ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — Construction has now begun on the new home for the Albany Museum of Art.

The museum is moving to the old Belk building on W Broad Avenue in downtown. The project’s general contractor, LRA Constructors, Inc., has started clearing the inside of the 58,000-square-foot, two-story building, which is located at 126 W Broad Ave. The full project is expected to take up to two years to finish.

“Passing pedestrians and motorists will notice increasing construction activity at the downtown site,” AMA Executive Director Andrew James Wulf, Ph.D., said. “After years of planning, fundraising, and working through the complexities of a project of this scale, it’s enormously gratifying to see the work begin. There is something wonderfully exciting about taking a building that was once such an important part of downtown Albany’s commercial life and giving it an entirely new purpose. And now, that transformation is underway.”

The project, which is costing $35 million, will turn the old department store into a museum featuring exhibition galleries, areas for art education, studios for artists, a café, and an outdoor sculpture garden. There will also be space for performances and community events.

Admission to the museum will still be free.

The City of Albany contributed $4 million to the project, while $3 million came from the county. Another $3 million was contributed by the Bunzl Foundation. Other contributions from private foundations and individual donors are funding the project, as well as historic rehabilitation tax credits. The museum will continue to raise money as the project continues.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held May 18.

The idea of relocating the museum launched in 2019 when the Robert N. Brooks Sr. family donated the building to the museum. Not long after the donation was made, DLR Group, a national design firm out of Washington, D.C., assessed the building and came up with a plan to redesign the space.

According to officials at the museum, the project is expected to have direct and indirect economic impacts of around $5 million each year once done. The project has already had positive impacts on the environment, museum officials say. In 2020, hazardous waste and petroleum contamination issues at the site were addressed via an EPA Brownfields cleanup grant.

As construction progresses, the museum will continue to have exhibits and programming at its current location (311 Meadowlark Dr.) next to Albany State University’s west campus.

“We are deeply grateful to the families, foundations, businesses, and public officials who have helped us reach this point,” Wulf said. “Our fundraising campaign continues, and there are still many opportunities for people to become involved. But today, I think it’s worth celebrating just how far we’ve come.

I’ve always believed that a museum should be much more than a place where works of art are displayed. It should be a place where people feel welcome, where children discover things that they didn’t know existed, where artists and ideas have room to flourish, and where a community can come together. That’s what we want to create downtown, and after all these years, I’m delighted that we’re finally building it."

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS AT THE ALBANY MUSEUM OF ART

• Artifacts of a Fate That Never Was, works by O.M. Norling, is Sept. 17, 2026 - Jan. 2, 2027 in the East and Hodges Galleries
• New York Origins: Building a Collection is Sept. 17, 2026 - Jan. 2, 2027 in the Haley Gallery
• Woven, Dyed, Sewn: Textiles from the Sub-Saharan African Collection is Sept. 17, 2026 - Jan. 2, 2027 in the McCormack Gallery
• Twenty Portraits, from the Permanent Collection, is Sept. 17 - Oct. 24 in the West Gallery
• The 3rd Annual Student Art Exhibition is Oct. 30, 2026 - Jan. 2, 2027 in the West Gallery

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