Albany Museum of Art breaks ground at downtown location

ALBANY — In the gentle shadow of the two-story brick building in downtown Albany that once housed a thriving department store, officials with the Albany Museum of Art and city and county governments gathered with a crowd of approximately 170 well-wishers under an azure sky to break ground at what will be the museum’s new home.

“This morning is more than an event. It is about a vision, a partnership, and the many people who have helped bring us to this moment,” Ripley Bell Jr., president of the Albany Museum of Art Board of Trustees and chairman of the Campaign Committee that is raising funds for the $35 million adaptive use project.

“Today is an important step as we move into the public phase of this campaign. We’re incredibly proud of how far we have come, and we’re grateful to everyone who has helped us get here. But we also know great community projects are built on conversation, one partnership, and, yes, one donation at a time.”

Announced funding for the project includes historic tax credits, $4 million in SPLOST funds from the city of Albany, $3 million in SPLOST funds from Dougherty County, a $3 million donation from the Bunzl Foundation, and $1 million in private donations.

The transformation of the 1970s-era department store at the corner of North Washington Street and West Broad Avenue into the new Albany Museum of Art is expected to take 24 months. Once completed, the museum will have 58,000 square feet of usable space for art exhibitions, educational programming, a family area, storage and protection of its collection, event space and offices. In addition, the new AMA will add a store and café.

During the construction downtown, the museum will continue to offer a full slate of art exhibitions, programming and events at its current site at 311 Meadowlark Drive, adjacent to Albany State University’s West Campus.

Bell thanked AMA Executive Director Andrew Wulf for his leadership and work in making the project a reality, and acknowledged the vital roles that the museum’s Board of Trustees, Capital Campaign Committee, Albany and Dougherty County public officials, the Robert N. Brooks family, who donated the building, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, including the McCormack Foundation and the Jame Barnett Jr. Foundation, and community supporters have played in the progress of the project.

Albany Mayor Bo Dorough said the AMA relocation is one of three downtown undertakings characterized in the city’s master plan as “catalytic projects.” Already attracting 20,000 visitors a year and with expectations that its downtown site will swell that number, Dorough said the new museum will be “an essential component of narrowing” the gap between what downtown Albany is, and “what we want and need it to be.”

“The museum on this corner will be the heart of an arts district,” the mayor said. “Its proximity to the Municipal Auditorium, the Little Theater, the Arts Council, and Albany State will serve to both integrate and enhance the programs and events of each of these cultural institutions. I applaud the museum for making this bold step, which will enrich and educate children, students, and adults throughout southwest Georgia for generations to come.”

The downtown site will be “totally transformed” over the next 24 months, Jake Reese, president of LRA Constructors, the firm that will build the new museum, said. The outdoor area where the ceremony took place will be transformed into a sculpture garden, he noted.

“The adaptive re-use project blends protecting the historic character of the property with modern design elements that will create a first-class facility that will serve the Albany area for generations to come,” Reese said. “The design is state-of-the-art, offering finishes and systems that will create a unique visitor experience. The design team at DLR Group and the museum have created an incredible vision, which the construction team, along with our friends at Aaron & Clements, look forward to bringing to life.”

DLR Group, a global design company, designed the new museum and has been involved with the project since shortly after the building was donated to the AMA by the Brooks family. Aaron & Clements, a Columbus firm, is working with LRA Constructors as the museum’s representative in all aspects of the project delivery process.

Wulf opened his remarks with a special thank-you to former AMA Technical Director Bruce Campbell, who worked tirelessly on the relocation project from its inception until he officially concluded that role last December. 

Noting that the downtown site has already created memories with southwest Georgia residents who shopped there when it was a Belk Department Store, Wulf said, “This is a historic morning, and what makes it especially meaningful is we’re standing before a building that already belongs to the story of the city. And now it is about to begin a new life. That is what we are here to celebrate.

“We are not simply building something new. We are transforming something familiar, reimagining this concrete shell as a 21st-century museum for Albany, this region, and for generations to come. There is something powerful about that. It says that renewal is possible. It says that imagination has a place in the heart of our city.”

The groundbreaking “represents years of planning, generosity, partnership, persistence, and faith — faith in this museum, faith in the city, and faith in what the arts can do for a community,” Wulf said.

Wulf said the AMA is grateful to the many supporters of the project and the Capital Campaign Committee, “whose belief in this museum helped bring us to this day.” Before the group donned construction hats and took bright blue shovels to an area of white sand for the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony, he reminded the audience that there is still work to do.

“Today is not the end of the journey,” Wulf said. “It is the beginning of a new phase, a visible phase, an exciting phase, and a transformational one. A building that once served one purpose will now serve another. A downtown landmark will become a home for art. This community will gain a new place to gather, to learn, and to be inspired. That is a wonderful thing.

“Now, let’s begin.”