After being on the Des Moines Art Center’s “wish list” for nearly 15 years, the design development phase of a planned expansion is under way, said Kirk Blunck, senior principal with HLKB Architecture.

The 9,500-square-foot addition will “dramatically improve” the museum’s ability to receive art for major exhibitions and to handle it in a “physically and environmentally” secure space, Blunck said.

Managing “prestigious exhibitions without incident” in the current 220-square-foot area is “a testament of the skill of the Art Center staff,” he added.

The addition, which includes the enhancement of the loading dock, is part of a “total package” of improvements and just one component of the institution’s $34 million “Hands On, Des Moines” campaign, said Jeff Fleming, director of the Art Center. The funds are also being used to finance several upgrades and repairs, including the addition of an elevator and renovation of the bathrooms, Fleming said.

Blunck, who also sits on the Art Center’s board of trustees, said a more concentrated effort to move the project forward began last year. He described obtaining a $1 million grant from the Community Action and Tourism Program and a $900,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation as “important accomplishments.”

The support “reaffirms the confidence in the Des Moines Art Center and what they do as an institution,” he said.

Construction of the addition, which will connect to the lowest level of the Meyer wing on the west side of the building at 4700 Grand Ave., is slated to begin in June 2009, Blunck said, adding that a “reasonable and appropriate” timeline for completion would be October 2010.

A builder for the project, which has a budget of $3.1 million, will be selected upon completion of the design development phase in May.