A $14-million expansion and renovation of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria will start in March 2016 and finish 18 months later, if all goes according to plan.
But before shovels hit the ground, the non-profit group running the gallery has hurdles to jump. They include refining the design, securing rezoning and raising enough money to pay for it.
Open houses soliciting feedback for the plan will be held next month and in November before a rezoning application is submitted to Victoria city hall, gallery spokeswoman Sandra Hudson said Friday.
A fundraising campaign will begin next year, she said. It received a kick-start in January when Oak Bay artist Anthony Thorn donated $2.5 million.
Janet Simpson, Rockland Neighbourhood Association president, said her group saw potential designs several months ago but hasn’t seen anything recently. The association supports the gallery and wants to see green space and the Garry oaks preserved on the 1.4-acre site.
The community would like the gallery’s 1889 mansion to have a “prominent visual presence,” she said.
Sarah Spencer donated the 9,500-square-foot mansion in 1951. Additions have increased total space to 23,000 square feet.
Construction at 1040 Moss St. would mark the start of a new phase of the gallery’s life. For many years, gallery officials sought to relocate to a roomier location in downtown Victoria.
That dream died in 2012 when it became clear that a move would not be financially possible and an appropriate site could not be found.
The gallery says only five per cent of its collection of 18,000 art works, valued at more than $160 million, can be displayed.
The facility is at a “tipping” point and the collection is at risk, its website says. “Right now, our congested storage facilities lack modern safeguards in terms of environmental and temperature controls, and security.”
The gallery says it is also short of space and technology to stage interactive art exhibitions.
A request for qualifications for management of the expansion was published by the gallery this week.
“The project goal is to renew and transform the existing art gallery with a bold and innovative building addition and renovation project that meets the current and future needs of the growing region and inspires and revitalizes community participation in, and celebration of, the arts,” the document states.
The project could include about 13,000 square feet of new space, plus renovation and seismic upgrading of 26,000-plus square feet.
Design development and rezoning are expected to take place between November and June, and construction from March 2016 to September 2017.
The design is not finalized but the gallery expects the addition will go on top of the current building.
Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture and Moore Architecture have been hired as architects.
The gallery’s budget was $2.6 million for the fiscal year ending March 2013, its annual report said.
