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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe world’s largest children’s museum is about to get bigger.
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has filed plans to build a $15.7 million expansion that will add 37,500 square feet of space including a new welcome center, bus driveway and bike port.
The project is slated to begin in the next few months and finish in time for the arrival of a blockbuster King Tut exhibit scheduled to open in June 2009, said Craig Emsweller, the museum’s vice president of operations.
A preliminary rendering shows a towering glass entryway with a large dinosaur statue, mirroring the dinosaurs outside the existing Dinosphere exhibit. The project also will extend a skywalk into the museum, provide a safer entry drive, add landscaping and relocate a library branch within the museum.
Funding will come from a $12.5 million Federal Transportation Administration grant and a 20-percent local match, Emsweller said.
It would be the largest expansion since 2004 for the 433,500-square-foot museum, which sits between Illinois and Meridian streets north of 30th Street.
A public hearing on the project is expected on Aug. 14.
To see a rendering of the project and share your thoughts, go to IBJ’s Property Lines real estate blog.
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