PLAY ADK Saranac Lake, NY

Phinney Design Group has been contracted to design and renovate an existing two-story warehouse on Depot Street in Saranac Lake, NY. The warehouse, built as a railway maintenance and storage building to support the nearby Union Depot, has been vacant since the train station’s decommissioning in the 1970s. The warehouse will be revitalized and reimagined as a children’s museum and family resource center to serve the surrounding communities and promote regional tourism.

The building is designed to capture attention and compliment Play ADK’s philosophy of interactive childhood education and development. The existing structure will be thermally insulated from the exterior, brought up to modern accessibility standards, and designed to house 10,000 square feet of museum exhibits, a multipurpose maker space, and a family resource center. The building’s South wing, previously destroyed by a fire, will become the footprint of a new 5,000 square foot addition. The addition will house the museum entrance, reception area, retail space, and additional exhibit space on the upper floor. The project is scheduled to start construction in Spring of 2026.