Building a Home for Art

We reached another important construction milestone on Friday, June 12, 2020, when crews from Russell Construction and BNIM gathered to celebrate “topping out” our new UI Stanley Museum of Art building. Attendees signed the final roof beam, which a crane then hoisted to the third floor of the new building.

In recent weeks, the crews also have been working to rough-in each of the museum’s three floors. This stage of construction begins after the basic framing is done, and it involves the installation of initial wiring and plumbing. Once the rough-in is finished on each level, workers can pour the concrete floors. In addition, traffic on Burlington, Madison, and Front Streets has been periodically disrupted this summer as crews tackled the underground work necessary to connect water and fiber to the building.

So far, we’ve completed more than one-third of the construction on our new building, and we’re still on track to wrap up in late 2021. If you’re interested in learning more about this project, Director Lauren Lessing and UI Senior Vice President for Finance and Operations Rod Lehnertz will be discussing it during an online Chat from the Old Cap on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, at 3 p.m. Visit the UI Center for Advancement events page in August to register for that free event:

To find out how you can support our important building campaign, please contact Susan Horan, associate director of development, at susan.horan@foriowa.org or 319-467-3407. Gifts of $10,000 are eligible for recognition on a special donor wall in the new museum.