via Michael Fressola/silive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Staten Island Museum’s future new home, in a landmarked 134-year-old Greek Revival building inside the Snug Harbor complex, now has 21st-century concrete-and-aluminum “decks” or floors.

The old wooden floors and nearly all of the original interior were demolished and hauled away months ago. Some of the wood will be re-milled and retrofitted for use in the new interior, which is taking shape inside an aluminum skeleton, “a new building within the building,” according to Elizabeth Egbert, the museum’s executive director.

The $26 million adaptive-reuse construction project entered its final six-month phase last week. Staffers say they expect to receive keys to the new address (1000 Richmond Terr.) in January, with the official opening the following fall.

“Once we’re in,” Ms. Egbert said, “the curators will take over and put up the new exhibits.”

It won’t be obvious to visitors, but the museum will be green, heated and cooled by a geothermal system of 32 loops extending 500 feet into the earth, where the temperature is constant. The loop field is now invisible, blanketed with new grass.

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