Financially strapped Fresno Met closes doors
City looking into other uses for downtown building
Posted at 10:58 PM on Tuesday, Jan. 05, 2010

The Fresno Metropolitan Museum closed its doors for good Tuesday, its ambitious dreams crushed by unsustainable financial losses.

An anchor in the city's downtown cultural arts district for more than 25 years, the Met had struggled financially since it reopened in November 2008 after a three-year renovation that went far over budget.

Something like the Met "will rise again, but it will be years from now," museum board President Stewart Randall said. "Right now is a bad time for starting any business, including a nonprofit."

But there is a good chance the museum building, former home to The Bee, won't be empty for long. The city of Fresno took title to the building and surrounding property last year after paying off a $15 million defaulted bank loan for the museum.

City Manager Andy Souza said Tuesday a charter school might lease at least two of the building's five floors.

"They're very interested," said Souza, declining to name the school. "Hopefully, over the next couple of weeks we will sit down and pencil out some terms and conditions that make sense to everybody, get them in front of the council, and then get [the school] in there as quickly as we can."

Souza said the city also has had talks with the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame and the Pop Laval Foundation about moving into the building.

In a 45-minute news conference in the Met's courtyard, top museum officials expressed sadness Tuesday over the institution's demise.

Executive director Dana Thorpe, who has been on the job less than two years, said paid admissions in 2009 met museum expectations and operational costs had been slashed more than 45% in the past 12 months. But operating expenses remained far above revenues, she added.

Thorpe thanked museum supporters.

"While the museum has closed, please know that your support was not in vain," Thorpe said. "You helped to provide wonderful museum experiences that allowed hundreds of thousands of families to grow together, to learn and to see the world in a new way."

In a written statement, Mayor Ashley Swearengin said the Met, like many cultural institutions across the nation, was overwhelmed by the recession.

"The Met's patrons, supporters and staff deserve our sincere appreciation for the critical role they have played in our city's cultural landscape since the 1980s," Swearengin said.

The museum's closure is a blow to the cultural arts district.

"We're very sad," said Elva Rodriguez, executive director of Arte Am駻icas, a cultural arts center. "They've been our neighbors all this time. And we've worked so hard for the cultural arts district. It's our hope that our input be considered when the city decides who the new tenant will be. We're hoping that whoever goes in there will be tied to the arts."

Randall, Thorpe and Fresno bankruptcy lawyer Riley Walter, who has served the Met for months as a financial-crisis consultant, spent much of the news conference explaining the tasks involved with shutting down a complex institution, including selling off the museum's art.

Among the challenges:

- About 12 employees were laid off Tuesday, and about 10 others will stay on for about eight weeks to return touring exhibits, prepare Met-owned collections for auction and carry out other final chores.

- The employees laid off Tuesday received final salaries and accrued vacation, but no severance. Some or all of the remaining employees, including Thorpe, may get severance packages. Thorpe makes $142,500 annually.

-The Met must leave the building by Jan. 31, but may store items in the basement through April 30.