Maturango Museum Building Expansion Project

Construction began on October 17, 2011 for the Maturango Museum building expansion project that will more than double the size of the museum. In October of 2010 Maturango Museum signed a contract with Valley Steel, a Bakersfield company, for design and construction of phase 1 of the building project. Valley Steel specializes in designing and building steel framed buildings and has constructed a number of steel frame buildings in Ridgecrest.

Completion of phase 1 will include construction of all cement work (footings, walkways and slab), exterior walls, roof/ceilings, and a complete/fully insulated structure. The museum store, office, restrooms, hallway and breakroom will be completely finished. As a result the museum store will more than double in size and will be able to provide a much more diverse selection of merchandise, books, DVDs, etc that will be of interest to local residents and the thousands of visitors that come to the museum each year from all over the world.

Subcontractors from the Ridgecrest area, Bakersfield area and other parts of the state of California have expressed interest in receiving bid packages for various trades. All of these subcontractors will receive bid packages from Valley Steel. Harris Brokke, Executive Director and CEO of the museum, stated that Valley Steel and the Maturango Museum building committee will make the selection of which sub-contractor will be awarded each segment of the work.

Photos will be added to this website to monitor progress of the construction work. Our goal is to have the museum store open for business by September of 2012 just in time for the Holiday shopping.

If you have any questions on this project contact Harris Brokke at the museum at (760) 375-6900 or stop by for a visit.