The Contemporary Museum will kick off an ambitious fundraising drive this fall, hoping to raise about $5 million before breaking ground on a $15 million, 10,000-square-foot building for permanent exhibits and storage.

The structure, whose design is still being tweaked, is part of an $18.5 million expansion project at the museum in Makiki Heights. In addition to the new building, the museum will spend about $3 million to restore the former Cooke-Petersen home, which is currently empty. Once completed, it will be the site of a new cafe, library and classroom space.

The project is set to wrap up in 2009, allowing thousands of pieces of art collecting dust in storage for years to finally go on display. Museum officials say they have raised about $13.5 million from private donors, but plan to take the expansion project to the community in September and October and ask for donations large and small.

"Every dollar counts," said museum director Georgianna Lagoria.

Construction on the new building will start in early 2008. Workers have finished the first — and smallest — phase of the project, restoring an entranceway at the museum's main building and adding a new climate-control system in the gallery rooms. The restoration work will also kick off next year, and is expected to be finished within a year.

The museum will remain open during the work, though there may be some interruptions.

The expansion is expected to raise the prestige — and popularity — of the small museum nestled in an affluent urban neighborhood. The museum is the only one in the state devoted exclusively to contemporary art.

Much of its collection is from Hawai'i artists, but the museum is quickly acquiring works from around the globe.

The site gets about 40,000 visitors a year, about 4,000 of whom are schoolchildren on field trips.

Lagoria said she doesn't expect the expansion will add to those numbers substantially. Instead, she said, it will allow the visitors who do come to come more often — as there will be a greater variety of exhibits and more to explore. The expansion will also allow the museum to hold more exhibits and to hold more special events.

"Our goal is to develop an appreciation for contemporary art in the community," Lagoria said.

The museum first announced its expansion plans in early 2005 and spent much of that year and the next allaying residents' concerns about what the additions would mean for traffic and noise in the neighborhood.

In response to comments from the community, the museum pared down its original plans, announcing it would construct one building instead of three. The decision meant some pieces of art will continue to be stored off-site.

Richard Kawano, a Makiki/Lower Punchbowl/Tantalus Neighborhood Board member who opposed the project because of concerns from residents, said the community and the museum appear to have resolved their differences.

Residents have pledged to alert the museum to any problems. And the museum has agreed to have as little impact as possible on the neighborhood, busing in visitors if need be for art shows and keeping school trips small.

"We all have to live with each other to a certain extent," Kawano said.

John Steelquist, chairman of the neighborhood board, said there are still those unhappy with the plans — but those few would probably like to see the museum out of the neighborhood altogether.

"We got a fairly reasonable middle ground," Steelquist said. "The Contemporary Museum got to build their new building and the community got to give input."

The museum was founded in 1961 and originally housed in The Honolulu Advertiser News Building.

In 1988, the museum relocated to its current site — the former Cooke-Spalding estate on Makiki Heights Drive. The estate was built in 1925, and houses the main exhibits at the museum along with its administration offices.

The museum bought the Cooke-Petersen home, adjacent to the current site, in 2002 for about $3.2 million. Inger Tully, curator of education and exhibits at the museum, said the home will be fitted with a new classroom for schoolchildren, who now must gather on a lanai at the museum for art projects or hands-on learning.

"It will be really nice for them to have their own space," Tully said.

The Cooke-Petersen home, designed by Vladimir Ossipoff in 1952, currently houses artists-in-residence.

The new structure at the museum will be built at the site of a tennis court behind the main building. There will be 20 underground parking spaces for employees, adding to the more than 60 spaces now available for visitors and workers.

Money will go toward new building for exhibits, storage — part of an $18.5M expansion project

Reach Mary Vorsino at mvorsino@honoluluadvertiser.com.