium held public events. For the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, the college opened the Planetarium & Observatory, on the western side of the Cocoa Campus, for special afternoon hours with doors at 1 p.m. and free admission (EFSC eclipse viewing release, July 27, 2017). The college's 2022 master plan release dates the Irma damage to 2017 (EFSC master plan release).

Hurricane Irma partially tore off the planetarium roof, a week of torrential rain followed, and an engineering study then found life safety problems in the Cocoa building that the college said needed to be addressed immediately (EFSC planetarium release, 2018).

The college hired Cape Design Engineering Co. to study the structure. Its list of immediate life safety needs was a new roof, a new heating and air conditioning system, a new fire suppression system and new emergency exits, along with wider renovations to bring the 1974 building up to code; the firm estimated that work at $5 million (EFSC planetarium release).

The equipment was a second bill. A study by planetarium officials in 2010 had put the needed upgrade of laser show and observatory technology at more than $3.3 million, which the college said would likely exceed $4 million in 2018 dollars, bringing its total estimate for repair, renovation and new equipment to $9 million (EFSC planetarium release).

Eastern Florida State College said in 2018 that it did not have the money for a $9 million project, and the two outside parties it approached about taking over the Cocoa building both declined (EFSC planetarium release, 2018).

The college's plan at the time had two tracks: add the planetarium to the Capital Improvement Plan it files with the state each year in the hope the Legislature would fund it, and explore whether a community capital campaign could raise the money (EFSC planetarium release).

Earlier efforts to hand the Cocoa planetarium to someone else had also failed. In 2016 the college met with the company that operates the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex about taking it over, and after a tour the company declined, citing the building's age and costly renovations. After Irma the college asked Brevard Public Schools about assuming ownership, and the district declined too (EFSC planetarium release). By the April 2022 master plan the college described the old structure as permanently closed and slated for demolition (EFSC master plan release).

The $87 million, 10-year Cocoa Campus master plan that Eastern Florida State College announced on April 11, 2022 listed $21.6 million for a new planetarium replacing the Irma-damaged building (EFSC master plan release, April 11, 2022).

The college said most of the money for these Cocoa projects was being requested through appropriations from the Florida Legislature, and it called the plan the largest planned capital outlay it had ever made on any of its four campuses (EFSC master plan release). A July 28, 2022 release said the plan called for a new Planetarium alongside an Advanced Manufacturing Center, a science building, a renovated Health Sciences Center, student housing and grounds work (EFSC economic growth release, July 28, 2022).

The April 2022 release also said the planetarium was to be demolished, along with two mid-1960s classroom buildings and a gym and pool formerly used by the Central Florida YMCA, after the post-Irma engineering study found serious safety issues (EFSC master plan release).

The Eastern Florida State College Cocoa Campus is at 1519 Clearlake Road, Cocoa, FL 32922, main phone 321-632-1111, and the college calls it the oldest and largest of its four campuses (EFSC Cocoa Campus page).

The college traces its start to 1960, when Brevard Junior College held its first classes in the old Cocoa High school building off Forrest Avenue; Carver Junior College, founded the same year for African-American residents of Brevard County, merged with it in 1963, and the combined college moved to 87 acres beside Clear Lake in Cocoa (EFSC history and mission page). It became Brevard Community College in 1970 and took the Eastern Florida State College name on July 1, 2013 (EFSC history and mission page).

Today the Cocoa Campus page points visitors to a STEM building with classrooms, labs and workforce training in HVAC, welding, CNC machining and mechatronics, plus aerospace technology and health programs (EFSC Cocoa Campus page). Other places to see the Cocoa sky and riverfront are covered in the Cocoa things to do guide.

Last verified: October 21, 2026, after a new pass through the college's 2017 eclipse release, its 2018 repair release, both 2022 master plan releases, its history and Cocoa Campus pages, and the City of Cocoa visitors page.