New Milwaukee Public Museum construction continues as winter rolls in
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Public Museum is getting a new home after 140 years, and construction is in progress.
Kurt Theune, with the Mortenson construction company, said the five-story building will stand 100 feet tall.
"The first floor went up pretty quickly and now we are working on the second floor. The construction process is long, it's not a simple endeavor to build the museum," Theune, the vice president and general manager, said. "It's also not a simple endeavor to build such a unique design construct."
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The winter weather isn't stopping construction of the new museum at the 2.4-acre site located on 6th and McKinley.
"The work that you see is something that doesn't happen very often, so a lot of time, dedication," Theune said. "It'll continue to get higher and higher throughout the winter. Starting in 2025 when the structure is done, you'll see portions of the project."
Kate Sanders with the Milwaukee Public Museum said funding for the $240 million project is coming from both public and private funds.
Milwaukee Public Museum unveils renderings for new building
Milwaukee Public Museum on Monday, July 18 kicked off the public phase of its ‘Wisconsin Wonders’ fundraising campaign aimed at enabling the construction of a new Museum in Milwaukee.
The building will have three entrances that represent Milwaukee's rivers, five permanent exhibits, a live butterfly garden, a planetarium and a café.
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"The new building gives us a wonderful environmentally stable space for the collections and also gives our visitors a new and refreshed view of the exhibits," Sanders said.
Theune said it's a project that is a long time coming for Wisconsin.
"This is the building everybody is going to remember for the next 50, 75, 100 years," he said.
With construction on track, the museum is expected to open to the public in early 2027.