Lacey’s Train Depot Museum moves ahead

Efforts to build a new museum in Lacey to celebrate the city’s 50th birthday in 2016 took a step further along last night.

Lacey Councilmembers approved continuation of the planning process and will be asked shortly to approve more money for those planning efforts.

Merritt Architects of Tacoma presented the council with more detailed plans of the project, which will create a replica of Lacey’s Train Depot, which served the city for decades at its location near Pacific Avenue and Lacey Boulevard.

Tentative plans call for constructing a three-level building with room for office space, display areas and storage facilities.

Preliminary estimates of cost, if the current plans are followed are about $5.7 million. The building will sit on a little more than two acres of land already under city ownership and on the same property where the original depot once stood.