VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Museum of Art is marking its 40th anniversary with a major transformation: an $85 million new campus that will expand its footprint, modernize its facilities, and strengthen its role as a cultural hub for the Treasure Coast.
“The building that we’re housed in right now was actually built in pieces,” said Suzanne Seldes, deputy director for the museum. “So the new project allows us to build a new structure, attach it to part of the existing structure that we are going to retain, and create a campus that’s open and accessible and transparent to the park.”
The new 90,000-square-foot facility will nearly double the museum’s gallery space while also improving storm resilience and addressing infrastructure issues.
“The other part of it, which is really important, is that our existing building is obsolete in parts because of the way that it was built,” Seldes said. “So this allows us to build a plateau building to actually keep the collection protected.”
The expansion will give the museum room to better serve its growing audience and educational programs.
“It will allow us to expand the museum’s gallery space because we started as a center for the arts and had an art school and a humanities program and a museum,” Seldes said. “We actually have about half the amount of gallery space as other museums our size.”
Each year, more than 3,000 people attend the museum’s art classes, 78,000 visit its exhibitions, and about 40,000 of those visitors are families with children, according to Seldes.
“What we want to do is continue that long tradition,” she said. “We have free days every second Saturday of the month. So what we wanted to be able to do is to make sure that we can create a structure where everyone in our community and beyond and in the region can come and have an art education experience here.”
That demand has pushed the museum to its capacity.
“A recent study by RE Museum has named us the best attended small art museum in America based on the type of traffic we have,” Seldes said. “So we need more space.”
The new campus design emphasizes accessibility, with multiple entrances and a ground floor that will be free to the public.
“You’ll be able to access the building from the main entrance, which faces east,” Seldes said. “We’ll have a north entrance to our entire education wing, and then we have a west entrance for folks who are walking along the Indian River through the park who might want to access the museum. And it’s because of the number of folks who will be utilizing the museum and because of our dedication to our community that we are actually going to create an environment where the entire first floor of the museum is free.”
The project also reflects a strong focus on environmental integration and sustainability.
“Our new project allows us to thoughtfully integrate the park and the landscaping and the natural beauty, the natural light, the natural foliage all throughout and inside the museum,” Seldes said.
The museum is pursuing LEED Silver certification under the new construction rating system, using locally sourced materials to reduce its carbon footprint and complement its setting in Riverside Park.
“We’re targeting Leadership in Energy and Environment LEED Silver certification,” Seldes said. “We will be using materials that are germane to our region, to this part of Florida. That does two things for us: It really leverages the beauty of our natural surrounds…and it also reduces carbon footprint because we’re using more materials that are more local.”
The project is expected to be completed in 2027.
“The museum will be open through most of that construction season,” Seldes said. “There’ll probably be about half a year or so when we do close the current building. When the new building is built and connected to the existing piece, we’ll close the current building so that the pieces that need to be demoed can be demoed.”