New London ― When Sam Quigley was named director of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum 10 years ago, he arrived with some ambitious plans for the Williams Street property, particularly the sprawling acres of green space extending out past the main museum building.

“It was clear to me that gorgeous surrounding area was underutilized,” he said on Thursday. “In her 1926 bequest, our founder, Harriet Allyn, requested a park and museum be created using her estate’s money – in that order.”

A new piece of state funding in the form of a $1.6 million Community Investment Fund award announced this month, which requires final approval by the state Bond Commission, will enable the museum to fully realize Allyn’s wishes by transforming 12 acres of grounds into an “urban art park,” Quigley said.

The park will feature a pedestrian path, pollinator meadow, eco-friendly waterfall and filtration pond, along with a restored entrance lawn and new parking area.

“We want this museum to be a welcoming, healthy, free place for visitors,” Quigley said. “Our guiding light has been to serve our community, and we’re doing that by investing in this park.”

An initial property upgrade plan was discussed in 2016 with the project gaining steam in 2022 when the Kent + Frost architectural firm was contracted to draw up plans for the work.

The $4.5 million first phase will be funded with $3.2 million in state monies and $1.3 million in private donations, Quigley said, praising legislators, including state Sen. Martha Marx, D-New London, and state Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, and state Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, for championing the funding requests.

“This project is about broadening the museum’s reach in our community ― including to our Black and brown residents ― and letting it offer more performance and educational opportunities,” Nolan said on Friday. “I’ve already heard from some local churches interested in using the grounds for services. This project is such great thing and will give the museum more exposure.”

The upgrade work includes the creation of a meandering walking and biking path running from the southwestern section of the property near Williams Street to the museum. The “Vitale Walkway,” in honor of landscape architect Ferruccio Vitale, will pass a new “lightly landscaped” pollinator meadow Quigley said that will be filled with wildflowers and butterflies.

He said a “boggy mire” on the grounds will be transformed into a filtration pond fed from an upstream waterfall. The current main parking lot will be reclaimed into a “great lawn” leading to the museum doors, work that will not impact the property’s popular sledding hill. A new parking area will be built at the facility's rear.

“I’ve been going to the museum since I was about 3 and remember it as a special place ― anyone who grew up around here has been on that sledding hill ― and this work is going to unite the city,” Marx said. “It’s going to be gorgeous.”

Quigley said upgrade work is slated to begin in May or June and be finished by next summer. The museum will remain open during construction. Other master plan improvements, including the construction of 250-seat open-air amphitheater, and a refurbished 9/11 memorial garden, will be tackled later.

“We want people to feel this is their park,” Quigley said.

j.penney@theday