Loading...
sr-111709-8bCity Council Meeting: November 17, 2009 Agenda Item: To: Mayor and City Council From: P. Lamont Ewell, City Manager Subject: Conceptual Proposal for Contemporary Art Museum in the Civic Center Recommended Action Staff recommends that Council consider a conceptual proposal by The Broad Foundations (The Broad Art Foundation and The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation) to finance and work with the City to establish a public museum of contemporary art in the Civic Center, probably through a development agreement or a disposition and development agreement, and direct staff to initiate negotiations with The Broad Foundations. Executive Summary The Broad Foundations and City management have been discussing a conceptual proposal to build a public museum of contemporary art between the Civic Auditorium and the County Courthouse. The proposal affords the potential to significantly advance the City's goals of promoting the arts and enhancing cultural opportunities in the Civic Center and the City with a relatively small expenditure of public funds. It would require amendment to the Civic Center Specific Plan and would presumably be accomplished through either a development agreement and lease arrangement or through a disposition and development agreement covering both the museum project and the land lease. The Foundations' concept is to lease approximately 2.5 acres of City-owned land for a nominal amount, commission design by an internationally renowned architect, pay all but a small percentage of design and construction costs, construct and operate the museum, and establish an endowment to cover ongoing operational costs for aworld- class public museum and art archive. In return, the City would invest a specified amount of public funds in the design and construction, lease the site to the Foundations, ensure adequate parking for Foundation staff and patrons, install and maintain exterior landscaping surrounding the museum, and, possibly, to purchase The Broad Art Foundation's existing property on Barnard Way. Additionally, because time is of the essence to the Foundations and delay would jeopardize the project, the City would commit to expedite the process while preserving full public review. 1 Background Development of the Civic Center is governed by the Civic Center Specific Plan (CCSP), which was adopted in 1993 and amended in 2005. The Civic Auditorium District section of the CCSP plan is attached. In addition to the existing uses, the CCSP calls for park space, an early childhood development center and an expansion of the Civic Auditorium's East Wing for cultural, educational and community-oriented activities in the Civic Auditorium District. Creative Capital, the City's adopted cultural master plan, also speaks to the Civic Auditorium District as a cultural focal point of the community. The survey undertaken as of part of Creative Capital found that 73 percent of residents consider the creation of a major art museum in Santa Monica to be appealing or very appealing. The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection and The Broad Art Foundation collection (the Broad Collections) are considered to be among the world's finest collections of contemporary art. The Broad Collections include approximately 2,000 artworks by more than 200 artists, ranging from the vanguard innovators of the 1960s and 70s to artists achieving similar distinction today. The Broad Collections are regularly augmented by very selective additions of significant contemporary masterworks. The Broads have always felt an imperative to share their collections, and to this end, over the past 25 years, The Broad Art Foundation has loaned more than 7,000 works to more than 450 public institutions with more than 100 million annual visitors combined. However, most of this world-class collection is currently inaccessible to the public because the Broad residences and The Broad Art Foundation facility (located at 3355 Barnard Way in Santa Monica) are not open to the public. And, while certain works from the Broad Collections are exhibited at the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA and are on loan to other museums nationally and internationally, the vast majority of works from the Broad Collections are kept in storage. The Broad Foundations have been exploring how best to house the Collections and make them available for the benefit of the public. Accordingly, the Foundations have developed a conceptual approach. of building a 2 public museum and archive in a prime location in western Los Angeles County. The museum would be designed by a world-class architect. Discussion Santa Monica and its Civic Center is a prime candidate for the public museum concept. The concept envisions a museum, art archive and supporting uses being built on approximately 2.5 acres facing Main Street between the County Courthouse and the Civic Auditorium, which would be leased from the City through a very long-term lease for a token rent. The Foundations would pay the bulk of the costs of design and construction, with the City paying only a small percentage , (perhaps $1 million). Additionally, at the option of The Broad Art Foundation, the City would purchase the property on Barnard Way, which has an estimated value of approximately $6 million, and take responsibility for expediting the project through the permit process and absorbing permit and development impact costs. The Broad Foundations would establish an endowment large enough to pay for maintenance and operating costs of the museum, which would be privately owned, operated and maintained. The City would maintain exterior landscaping. The benefits of the proposal are readily apparent. The City would gain aworld-class cultural amenity in the Civic Center. The museum would significantly advance City policies that strongly favor promoting the arts and fostering cultural opportunities, particularly in the Civic Center. Moreover, the museum would draw residents and visitors to the Civic Center area which will be readily accessible by public and private transportation. In addition to the museum, visitors to the Civic Center could also enjoy the plethora of unique amenities and attractions in the immediate vicinity. These include Palisades Park, the proposed Palisades Garden Walk, the revitalized Civic Auditorium and proposed park, the Pier, and the Promenade, as well as many outstanding hotels and restaurants and the redeveloped Santa Monica Place, all within easy walking distance of the proposed museum site. 3 Various process requirements would apply to this conceptual project. Likely, the development agreement process or disposition and development agreement process would be utilized, in which case the terms of the City's relationship with The Broad Foundations would be defined contractually. The development agreement process is established by Chapter 9.48 of the Municipal Code. It requires a hearing before the Planning Commission, along with the formulation of a Planning Commission recommendation, and a hearing before Council in advance of development agreement approval. Additionally, in recent years, the City has formulated a practice of "floating up" the concept of development agreements to the Planning Commission and to Council before negotiation. This practice is not governed by law but is referenced in general guidelines for development agreements, which were prepared pursuant to Council direction in 2003 and which are set forth in an Information Item dated December 2, 2003. Consistent with this practice, the concept of the proposed museum will be presented to the Planning Commission at the earliest opportunity so that the Commission, which would eventually conduct a hearing on a proposed development agreement, may provide feedback on the concept early. Concurrent with development agreement process, a process would be necessary to amend the Civic Center Specific Plan in order to allow the proposed use. Ordinance amendments to support permit expediting may also be necessary. Once the project is formulated, environmental review would be required. Public review would, as always, be part of the development agreement, environmental assessment, and amendment processes. Because time is of the essence to The Broad Foundations and is a significant factor in the Foundations' selection of a location for the museum, the City would work to facilitate the process, consistent with complete transparency and full public review. 4 Alternative The alternative to providing staff with direction and authorizing continued work on this concept is to decline the proposal. Financial Impacts & Budget Actions There is no significant cost to directing staff to enter into negotiations with The Broad Foundations. If the proposal eventually becomes a project, the direct costs to the City could include the City's contribution to the cost of design, its possible purchase of the Barnard Way property, costs of any supplemental environmental assessment undertaken by the City and costs of any mitigations associated with implementation of the Civic Center Plan. The amount of these costs cannot be ascertained in advance of negotiations, but the City Manager estimates the total, excluding future maintenance costs, at approximately $7 million. There could also be indirect costs and opportunity costs, such as the opportunity cost of leasing the land for a token fee and the indirect costs of dedicating staff to expedite permits and approvals. In addition, there might be costs associated with ensuring adequate parking for the museum, and there would be future costs associated with maintenance of landscaping. Prepared by: P. Lamont Ewell, City Manager Approved >`YY ~2~~,s.~r . Lamont Ewell City Manager Attachments: Forwarded to Council: A. Civic Auditorium District, Civic Center Specific Plan 5