The three-storey museum spans 28,000 square feet and is located between Marine Drive and Jefferson Street. The museum will feature about 30,000 square feet of outdoor exhibit space including a 130-foot water exhibit that starts as an artesian well, transforms into a spring and ends in a pool; a driftwood fort construction area; children’s garden and fire circle for storytelling; and an area filled with sand, gravel and water.
The museum is being designed as a showpiece of a reclaimed industrial area of about 14 acres that the Port of Olympia turned into streets and buildable lots. The galleries inside the museum will feature topics such as Puget Sound, healthful living and forests.
Lakewood-based Pease Construction is building the exterior shell of the museum at a cost of $3.1 million, part of the city of Olympia’s $8.9 million contribution to the project. The museum is raising the rest of funding.
Hands On Children’s Museum is expected to open in early 2012.
