Andy Warhol Museum planning $45m events venue expansion

Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum has proposed a $45 million events venue as part of its 'Pop District' expansion, theAssociated Press reports.

Announced last year, the$60m Pop District initiativeis a planned cultural destination covering six blocks on the North Shore in Pittsburgh, which is where American artist Andy Warhol was born.

The project's first phase includes creating neweducation programmesoutside of the museum, as well as a series of new public art projects. The second phase involves building a new venue for concerts and events.

The museum in Pennsylvania has now revealed plans for the $45m events space, which would be built on an existing 58,000-square-foot parking lot.

The new building would include a concert venue with standing room for up to 1,000 people on the first floor, a mezzanine on the second floor, offices on the third floor, and a fourth-floor events space that could hold up to 360 people.

Rick Armstrong, a spokesperson for the Andy Warhol Museum, said work on the proposed site could start as soon as spring next year, but the timelines are "still flexible".

$60m Pop District initiative

When the initiative was first announced last year, Patrick Moore, the museum’s director, said it is "an example of how creative communities throughout the country can be activated to boost and sustain a local economy through focusing on opportunities and experiences for young people".

“The Pop District will demonstrate the role that museums can and must play in their communities by serving as centers of innovation and catalysts of economic development,” addedSteven Knapp, president and CEO of Carnegie Museums ofPittsburgh, which oversees the Andy Warhol Museum.

After expanding, the Andy Warhol Museum is projecting $100 million in annual economic activity, and between 50,000 and 70,000 new visitors to the North Shore every year.

Images courtesy of Carnegie Museums ofPittsburgh