Courtesy: NYC & Company / Tom Perry

Courtesy: NYC & Company / Tom Perry

One of New York’s finest cultural institutions is getting a little bigger.

The American Museum of Natural History is announcing that it will open its new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation in 2020.

At an estimated cost of $325 million, the center is being named in honor of museum trustee Richard Gilder and will begin construction in 2017 pending approval of its design. The new wing will house new exhibitions and learning spaces, along with labs for research, classrooms, and more.

Eighty percent of the 218,000-square-foot facility will be located within the area currently occupied by the museum. Three existing museum buildings will be removed to make way for the project in Theodore Roosevelt Park, where there is the possibility of planting more than a dozen new trees and adding park benches.