Open Forum

 View Only
Back to discussions
Expand all | Collapse all

Moving to a new building

  • 1.  Moving to a new building

    Posted 03-31-2016 05:25 PM

    Who out there has moved from one building to another. How long did it take after you broke ground to be open and operational?

    ------------------------------
    Frank Smoot
    Executive Director
    Coos Historical & Maritime Center
    Coos Bay OR
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 07:51 AM

    Frank, your question has a number of variables that impact the overall duration.  Is there construction and if so how much?  Installation of exhibits when the building is ready will also have an impact on the answer. If it is just a move from one building to another and the work is already complete it could range from a few weeks, depending upon collections to a few months.  Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule.

    ------------------------------
    Ronald Street
    Managing Director/Principal
    Northstar Museums and Education
    Radnor, PA

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 08:22 AM

    We moved to a brand-new building about three times the size of the space we had occupied previously.  The construction of the new building took place over a couple years (there was some clean-up of the site that was necessary and a bit of a surprise), and we did have some overlap between the time we took occupancy of the new building and closed the old.  We moved collections storage, primarily, and placed objects in the new exhibits (except for those that remained on view in the old building) while the old building remained open.  Finally, we closed to the public for about two months while we moved offices and final exhibit objects.  We opened the new building in 1996.

    ------------------------------
    Elspeth Inglis
    Assistant Director for Educational Services
    Kalamazoo Valley Museum
    Kalamazoo MI

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 09:27 AM

    If you are also designing and building new exhibits larger projects can take 18 to 24 months. This can overlap during the time you are working with an architect. Here is a Gantt Chart you can use to figure out your project's schedule. http://www.taylorstudios.com/setting-up-for-success-creating-your-project-schedule-2/

    ------------------------------
    Betty Brennan
    President
    Taylor Studios, Inc.
    Rantoul IL

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 10:26 AM

    Hi Fred, Our Museum moved twice in the past 10 years, once leaving an ancient military building and moving to a rented facility. We then did a capital campaign to build a new home, did that and moved once more into the new facility. Happy to share ideas about how we achieved our goal and what potential and real difficulties we contented with.

    ------------------------------
    James Walther
    Executive Director
    National Museum of Nuclear Science and History
    Albuquerque NM

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 11:18 AM

    We broke ground 11/2009 on the new building. We closed to the public in our original building 7/2011 and reopened to the public in the new building 5/2012, although staff moved in seven weeks prior to that.

    ------------------------------
    Roslyn Schaffer, SHRM-SCP, SPHR
    Director of Human Resources
    The Barnes Foundation
    Philadelphia, PA
    rschaffer@barnesfoundation.org

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 01:30 PM

    We moved out of our building last July.  We moved our collections to a temp lab so that we could work on cataloging while closed for renovations.  Packing and moving about 6,000 objects and 100,000 pages of archives took about three and a half weeks with a staff of three and about four part-time volunteers.  In the two week period prior to the move we conducted training workshops for best packing and moving practices, ordered supplies, set up the collections lab, etc.  As we catalog, we are repacking items so that they are ready to move back to the new facility when ready. 

    Construction started on the new museum August 1, 2015 and will likely be completed October 2016, but could go as late as January 1, 2017.  The exhibit design will be complete by the end of July 2016.  Provided the capital campaign goes as planned, we anticipate starting exhibit fabrication shortly after completing the design and exhibit construction/installation once we are able to get into the new building.  We are hopeful to open Spring 2017!  

    ------------------------------
    Kristy Griffin
    Curator of Collections & Exhibits
    Sitka History Museum
    Sitka AK

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 01:18 PM

    We broke ground on our new facility in May of 2010 and opened to the public in November 2011, a total increase from 7,500 sq. ft. to 13,000. The museum store and art gallery were operational within one week. The exhibits were installed within 3 months after opening, although only one phase has been completed to date. Organizing the back of house fabrication, storage and collection rooms took a few months, but happened at our own pace. Exhibit development was the longest project, beginning in 2009.

    The museum is located within a larger city hall/civic center so we were weren't really given the option to follow a different timeline that would have made more sense for the us. Pushing the opening of the museum store was the most difficult deadline, we unpacked Monday and hosted our annual fundraiser on Friday. Although in the grand scheme of things, we're such a small facility it wasn't unrealistic to remain open to the public as each installation phase took place.

    ------------------------------
    Freya Liggett
    Museum Manager
    Moses Lake Museum & Art Center
    Moses Lake WA

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-01-2016 02:30 PM

    The Cordova Historical Museum (Alaska) finally moved last fall from its original home, the 40-year old Centennial Building (leaking, cold, and too small!). We moved across the street to a new community center complex called the Cordova Center which includes our library, city hall offices and a 206-seat theater/auditorium complex, in addition to our new museum, archives and storage area. It took us more than 12 years from groundbreaking to finish this 33,000 square foot complex! Delays occurred due to problems with the first contractor and fundraising challenges... but we're very happy to be settling in. The move of the actual museum exhibits took about 3-4 weeks, spread over several months, and we will be taking 6-12 months more to install the exhibits, both new and older/expanded ones. 

    ------------------------------
    Nancy Bird
    Museum Assistant
    Cordova Historical Museum
    Cordova AK

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-04-2016 10:11 AM

    The new Yorktown Victory Center (soon to become the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown) started construction in mid-2012, and staff moved into the building in March 2015. While the new building was under construction, the old building (constructed as a visitor's center for the Bicentennial) continued to operate as a museum, and our outdoor interpretive areas (a farm and a Revolutionary War encampment), although shifting locations because of the construction, continued to welcome visitors.

    When the new building opened, the old building closed; all of the artifacts were removed and returned to storage; cases, lighting, exhibit panels, graphics, and other fixtures that could be reused were removed; and the building was demolished and the site prepared for what will be a new farm. Throughout all of this work the museum has remained open. The permanent exhibit for the new museum is still under construction and will have a soft opening this October; we also have 3 films in rotation in our theater and a temporary exhibit that's a "sneak peek" at what we'll have when the permanent exhibit opens. The farm is now an "occupied farm" (i.e., the encampment and the farm occupy roughly the same space) and still is well received by our visitors.

    It hasn't been easy to maneuver around all of the construction, but keeping the site open in the midst of construction was very important to the museum's board, and it has worked. If you'd like to see some pictures of the progress in construction, go to http://www.historyisfun.org/american-revolution-museum-and-yorktown-victory-center/museum-in-progress/.

    ------------------------------
    Martha Katz-Hyman
    Curator
    Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
    Williamsburg VA

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-04-2016 11:48 AM

    Thanks for all the replies! What an incredibly wide range of experiences.

    ------------------------------
    Frank Smoot
    Executive Director
    Coos Historical & Maritime Center
    Coos Bay OR

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Moving to a new building

    Posted 04-04-2016 01:13 PM

    Frank-

    congratulations on making progress with your project.  At the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center we built facilities from the ground up in several phases over 15 years.   The biggest determinant for time from groundbreaking to opening  in each case was the course of construction which was determined by things as varied as weather, materials deliveries, inspections and simiilar impacts affected the process.  The biggest part of the project--the original buildings--broke ground in the early fall and opened in June of the following year.  I'd say the speed of the City of Coos Bay building department and your relationship with them would be a big factor.   Also,  installation of audiovisual and electronic systems  such as theater equipment can be time consuming. 

    I hope that you've joined the Oregon Museum Association--members there are always willing to be helpful

    ------------------------------
    David Porter
    Executive Director
    Leach Botanical Garden
    Portland OR

    Original Message