Today the Queens Museum of Art broke ground on a $65 million, 50,000 square foot expansion into the old World’s Fair Skating Rink, a project that will double the museum's size by 2013. The new space will include galleries, a cafe, a museum store, classrooms and public events spaces, but their main goal is making sure people know the museum exists. Queens Museum Executive Director Tom Finkelpearl told NY1, "A lot of people grew up in Queens, they don't know where we are. We're clearing the trees away—moving the trees away. There's going to be a 220 foot long work of art on that side of the building facing the Grand Central, so you will know where the Queens Museum is." Sorry trees, but in this day and age there's just no other way to publicize things.
Mayor Bloomberg helped kick off the expansion today, where he said he was "celebrating the art & diversity of Queens." The museum will remain open during renovations, which means you can still visit their fantastic panorama of New York City (where you can adopt a building).
