The Detroit Science Center, which ran out of money and closed last September, could get a new lease on life thanks to a proposed deal by which a local businessman will buy the strapped institution’s assets, writes the Detroit Free Press.

Ann Arbor real-estate mogul Ron Weiser agreed to buy the museum’s building, land, and exhibits from a Michigan bank for an undisclosed sum then sell them on to a new nonprofit entity. Citizens Bank had set a July 5 date to auction the property of the center, which defaulted on its mortgage last year.

Mr. Weiser said the purchase price is “substantially less” than the museum’s $6.2-million debt, and that the deal is contingent on the reconstituted and renamed Michigan Science Center raising enough money to buy back the assets and operate in the black.

Tom Stephens, chairman of the museum’s board, declined to estimate how much it would need to raise to re-open or when that might happen. “I want to open the doors as quickly as possible, but when we open them we need to make sure we can keep them open,” he said.