TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Museum of Art takes the first visible steps toward its Centennial Expansion project, initiating site changes to prepare for the expanded TMA campus. This August, crews will begin relocating the Tampa Dog Run at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park to make room for the museum’s new footprint, with full construction on the museum’s expansion to start in the fall. A formal ground-breaking celebration is planned for early 2026.
“This marks an important milestone in our Centennial Expansion,” said Michael Tomor, the Penny and Jeff Vinik Executive Director at the Tampa Museum of Art. “It opens the way for the physical groundwork to begin for inviting spaces that reflect our city’s interest in the arts and support meaningful cultural experiences.”
Construction of the new dog parks will take approximately four to five months and is expected to conclude in late 2025. The new parks will feature separate spaces for small dogs and large dogs, and no closure of the existing dog park is anticipated until the new, dual dog parks between Curtis Hixon Park and Kiley Gardens open. The new location and larger square footage will make the dog parks a more accessible amenity to the growing number of downtown residents. The New York-based design team of WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism, which is designing the Museum’s expansion, was also responsible for the design of another urban dog park, Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park in New York City.
The Tampa Museum of Art’s expansion was announced in November 2021 and is managed by The Beck Group. The Museum is funding the ambitious 77,904-square-foot expansion project through its ongoing Centennial Campaign, a comprehensive construction and endowment effort anchored by a $28 million lead gift from Dick Corbett, a Tampa real estate developer and philanthropist who has been a Museum patron for decades. His lead gift is the single largest private donation ever made to a public art museum in Florida.
To date, more than $100 million in generous support has been provided by individuals, families and corporations, as well as the City of Tampa, Hillsborough County, and the State of Florida. The campaign’s fundraising efforts will continue during construction, including naming opportunities for the relocated dog park.
“I have been involved for many years with the Tampa Museum of Art, and it is amazingly rewarding to take this step toward breaking ground on the expansion,” said Cornelia Corbett, Campaign Chairwoman. “Our Centennial Campaign has focused solely on the future of the Museum in service to the Tampa Bay community. The construction of the dog park is the first step to bringing the dream of a world-class Museum to Tampa.”
The expansion will transform the Museum into a vibrant hub of art and culture. Designed as a crystalline pier extending the museum to the edge of the river, the new expansion will create a series of interconnected multifunctional spaces. The new addition will include a 150-seat auditorium, an art lounge, food services and dining space, a large event space, and a proposed rooftop space, all of which will provide flexible settings for a wide range of art and cultural programming. The expansion will also feature new outdoor sculpture areas, bringing art to the redeveloped public spaces along Curtis Hixon Park and the Tampa Riverwalk.
The new Dog Park construction will not affect access to the Riverwalk or the City of Tampa Parks office, and public restrooms will remain available.
About WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism
WEISS/MANFREDI Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism is a multidisciplinary design practice based in New York City. Founded by Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, the firm is known for the dynamic integration of architecture, art, infrastructure, and landscape design. The firm is well known for the Seattle Art Museum’s celebrated Olympic Sculpture Park, the Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center and Overlook, and Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park. Current projects include the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India, the La Brea Tar Pits and museum in Los Angeles, and Lincoln Center’s new outdoor theater in New York City. Most recently, the firm won the international competition for the addition and renovation to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, which attracted submissions from over 180 firms from thirty countries on six continents.
Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi are recipients of the 2024 Louis I. Kahn Award in Architecture, the 2020 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Architecture, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture, and the Architectural League of New York’s “Emerging Voices” award. The firm has also been honored with the New York AIA Gold Medal and the Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal, awarded to one individual or firm in the world each year. The firm’s projects have been featured in exhibitions at the Venice Architectural Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the São Paulo Biennale of International Architecture and Design, the Shanghai Biennale, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum, the National Building Museum, Harvard University, the Landscape Architecture Biennale in Barcelona, the Design Centre in Essen, Germany, and the Guggenheim Museum. Weiss and Manfredi’s work is in the permanent collection of MoMA, the Seattle Art Museum, the Library of Congress, and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum. Princeton Architectural Press has published three monographs on their work including their most recent book, PUBLIC NATURES. Park Books published their fifth monograph DRIFTING SYMMETRIES in winter 2025.
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