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Grand Rapids Public Museum seeks millage renewal as it outlines $50 million expansion
Summary
Museum president briefed the commission on the institution's finances, plans for a $50 million riverfront expansion and the need to renew a county millage that helped stabilize operations.
Dale Robertson, president of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, told the City Commission that the museum is seeking renewal of a county millage and outlined a $50 million expansion to increase public access, school program capacity and archival research space.
Robertson said the museum operates under a 99-year lease with an option to renew for 50 years and that the institution has a $12 million annual budget for the current fiscal year. "We are a city-owned asset with a countywide constituency and a regional role," he said.
The museum's current 10-year county millage, passed in 2016, is scheduled to come up for renewal in 2026. Robertson said millage revenues have supported the museum's free admission policies for county residents in youth categories and have enabled the museum to remove additional surcharges for traveling exhibits. The museum plans a public archives and research center called CARC, intends to expand school programming capacity from roughly 45,000 annual student visits to as many as 70,000, and expects the riverfront-related work to open in the fall of the current year.
On funding, Robertson said the museum has raised about $36 million in private funds to date for the expansion and intends the remainder to be covered by a millage renewal rather than debt. "We've raised $36,000,000 on our own. It's cash funded. There's no financing. We've asked for no bonds, no debt," he said.
Commissioners asked about public access to a planned archives and research area and the museum's relationship with other cultural organizations. Robertson said the CARC will allow appointment-based public access to collections currently in storage, include general public meeting and lab space, and be fully accessible; he estimated two levels totaling roughly 6,000 square feet for the addition. He also described an ongoing partnership and collections committee work with the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives.
Robertson framed the millage renewal as critical to the museum's ability to expand programs and preserve collections, and requested the commission's continued support and coordination with city engineering and other departments on project timing and accessibility features.
