Tampa Museum of Art announces $65 million expansion

The Tampa Museum of Art announced a new $65 million expansion project for its downtown Tampa campus. The Weiss/Manfredi-designed project will add a crystalline, three-story structure to the waterfront that will significantly enhance the visitor experience and expand the museum’s education and event spaces.

The museum's current building was designed by San Francisco architect Stanley Saitowitz and opened in 2010. A second phase of development and expansion was anticipated, and is now currently underway.

The new expansion will include a site redevelopment and add approximately 51,000 sf of new space along the Hillsborough River to its 25,000-sf renovation currently underway, doubling its exhibition spaces and tripling its education spaces.

The expansion will rejuvenate outdoor spaces that extend beyond the museum structure, including new landscaped public access points along Cass Street, creating a seamless transition with pedestrian plazas between the public park spaces adjacent to the Riverwalk, Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, and two new dog parks.

Additionally, the project will expand the museum’s gross area from 69,000 sf to 120,000 sf; expand the education space from 1,400 sf to more than 12,000 sf; grow the exhibition and collection space from 14,800 sf to more than 43,000 sf; enhance the visitor experience with nearly 12,000 sf of space dedicated to a new covered entrance, lobby, store, and cafe; and triple the event space from 7,200 sf to 25,600 sf that can host dinners or other events for up to 500 people.

The project, which will significantly alter the city’s skyline, is slated for completion in 2024.