Bodell Construction Co., of Missoula, Mont., is the apparent low bidder for an expansion project at Cheney Cowles Museum here.


Bodell Construction bid about $15.1 million to add more than 45,000 square feet of display and storage space at the Brownes Addition museum and remodel its current 27,000-square-foot facility.


Museum Director Glenn Mason says the states Department of General Administration has accepted Bodell Constructions base bid and a selection of construction alternatives. The department now is reviewing bid documents to ensure that state requirements, such as having necessary bonds posted, are met and is awaiting bid confirmation from the contractor. After the review and confirmation, the department, which handles state-funded construction projects, will award the contract. The state funded the museum work.


Bids were opened July 8 and the contract award is expected this week. Mason says construction could start as soon as Aug. 2, and is expected to take two years to complete.


When finished, the museum complex will have five exhibition galleries, a learning center, a meeting room, a research library and archive, a 300-seat outdoor amphitheater, a caf, a gift shop, and a three-level parking garage that will provide about 130 free parking spaces.


The museum closed June 28 to accommodate the project. Mason says the administrative staff has relocated to the former Chamber of Commerce building at 1020 W. Riverside, and a site on East Sprague will be used for storage and to house the museums research library.