ARDMORE, PA-Locally based NorthStar Advisors, LLC has launched a new practice, NorthStar Museums, aimed specifically at the burgeoning museum market. The group will focus initially on the children’s museum market, targeting the 70-plus children’s museums that are in the planning or renovation stages around the world.
“NorthStar Museums is being launched in recognition of the unique requirements of children’s museums,” says Ronald A. Street, principal of NorthStar Advisors, LLC. “It takes a special level of expertise to get a children’s museum built or refreshed. Unlike other types of museums, children’s museums are designed from the inside out. It is the experience--and not the museum design--that takes center stage.”
The NorthStar team has a great deal of experience in the development of children’s museums. Last year, it concluded one of the country’s largest children’s museum projects: Please Touch Museum. The 11-year, $88-million project involved the relocation of the popular Philadelphia children’s museum to the 157,000-square-foot, historically-certified Memorial Hall site that required extensive renovations. In its first year, the museum had 687,000 visitors--more than triple its attendance at its previous location.
NorthStar Museums’ first children’s museum design project is the Delaware Children’s Museum. Located in Wilmington, DE, the $11-million museum--Delaware’s first children’s museum--opened in late April. “The Please Touch Museum project demonstrated for us how crucial it was to have partners who understand the unique challenges of bringing a children’s museum to life," says Julie Van Blarcom, CEO of the Delaware Children's Museum. "The journey of getting a children’s museum built or renovated requires a highly specialized process that focuses on the needs of children and their parents, teachers and caregivers."
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