PRESS RELEASE

October 30, 2003

Contact:
Katie Sproles, (541) 346-0942, ksproles@darkwing.uoregon.edu


UO DAYBOOK
NEWS AND PHOTO TIP, Friday, Oct. 31

CREWS TO DISMANTLE UO MUSEUM OF ART TOWER CRANE

The 175-foot crane that has towered over the University of Oregon Museum of Art construction project for more than a year will come down on Friday, Oct. 31. Workers will begin to dismantle the crane at 9 a.m. and will complete the job several hours later. General contractor Wildish Building Co. will bring in an even larger mobile crane to remove the long arm of the crane that has helped move hundreds of tons of steel during a renovation and expansion project that will nearly double the size of the building. Once the arm has been lowered from the skyline, the tower will be dismantled piece by piece and removed from the site. The need for the crane has passed, as the museum's exterior is nearly completed and construction crews are shifting their focus inside the 63,000-square foot building. Construction is scheduled for completion by the end of February 2004. Museum staff then will begin the detailed process of moving more than 12,000 works of art back into the building, furnishing the interiors and installing nine galleries-six of which are new. The new UO Museum of Art is scheduled to reopen to the public in October 2004. SOURCE: Katie Sproles, UO Museum of Art public relations/marketing coordinator, (541) 346-0942, ksproles@darkwing.uoregon.edu.

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