MoMA being renovated for more space

NEW YORK - The Museum of Modern Art in New York is boldly expanding its midtown Manhattan home that draws more than 3 million visitors annually from around the world, including those who came on Friday to see the first completed phase of the $450 million project.

Spread over three floors of the art mecca off Fifth Avenue are about 1,400 square meters of reconfigured galleries, a new, second gift shop, a redesigned cafe and espresso bar and, facing the sculpture garden, two lounges graced with black marble quarried in France.

Still under construction are about 4,600 square meters of new galleries opening in 2019, bringing MoMA's total art-filled space to about 16,000 square meters on six floors. The expansion will allow more of the museum's collection of nearly 200,000 works to be displayed.