Bowers Considers 3 Plans for Possible Expansion

The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art has been conducting preliminary discussions with three separate parties that could result in “significant” expansion, a museum spokesman said Friday.

“There are three initiatives that might expand the buildings,” said Brian Langston, elaborating on recent comments by museum executive director Peter C. Keller that the museum is expanding and “will have a few new buildings” by 2000. .

One initiative took root three years ago; another was launched about a year ago, and the third began this year, Langston said. The latter involves the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is considering several sites to house the archeological materials it unearths during building projects around the country.

The others involve the possible acquisition of “significant art collections,” Langston said, and “we are trying to figure out ways to accommodate those.” He would not name the collection donors.

Preliminary designs were drafted “some time ago in order to advance one of the discussions,” Langston added. None of the expansion plans involves city money, he said.

A parking lot outside the museum’s north-facing exit rimmed by single-story wooden buildings used for meetings and classes would likely be used for expansion, Langston said. Existing structures are in disrepair and must be razed or renovated, he said.

There has been no consideration, he said, of expanding into an empty lot south of the museum and the abutting lot occupied by a market and adjacent the Bowers’ Kidseum. Other local arts organizations, however, have eyed the area for relocation, he said.

The Bowers reopened in 1992 after a four-year, $12-million expansion. It opened its completely new Kidseum two years later.