Beverly Hills pulls out of the running for Eli Broad's art museum [Updated] April 15, 2010 | 4:10 pm
It now looks as if the museum Eli Broad wants to build to house his 2,000-piece contemporary art collection is going to land in Santa Monica or at Grand Avenue and 2nd Street in downtown Los Angeles, literally a stone's throw from Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Culture Monster received this notice of surrender just now from a city spokeswoman in Beverly Hills, saying the city has "other project priorities" for its money than buying Broad a site for his museum.
"The Beverly Hills City Council has confirmed that it has concluded discussions with The Broad Art Foundation regarding the potential site of a museum at the intersection of Wilshire Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. As part of upcoming discussions on the adoption of the City’s fiscal year 2010-2011 budget, the Council will be reallocating to other project priorities the funds it had set aside for the potential acquisition of the property," the press release said.
"In a letter to Eli Broad, Beverly Hills City Manager Jeff Kolin said, 'While our City Council remains convinced that Beverly Hills offers an attractive location for your renowned art collection, we understand that The Broad Art Foundation is now considering other locations.'
"Kolin went on to say that should alternate sites not come to fruition, the City remained open to further partnership discussions."
We'll check with Broad or his art foundation minions in a moment and let you know what they have to add.
[Update, 6:15 p.m.] Broad has said the point of having multiple irons in the fire for his museum site is that competition between municipalities would ensure that bureaucratic red tape is minimized and planning moves ahead swiftly. Will Beverly Hills' dropping out increase the chances that the Santa Monica City Council and officials in charge of L.A.'s Grand Avenue Project could draw out the process and drive harder bargains because there's less competition to worry about?
"We're still interested in an expeditious process and decision," said Karen Denne, spokeswoman for the Broad Art Foundation. "All three locations had challenges, but we've still got two viable options." She said Broad still expects to decide the museum site by the end of spring.
— Mike Boehm
Santa Monica still pursuing Eli Broad's museum
March 24, 2010 | 2:51 pm
Despite rumors to the contrary, the final destination for Eli Broad's proposed art museum still appears to be up in the air.
The Santa Monica City Council voted Tuesday evening to approve agreements in principle with the Broad Foundations. The 5-1 decision means the city has approved a preliminary framework that enumerates obligations for the city and Broad, but it doesn't mean that the museum will end up in Santa Monica.
Other locations in competition for Broad's museum include Beverly Hills and downtown L.A.'s Grand Avenue project.
Earlier this month, a report in the Architects Newspaper stated that Broad was set to choose Grand Avenue as the site for his museum. But a spokeswoman for the Grand Avenue Committee said Wednesday that the report was inaccurate.
In a statement, the spokeswoman said that preliminary environmental studies are underway to reflect changes in uses for the Grand Avenue project, "but this in no way indicates that a decision has been made."
The vote in Santa Monica concerning Broad's museum originally was scheduled to take place in January but was postponed until Tuesday in order for the city to meet with Broad and to further study the matter.
The city's agreements in principle include making 2.5 acres available in the Civic Center for the museum for 99 years at $1 per year. The city also said it would make a one-time $1-million contribution toward the museum design.
As stated in the agreement, the Broad Foundations estimate spending $50 million to $70 million for the design and construction of the museum, which is up from a previous estimate of $40 million to $60 million.
Santa Monica also wants the foundations to reimburse any city expenditures in the event that Broad chooses to locate the museum elsewhere.
The sole dissenting vote on Tuesday came from Councilman Bobby Shriver, who said in an interview that Broad's museum represents "a great opportunity, but the deal isn't right yet."
Shriver said he would like to see an enlarged role for the city in the oversight of the museum, including a greater say in the makeup of the museum board. Under the current model, the city wouldn't have the power to appoint people to the board for the next 100 years.
"It's not just about money -- it's the overall role of the city in this project," Shriver said.
Shriver also is pushing for more discussion on the issue of whether artwork from Broad's collection could be sold in the future to keep the collection fresh and relevant.
He said that the city should further study the relationship between the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and arts patron Donald Fisher in order to better assess the quality of Santa Monica's deal with Broad.
Rod Gould, the Santa Monica city manager, said in an interview that the council would further address Shriver's points and other concerns if Broad were to focus on Santa Monica as the site for the museum. He said the council will now wait for a decision from Broad before taking any other action.
The Broad Foundations have stated that a decision about the location of the museum would be announced sometime this spring.
-- David Ng
Photo: Eli Broad. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
Eli Broad and the mysterious third museum site
January 13, 2010 | 7:08 pm
Culture Monster has been puzzling for more than a year over assertions by Eli Broad and his Broad Art Foundation that they are considering three different Westside sites for a museum Broad aims to build and lavishly endow for his art collection.
In November 2008, the news surfaced that Broad was in talks with the city of Beverly Hills about planting the museum and his 2,000 contemporary artworks at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard. A year later, Santa Monica, which may not have been on the original list of three, threw its hat in the ring.
Then, in an interview Tuesday at the Museum of Contemporary Art's announcement of Jeffrey Deitch as its new director, Broad unexpectedly revealed the third site: a 10-acre parcel on the campus of West L.A. College in Culver City.
There's a problem, though: West L.A. College President Mark Rocha says neither Broad nor any of his associates ever replied to a letter he wrote to them last November about the property.
After reading about the duel between Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, Rocha said, he had sent a letter to the Broad Art Foundation, suggesting a get-together over coffee to see whether Broad might be interested in land owned by the college along Jefferson Boulevard, downhill from the campus.
“We have never heard back from anybody in the Broad Foundation,” Rocha said. In any case, he said, the land is probably going to be tied up for about two years by heavy equipment and a construction trailer. The college needs it as a staging area for a $400 million building project.
Meanwhile, the Santa Monica City Council had been poised to vote on Tuesday on the city manager’s recommendation that it approve a negotiated “agreement in principle” in which Broad gets a $1-a-year, 99-year lease on a 2.5-acre city-owned parcel next to the Civic Auditorium, $2.7 million in cash and site-preparation work, plus the promise of a speedy development review.
Santa Monica gets to be home to a contemporary art museum with at least 30,000 square feet of gallery space and an estimated construction cost of $40 million to $60 million, paid by Broad. The Broad Foundation would cover the expected $12 million-a-year operating expenses, via the earnings on a $200 million endowment.
The council meeting was postponed, however, after the death of Mayor Ken Genser on Saturday. It is tentatively rescheduled for Jan. 19.
If approved, the agreement would seemingly put Santa Monica ahead in its horse race with Beverly Hills, since Broad says Beverly Hills has yet to acquire the privately owned land for the museum and solve parking problems.
We asked him about a possible dark horse in the Broad Museum Stakes: interviewed by the Modern Art Notes blog, Deitch was quoted as saying that he’d asked Broad to consider building his museum on a vacant lot on Grand Avenue near MOCA, Disney Hall and the Colburn School of Music.
Could Deitch’s hopes sway the race? "I listen to everything Jeffrey says," Broad told us, but his noncommittal tone suggested that he might be saying it more out of respect for Deitch than enthusiasm for the idea.
After commenting on Deitch's proposal and telling us about West L.A. College, Broad added that there’s yet another site under consideration — but he couldn’t say where.
Here’s the latest official word from the Broad Foundation, e-mailed today:
“There are more than three cities that have expressed an interest in the Broad Art Foundation headquarters/museum. Discussions are still ongoing, so we can’t say more at this point. But we’re keeping our options open and hope to make a decision on a location this spring.”
