Things have been quiet for a while, but construction is getting back into swing at the future Armenian American Museum in Glendale.

The museum announced this week that the first structural steel beams have been put into place at the construction site, which sits just east of Brand Boulevard at the southern edge of Glendale Central Park. They will eventually form the frame of a a two-story, approximately 51,000-square-foot building with a basement garage.

Alajajian Marcoosi Architects is designing the museum, which will have a jagged exterior modeled on rock formations seen in the Armenian Highlands. Inside, plans call for permanent and temporary exhibition galleries on the building's upper level, with a lobby, an auditorium, offices, and other functions below.

Gallagher & Associates is leading the design team for the museum's permanent exhibition, which will focus on the Armenian Genocide.

The project's location within Glendale Central Park is thanks to a $1-per-year ground lease agreement between the museum and the City of Glendale. The lease runs for an initial term of 55 years, with four optional 10-year extensions that could push that total to 95 years.

Construction of the Armenian American Museum will be paired with a planned revamp of Glendale Central Park, which will convert a parking lot into park to space to replace the open area lost to the museum footprint.