TAMPA - Many of them couldn't believe it was really happening.
But there it was, under a big white tent at Curtis Hixon Park. Images of the new Tampa Museum of Art. Magnets depicting the new design. Brochures announcing the next stage of the capital campaign.
Architect Stanley Saitowitz, fresh off a red-eye flight from San Francisco. Former museum board Chairwoman Cornelia Corbett sharing the stage with Mayor Pam Iorio, when just a few years ago the two were at such odds.
Just like at any groundbreaking, local officials picked up the shovels and dug into the ground. They thanked their supporters: art museum donors, City Council members, city leaders, museum leaders. Even former museum Director Emily Kass was thanked, as was former Mayor Dick Greco.
That's how long people have waited for this groundbreaking. When Greco was mayor in the late 1990s, talk started about building a new Tampa Museum of Art. The road to Friday was bumpy, with political squabbles and financial issues bogging down progress.
Progress, though, was the theme of the day, as museum board Chairman Ray Ifert and Iorio talked about how the new $33 million, 66,000-square-foot museum will be a destination point for downtown, a cultural hub for the city. The new building should open by the end of next year.
Ifert, greeting the crowd, said what was on everyone's minds: "God, what a long time to get here. It's incredible."
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