Tampa Museum of Art announces major expansion

Eleven years after the Tampa Museum of Art got its last elaborate makeover, in the form of a brand-new building, the 100-year-old institution will double its physical size with $68 million expansion.

Museum administrators announced Monday the addition of a four-story, steel-and-glass structure extending over the Hillsborough River. The addition is being designed by New York-based firm Weiss/Manfredi, the same company that’s handling the existing renovations announced in June. That project (due for completion next year) will add 25,000 square feet to the museum – the Tampa Museum of Art’s “Centennial Campaign.”

An additional 51,000 square feet will be added when the expansion is done, ideally by 2024.

More than 80 percent of the $80 million budget for the renovations and expansion will be privately funded by the museum’s Board of Trustees, the Foundation Board of Directors and other community supporters, museum patrons and members, according to a prepared statement.

Administrators say the renovation and expansion, when complete will:

Add five new art galleries, a renovated sculpture gallery, a flexible multimedia gallery space and more, increasing the exhibition and collection space from 14,800 to more than 43,000 square feet;

Triple the event space;

Dramatically increase the education space by adding a new auditorium and education wing, including four classrooms, a lobby, orientation spaces and more;

There will also be major improvements to public spaces outside the building; including new landscaped public access points and pedestrian plazas.

“I think with this addition, people will look at Tampa differently,” said Tampa Museum of Art Foundation Director Jerry Divers, chair of the campaign cabinet. “Having lived in the Tampa Bay area all of my life, this city has been very important to me. I believe that the cultural life of the city is key to our long-term success, and I believe that a fine art museum is key to that cultural life.”