Tuesday, March 27, 2007

It’s Official: Newseum to Open October 15

Newseum CEO Charles L. Overby told hundreds of the nation’s newspaper editors today that the museum of news will open to the public Oct. 15, 2007.

Overby made the announcement at the annual convention of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, which began today at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. In an earlier e-mail to staff, he said that the Newseum building — including construction and exhibit installation — would be completed by the end of August. “The month of September will be used for testing and getting ready for the public,” he said.

The Newseum is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., between the White House and the U.S. Capitol and adjacent to the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. The 250,000-square-foot Newseum will feature seven levels of galleries and theaters that will take museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made, and will offer them an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits.

The announcement came five years after the closing of the original Newseum in Arlington, Va., and three years after ground was broken for the project in December 2003. In addition to the Newseum, the approximately 643,000-square-foot mixed-use complex will feature 145,000 square feet of residential apartments, the Newseum Residences; a two-level, 24,000-square-foot conference center above the Newseum; and a three-level restaurant — “The Source by Wolfgang Puck” — at the northwest corner of the building.

Total cost of the project — museum, conference center, offices and apartments — is $435 million, including $100 million for the purchase of the site. Newseum operations are funded by the Freedom Forum. In addition, nine major news media companies and families have committed to give a combined $59 million to support the project, including The New York Times — Ochs-Sulzberger family; News Corporation; the Greenspun family of Las Vegas; Hearst Corporation; Cox Enterprises Inc.; NBC Universal; Time Warner; ABC News/Walt Disney Company; and the Pulliam family.