JANESVILLE — The Children’s Museum of Rock County will begin construction work on its new downtown Janesville building in the spring of 2025, the museum announced Monday.
The CMRC expects construction of the museum to take 10 to 13 months to complete, with the goal of opening in 2026.
The capital campaign will remain open.
The CMRC has raised over $11.5 million to date, exceeding its $10 million Let’s PLAY Together capital campaign goal.
The money raised will be used to renovate the former Chase bank at 100 W. Milwaukee Street into a children’s museum. Plans include demolishing the former drive-thru addition and constructing a new addition while maintaining the historic anchor building, according to the news release.
“The community has really shown up for our project and we are elated to say that we’ve reached our public campaign goal,” said John Westphal, CMRC President and Capital Campaign Chair. “Our community deserves the best children’s museum we can build, so we will continue to accept donations for our capital project until it is complete. Every dollar given will be poured into making the museum a world class experience for Rock County.”
In August, the CMRC announced its choice of JP Cullen as the general contractor. At that time, CMRC representatives emphasized the importance of hiring a construction manager to finalize the design within the CMRC’s capital budget. In addition,the CMRC has raised over $1 million from the Rock County and greater Wisconsin agriculture community to incorporate a larger agriculture experience into the museum.
“We fully intend to have JP Cullen on site with their demo equipment in Spring 2025,” said Westphal. “Our board has now instructed Angus-Young to move forward with the construction documents so we can start getting final numbers from the contractors.”
In addition to the current donations and pledges the CMRC has received, it is awaiting decisions on various other funding sources. The Board of Directors expects to receive answers on many of these requests by mid-January. It is also continuing its campaigning efforts through various grassroots campaigns.
“We have already launched our ‘Gift of PLAY’ campaign for the holiday season,” explained Olivia McCarthy, CMRC Public Relations and Communications Director. “Anyone who makes a donation ‘In Honor’ of another person between now and December 31st will receive a custom certificate to give as a gift during the holiday season. We are also excited to announce that we have a $10,000 matching grant sponsor for Giving Tuesday this year. We are so grateful for those incredible donors who have shown us repeatedly their commitment to kids in our community.”
In addition to construction of the museum, the Board also intends to hire the museum’s executive director in 2025. Those interested in learning more about the project, and ways to support it, can visit the CMRC website at kidsatplayrc.com.
