McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. recently broke ground on Phase II of the campus expansion for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), one of the largest museums in the United States and the oldest art museum in Texas. Nearly 200 Houstonians attended the groundbreaking event to celebrate the start of construction for the Nancy and Rich Kinder gallery building.
“We are excited to begin work on Phase II of the expansion for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, while continuing to progress toward other construction milestones on site including the topping out of the Glassell School of Art,” said McCarthy Houston Division President Jim Stevenson. “The McCarthy construction team is proud to continue working with quality partners on this project, including Legends Project Development and architects Steven Holl and Kendall Heaton, to make the museum’s vision a reality.”
Phase II of the campus expansion project includes the construction of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, a 243,632-square-foot gallery building that will house modern and contemporary art. With 126,620 square feet of underground space and 117,012-square-feet above-grade space, the building will have a translucent-glass exterior cool jacket, three floors of galleries that circle a three-story central atrium, a 200-seat theater, street-level café, restaurant overlooking the sculpture garden, an underground Main Street parking garage with 115 spaces and pedestrian tunnels connecting to the Glassell School of Art and the Caroline Weiss Law Building. Phase II is slated for completion in late 2019.
McCarthy broke ground on Phase I of the project in late 2015, which included the construction of the Glassell School of Art. Nearly doubling the size of the previous building, the new Glassell School of Art is 80,000 square feet and includes space for the junior and adult schools, which serve 7,000 students each year. The museum will start teaching classes in the new building in January 2018.
McCarthy has a long-standing history of building complex, architecturally significant projects in the entertainment and arts industry. In addition to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, McCarthy’s Texas portfolio of entertainment and institutional projects includes the award-winning AT&T Performing Arts Center Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas, Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park located over Woodall Rogers Freeway and the Dallas City Performance Hall, among others.
About McCarthy
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. is the oldest privately held national construction company in the country – with more than 150 years spent collaborating with partners to solve complex building challenges on behalf of its clients. With an unrelenting focus on safety and a comprehensive quality program that span all phases of every project, McCarthy utilizes industry-leading design phase and construction techniques combined with value-add technology to maximize outcomes. Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work and Healthiest Employer, McCarthy is ranked the 16th largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2016). With approximately 1,700 salaried employees and offices in Houston, Dallas; St. Louis, Atlanta; Collinsville, Ill.; Portage, Ind.; Kansas City, Kan.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Denver; Albuquerque; and San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company is available online at www.mccarthy.com or by following the company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+.
