"Peabody Essex Museum to delay expansion by three years" by Geoff Edgers | Globe Staff, May 25, 2013
Eighteen months ago, the Peabody Essex Museum announced a stunner: The Salem institution would add a 175,000-square-foot expansion as part of the biggest fund-raising campaign ever by an art museum in the state.
Less than a year later, museum leaders were dealt an unexpected blow with the deteriorating health of architect Rick Mather. And now, only weeks after Mather’s death, Peabody Essex’s leaders acknowledge that the expansion, originally scheduled for completion in 2016, will probably not be finished until 2019.
“Wow,” said Laura Roberts, a Cambridge-based museum consultant and former executive director of the New England Museum Association, when she heard about the three-year delay. “It seems like it’s really far away.”
Peabody Essex director Dan Monroe said the museum had no other choice but to hire another architect. He expects to announce a new firm this summer....
Typically, a three-year delay on a construction project would be viewed as a serious setback. But some museum leaders and observers told of the delay this week said two factors will help lessen the impact: the fact that the museum was years away from reaching the original target date and that it has raised $575 million toward its $650 million campaign. The museum plans to use $350 million of the campaign to boost its endowment....
But the delay will have some impact, museum observers say....
The Peabody Essex’s delay is an uncharacteristic setback for the museum....
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Also see:
"The Peabody Essex has announced a record-breaking fund-raising campaign and an expansion plan that will make it one of the largest and most well-endowed art museums in Massachusetts."
They raised HOW MANY MILLIONS??!!
