VA Living Museum's $21M Expansion Underway

NEWPORT NEWS, VA-City and state officials have just broken ground on the $21 million expansion of the Virginia Living Museum, a wildlife, science, exhibition and botanical reserve facility. Located on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard in the middle of the city, the museum currently offers an interior space of 20,000sf, which will be tripled as part of the upgrade. The project’s completion date is scheduled for some time in 2004.

Construction firm W.M. Jordan Co. recently won the contract, worth $11.9 million, to build the new additions, of which The Potomac Group is leading the architectural design. Renovations to the 36-year old facility will include a 62,000-sf addition to the original building, a $400,000 aviary, a 3,000 ft-long boardwalk, a two-level Cypress Swamp and a 30,000-gallon ocean aquarium, and a new observation zone. The increase in space covers exhibit room as well as class space.