Art museum work to begin as capital campaign continues  

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The Springfield Art Museum will pursue a two-phase path toward its $50 million renovation and expansion project.  

The decision on the approach to the project was reached by consensus of Springfield City Council at a Tuesday luncheon meeting, upon the recommendation of the museum’s board of directors.  

Council was presented with three options for the project and chose Approach B, which has a first phase of $26.15 million in construction costs with the other $23.6 million to be raised or acquired at a later date.  

To accomplish this, $14.5 million in financing would likely be required, with annual debt service payments of $1.3 million, according to a presentation given to council by Nick Nelson, director of the museum.  

City Finance Director David Holtmann said the cost efficiency of bonds would be to the city’s benefit. The amount to be financed could be achieved with the city’s quarter-cent capital improvement sales tax, which has a remaining 15-year term with a 20-year sunset, he said.  

The other options, which were rejected by council after discussion, were Approach A, which would have the museum move forward with a $13.25 million immediate first phase, and Approach C, which would tackle the entire project now.  

There is some urgency to getting the project started, as both the city and state earmarked American Rescue Plan Act funds for the project. Those funds must be encumbered by the end of 2024 and fully expended by the end of 2026.  

Nelson told council the museum would like to have construction documents completed by the end of August, with bidding underway in August for projects to begin no later than January 2025.  

“One way or another, we have to move forward to meet those timelines,” he said, adding that Approach B would allow the museum to be shovel-ready for additional parts of the project if funding is acquired.  

The museum is partway through its $25 million capital campaign, with some $16 million committed for the project.  

Work to be done  
Approach B will address aging mechanical systems, including heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and that’s important, Nelson said, because the museum has a number of items that are close to the end of their lives.  

“When we look at the next five years, you see we’re going to have to invest mightily in our mechanical systems regardless of what happens with the art museum,” he said. “With Approach B, we can kind of take care of all of that and set the museum on a course for the next 20 years where we’ll be in a good spot.”  

Some noticeable changes would be made to the exterior of the museum, but these would not include work on the building’s envelope, or exterior walls.  

Thinking big  
Councilmember Craig Hosmer made a case for going with Approach C and tackling the entire project.  

“We have a habit of sort of thinking small in the city of Springfield,” he said. “This is a project we should get behind and we should fund.”  

He suggested a hybrid approach, with the city saying it has the capacity to bond a certain amount while challenging the community to come up with a certain level of donations.  

“We’ve talked about this project being a transformational project in Center City. I think it’s something we should look at a little differently,” he said.  

Holtmann said the full project is hard to bite off at this point with the city’s existing revenue stream.  

City Manager Jason Gage noted the option chosen is a pivot approach, based on funding.  

“It can be an OK long-term approach, or it could easily pivot to C,” he said, referring to the third option, which would fund the whole project now.  

Councilmember Matthew Simpson said he agreed with Hosmer that it’s good to dream big. However, he noted the city needs to be prepared to cover the entire cost itself it it comes to that option. That’s a $2.82 million annual debt relief cost, he said, and that would impact the general revenue budget.  

Councilmember Brandon Jenson asked Nelson if the museum would be helped by the decision to pursue Approach B with movement toward C as funding allows.  

“Absolutely, it helps, because there’s certainty,” Nelson said. “Anecdotally, we’ve talked to funders – we’ve gone to them early – and they’ve said, ‘Come back to us when you have exactly what you’re going to actually do.’ They didn’t like looking at more conceptual plans.”  

Certainty is a difference-maker, Nelson said.  

“This is a visionary project, and these would be large gifts,” he said. “People like to bet on a winner, I guess you could say, and I think that certainty would definitely be to our advantage.”  

While formal action was not taken by council at the meeting, Gage said follow-up formal steps could include council giving bonding authority for the project.