NorthStar Museums To Capitalize on Successful Please Touch Museum Experience;
Will Offer Project Management Skills to Growing Museum and Children’s Museum Markets
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Emily DiTomo
Buchanan Public Relations
610-649-9292
emily@buchananpr.com
St. Paul, MN – May 4, 2010 – NorthStar Advisors, LLC (www.northstar-advisors.com), a Philadelphia real estate-related project management firm, today announced the launch of a new practice, NorthStar Museums (www.northstar-museums.com), aimed specifically at the burgeoning museum market. The group will focus initially on the children’s museum market, targeting the 70-plus children’s museums that are in the planning or renovation stages around the world. NorthStar made the announcement from the floor of the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) conference, taking place May 6 – 8 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“NorthStar Museums is being launched in recognition of the unique requirements of children’s museums,” said Ronald A. Street, principal of NorthStar Advisors, LLC. “It takes a special level of expertise to get a children’s museum built or refreshed. Unlike other types of museums, children’s museums are designed from the inside out. It is the experience – and not the museum design – that takes center stage.”
The NorthStar team has a great deal of experience in the development of children’s museums. Last year, it concluded one of the country’s largest children’s museum projects: Please Touch Museum. The 11-year, $88 million project involved the relocation of the popular Philadelphia children’s museum to the 157,000-square-foot, historically-certified Memorial Hall site that required extensive renovations.
A universally hailed success, Please Touch Museum has garnered numerous awards from the real estate and design industries, as well as historic preservation groups, and is now one of the most popular children’s museums in the country.
In its first year, the museum had 687,000 visitors – more than triple its attendance at its previous location.
“The Please Touch Museum project demonstrated for us how crucial it was to have partners who understand the unique challenges of bringing a children’s museum to life. The journey of getting a children’s museum built or renovated requires a highly specialized process that focuses on the needs of children and their parents, teachers and caregivers. We believe there is an enormous need for a team of experts like NorthStar Museums, who can help bring more well-envisioned and designed children’s museums into more communities,” said Julie Van Blarcom, CEO of the Delaware Children’s Museum.
NorthStar Museums’ first children’s museum design project is the Delaware Children’s Museum. Located in Wilmington, DE, the $11 million museum – Delaware’s first children’s museum – opened in late April. Exhibitions include “The Power of Me,” “Bank On It,” “ECOnnect” and many more.
For more information on NorthStar Museums, please contact Meredith Street at 610-896-8100, or via email at mstreet@northstar-advisors.com.
About NorthStar Advisors, LLC
Based in Ardmore, PA, NorthStar Advisors, LLC is a real estate-related project management firm. Since its founding in 1999, the firm has managed hundreds of real estate projects in the corporate, industrial, institutional, educational, technical and non-profit sectors, ranging from 5,000-square-foot projects to buildings of more than 1 million square feet. NorthStar’s interdisciplinary team – composed of certified project managers, designers, architects and engineers – serves as a liaison between a client and its construction, engineering and architectural firms to ensure that projects are completed with high quality, timeliness and within budget. Additional services include cost advisory/cost estimating, LEED® consultancy, facilities management and distressed project recovery, among others. More information is available at www.northstar-advisors.com.
About NorthStar Museums
Launched in May 2010, NorthStar Museums is a specialized practice of NorthStar Advisors, LLC. NorthStar Museums focuses on real estate-related project management for museum clients. The firm works closely with museum staffs and boards and serves as the liaison between the museum and its construction, engineering and architectural firms, to help museums be built or renovated well and within budget. More information is available at www.northstar-museums.com.
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