By Louis Fine/Murphy News Service

This schematic supplied by the Walker shows how it property will be used after $75 million renovation effort.

The Walker Art Center is moving ahead with a $75 million renovation designed to better connect the museum with the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

The renovation plan comes as the Walker is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Key features of the renovation plan include a new entry pavilion for the Walker, a new green space on the hillside where it hosts the popular Rock the Garden concert and a reconstruction of the Sculpture Garden.

According to Ryan French, the Walker’s director of marketing and PR, the capital project’s budget breaks down as follows: $33 million for the museum’s operating endowment; $23 million for the new pavilion and green space; $10 million for the Sculpture Garden makeover and $8 million for renovations completed in 2013.

Multiple statues in the sculpture garden have been relocated to local parks until the construction is complete. Whether all of them will return afterward is uncertain.

According to French, there will be “a mix of pieces returning” and that they are “engaging new artists,” but they are “not releasing information at this time.”

The Rock the Garden concert will stay in its current spot on the hillside this year, but will be relocated in 2016, French said.

French said about 205 trees will be added to the campus, and the new pavilion, which will provide an access point between the Walker and a new parking garage, will feature a green (grass covered) roof.

Louis Fine is a reporter for the Murphy News Service.