Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Council approves Fine Arts museum expansion
By MARLON A. WALKER and LENNIE BENNETT
Published June 16, 2006
THE DEAL The Museum of Fine Arts, which hopes to begin its $21-million expansion by year’s end, has finished a deal with the St. Petersburg City Council about parks and parking. In return for never developing parkland it owns north of its building (see map below), the museum will gain 18 angled parking spaces to the east. The council unanimously approved the deal Thursday.
THE LOOK
The expansion — a two-story, trapezoidal glass conservatory connecting the original Palladian-style building to a second structure with more galleries, expanded gift shop and cafe, opening up to views of the downtown waterfront (see rendering) — will begin when fundraising is finished. The museum is short of its goal by $3-million. The north side addition is expected to cost $18-million with another $3-million for upgrades.
THE HOPE “We plan on finishing the fundraising by the end of the year, we have that hope, and we can break ground in December,” museum director John Schloder said Thursday. Construction on the north side will take about 18 months, Schloder said. When that’s under way, fundraising will begin on an almost identical wing for the south, which too will occupy a parking lot. The idea is for construction to begin on it when Phase 1 is done.
[Last modified June 16, 2006, 11:00:27]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
