GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The iconic Grand Rapids Public Museum is expanding.
Museum officials confirmed there is a $50 million expansion in the building's future. A focus of the project will be increased river access.
The museum has been a staple of downtown Grand Rapids for 170 years. In the past decade, there's been a 279% increase in visits.
In 2022, officials had to turn away school groups due to capacity constraints. They didn't want to continue that in the future. The amount of students allowed in the building will go from 30,000 to 60,000, they say.
The expansion will be the museum's first major renovation since the location opened in 1994. It's part of a larger restoration series planned for the riverfront.
The funding came from several sources, including:
- $11 million from the 2023 state budget.
- $1 million from Kent County.
- $800,000 ARPA placemaking grant from The Right Place.
- Plus private donations, all currently totalling $25MM
GRPM President and CEO Dale Robertson is excited for the expansion project to help the museum continue doing what he says it does best, put the learning directly into your hands.
"It is really that full body, multiple sensory kind of experience," says Robertson. "So that allows lessons to be to be shared and really creates the narrative. We make decisions based on narrative, and so the successful museum visit is someone leaving asking the next best question for themselves. And that's the goal. That's what we hope to produce and be able to give to the community through this expansion."
You can read more about the expansion on their website here.
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