Galveston Art Center will return to its home,

Property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

For more than 30 years, the Galveston Arts Center was housed in the heart of downtown on the Strand.

But Hurricane Ike’s flooding forced the nonprofit center to move from the historic 1878 First National Bank Building.

Since the 2008 storm, the center, known for visual art exhibitions and organizing Galveston’s ArtWalk, has been on the corner of 25th Street and Market Avenue Drive.

But officials say the center will finally be able to move back home this fall.

With the help from a $1 million grant from the Moody Foundation and a $250,000 donation from the Kempner Fund, among other donations, the center is scheduled to reopen on the Strand in early October.

The move will quadruple the center’s exhibit space, allowing for expanded education programs and a larger museum store that will sell art to visitors.

The grant and donations will fund a complete renovation of the building’s interior.

The property is on the nation’s longest contiguous block of iron-front buildings and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Renovation crews found hints of the building’s historic past, including stumbling upon old banknotes and vaults that might be incorporated in displays when the center reopens.

“Moving back is going to allow us to get back to our former glory and really be the center of all things art in Galveston,” said Keith Bassett, the president of the center’s board of directors. “In our current space, we had reduced programming with not a lot of space.”

Jennifer Justice, who was hired as the center’s executive director in April, said there are plans to expand education offerings for adults, including technique classes and workshops with artists.

The center’s exhibits focus on up-and-coming contemporary artists. Justice said the expanded space would probably increase the number of shows from about 10 to as many as 30 a year.

“The evolution of the building is really interesting,” Justice said. “It was a bank, and we will still have many of those historic elements, but it will be a place for cutting edge art. The fusion of the new and the old is quite lovely, really, and I think it will be beautiful.”

The center is continuing to raise money to restore the building’s iron exterior, Justice said.

“There is still more to do,” she said. “I feel this is just the beginning. The potential for elevating the center from here is almost infinite.”

PHOTOS BY STUART VILLANUEVA / GALVESTON COUNTY DAILY NEWS Worker Jose Fonseca walks through a downstairs room of the historic First National Bank Building in Galveston, home to the Galveston Arts Center. Hurricane Ike forced the center to move while repairs were ongoing.

Workers perform renovations in the historic building on the Strand. A $1 million grant from the Moody Foundation and a $250,000 donation from the Kempner Fund, among other donations, are helping the center to return home.