An ongoing expansion at the Portland Museum of Art is about to get bigger.
The museum is planning to acquire four downtown properties on Free Street from MaineHealth, which is consolidating its administrative office space over the next two years.
PMA Director Mark Bessire said a surface parking lot is also part of the deal, which he believes will open up new opportunities for the museum and Portland's art district.
"We do think there's no doubt that having the parking open in this area, street parking, will help all the local businesses, the State Theatre to the Flat Iron," he said. "And we probably will see an increase in our attendance at the museum of maybe 5% or 10% by having adjacent parking."
PMA eventually plans to move administrative staff into one of the new MaineHealth properties, freeing up the rest of the McClellan House on High Street as public visitor space, Bessire said.
The latest acquisition is on top of plans to build a new museum wing at the site of the former Children's Museum. The building at 142 Free Street has since been demolished, following a lengthy debate about the historical significance of the property that ended in court earlier this year.
Marcie Griswold, head of audience engagement and communications for PMA, said the museum is not expanding for expansion's sake.
"It'll be a real opportunity to unify the museum's campus, but also center and anchor the arts district," she said. "The new building will create this light-filled public commons on Free Street. It'll really be a nice opportunity to open up Congress Square."
Bessire said there is no firm timeline for the project, but the museum is about two-thirds of the way through a $100 million fundraising goal.
In the meantime, the PMA plans to build a pavilion next door to the existing museum that would serve as an interim park space while fundraising continues for the construction of the new wing. Bessire said the goal is for the pavilion and park space to be open to the public by next summer.
