The James Museum

The $55 million Tom and Mary James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art is the newest museum in downtown St. Petersburg. The museum was created as a permanent conservatory for the art collections of Tom and Mary James, repurposing the museum’s 80,000 square feet in what had been a business headquarters, using materials and colors evocative of the natural elements of the western United States represented in many of the paintings and sculptures.

GFY provided civil engineering, surveying, subsurface utility engineering, and maintenance of traffic services for the new museum during this transformation. GFY civil engineers worked directly with the architects of the James Museum on the stormwater and drainage design for the outside improvements at the museum; with the new western-themed and accessible hardscape at the canyon entranceway on Central Ave, stormwater runoff and drainage needed to be designed to ensure safety and prevent flooding. The design included stormwater, sidewalk, and courtyard linear drains and courtyard grading to maximize usable plaza space for cafe dining while also being ADA-compliant.

GFY surveyors conducted detailed topographic surveys of the roadway and sidewalk corridors, including subsurface utility engineering and the location of underground utilities surrounding the building for conflict avoidance.

GFY’s traffic engineers worked with the City of St. Petersburg to develop multiple maintenance of traffic (MOT) plans as the museum was constructed. The complex MOT plan included the construction sites of the James Museum, One St. Pete, Halcyon, and a water main project as all four projects were simultaneously being constructed in close proximity to each other along high-traffic corridors of Central Ave, 1st St N, 2nd St N, and 1st Ave N.