File:Centennial plans 01 - Cleveland Museum of Natural History (28573405317).jpg

Display sign on the model of the existing and planned expansions to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, located in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

In 2010, CMNH began planning a $120 million "Centennial Campaign" to expand its campus and renovate existing structures. Kicked off in 2012, the three-part plan involved adding 70,000 square feet of space to the 240,000 square foot museum, increasing exhibit and education space from 29,700 to 53,100 square feet. About one-fifth of the current museum would be demolished to make way for new construction.

Phase One - Relocation of the Perkins Wildlife Center from the northeast corner (intersection of East Blvd. and Wade Oval Drive) to the south side (bounded by MLK Avenue, Jeptha Drive, and Wade Oval Drive), expansion of the Perkins Wildlife Center, and construction of a new 300-space parking garage on the site of the old wildlife center. Cost of Phase One was set at $20 million ($14 million for the wildlife center and $6 million for the parking garage). Construction on Phase One began in 2015, and was completed in 2016.

Phase Two - Demolition of the current auditorium and connecting wing, and the surface parking lot. Construction on this space of a new exhibit and laboratory wing on the north side of the campus, tucked between the Shafran Planetarium and the new parking garage. This includes a new and expanded Dinosaur Hall. Estimated cost was $52.5 million, but now it is more likely to be $65 million -- and climbing. Construction was to have begun in 2016, but has not.

Phase Three - Demolition of the current Wildlife Hall and traveling exhibition space. Construction of a new two-story lobby, new cafeteria without outdoor seating facing Wade Oval, new 500-seat auditorium, and new Ohio Gallery (featuring area wildlife, and conntected to the Wildlife Center outside) on the site. Construction would also renovate the interior courtyard (currently inaccessible to the public) and create a reading/dining plaza and garden there. Estimated cost was $52.5 million, but now it is more likely to be $65 million -- and climbing. Construction was to have begun in 2019, but is not currently scheduled.

The museum's trustees agreed to initiate each phase only when it had 75 percent of phase's construction costs in-hand.

By the end of 2017, CMNH had raised only $78 million, and spent more than $20 million. With fundraising slacking, Dr. Evalyn Gates, CEO of the museum, decided to depart after disagreeing with the board of trustees on how to address the funding shortfall. In June 2018, the museum's chief advancement officer, Sonia Winner, was named the new CEO.

Winner says the museum will make a major announcement about the Centennial Campaign in the fall.

The CMNH was founded in 1920. It moved into a new 16,000 square foot building on Wade Oval in 1958. The museum expanded in 1956; added a new wing in 1972, 1977, and 1988; completed the Shafran Planetarium in 2002; and the renovated 7,500 square foot Kahn Hall (where traveling exhibits are shown) in 2012. The museum's architectural style is mid-century bland. It has more than 30 mechanical rooms controlling its indoor climate, almost all of which need replacement. (Only Kahn Hall has the climate and lighting control that meets accepted standards.)