L.A. gets Lucas museum
Filmmaker decides against S.F. site at Treasure Island, chooses Exposition Park
Despite strong lobbying by San Francisco, billionaire filmmaker George Lucas has decided to build a museum to house his huge art collection in Los Angeles.
The board of directors of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Tuesday afternoon announced it chose a site in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park, where it is to join several other cultural facilities and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The San Francisco proposal was for a site on Treasure Island facing the city’s waterfront. The museum is conceived as a celebration of storytelling, with examples ranging from vintage works by Norman Rockwell to film props and sketches from such movies as “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Museum officials estimate the price tag at $1.1 billion, including a $400 million endowment — all of which would be paid by Lucas.
“I am disappointed, of course, but must respect the
decision” by Lucas and his museum’s board of directors, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “I am pleased that the museum will be built in California for our state’s residents to some day enjoy.”
Lucas first sought to build his personal museum at Crissy Field, but was rebuffed by the Presidio Trust in 2014. He then was courted by Chicago, but abandoned that quest in June 2016 because of legal challenges.
Since then, Lee and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti have cultivated Lucas at meetings and via the press — each saying his city was the ideal spot for a museum that could start construction quickly and attract hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.
Choosing Los Angles over San Francisco was “an extremely difficult decision precisely because of the desirability of both sites and cities,” the museum board of directors said in its statement. But putting down roots in South Los Angeles near the University of Southern California, it said, “best positions the museum to have the greatest impact on the broader community.”
Garcetti responded to the news with a jubilant tweet: “Welcome to LA, @lucasmuseum! We’re thrilled to have this amazing museum …”
The board also praised “Mayor Ed Lee and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for their tremendous efforts and engagement,” saying, “We have been humbled by the overwhelmingly positive support we received from both San Francisco and Los Angeles during our selection process.”
Indeed, there was no sign of opposition to the idea that Lucas might build a futuristic metal structure near the entrance to Treasure Island across from the Ferry Building. Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Jane Kim, often foes of Lee, were high-profile supporters. The island’s developers, who hope to begin construction next year on what eventually could total 8,000 housing units, tweaked their plans to make room for the museum alongside a waterfront park.
Lee alluded to the unified effort in his statement, emphasizing, “I am proud that our city came together like never before to deliver a bold vision and thoroughly viable plan for the museum.”
San Francisco’s courtship of Lucas included a 30-page brochure delivered last month to each member of the museum board. The city played the local card, telling Lucas, “It all started here and it is only fitting that this is where your legacy lives on.”
A letter signed by six Bay Area mayors stressed the audience would extend beyond tourists and “Star Wars” geeks. “The Museum will be particularly transformative for our young people, especially those who have never experienced or had access to a museum but would be drawn by the collection and its connection to their lives,” it stated.
Instead, Lucas selected the location in Southern California — a region where he went to college at USC but pointedly chose not to pursue his filmmaking career.
In its statement, the museum board emphasized the positive.
The Exposition Park location “best positions the museum to have the greatest impact on the broader community, fulfilling our goal of inspiring, engaging and educating a broad and diverse visitorship,” the statement said. “We look forward to becoming part of a dynamic museum community, surrounded by more than 100 elementary and high schools ...”
A similar tone was struck by Don Bacigalupi, the museum’s president.
“Over the past several months, I’ve enjoyed so many lively and collegial conversations with cultural leaders” in each city, Bacigalupi told The Chronicle. “This bodes well for the opportunities we will have — as a new museum — to collaborate and partner with institutions throughout the state and beyond.”
One ripple effect of the Lucas board’s decision: Direct ferry service to Treasure Island from the Ferry Building might begin later than hoped.
The idea was to build a terminal in tandem with the museum. Now, though water transportation remains integral to Treasure Island’s future, “the ferry can only come at a point in time where it makes economic sense,” said Kofi Bonner, the Northern California president for FivePoint, part of a development team that includes Lennar, Stockbridge and Wilson Meany.
Still, Bonner said the competition had been a plus.
“We’ve gone from having a good working relationship with the city to having an excellent one,” Bonner said. “This allowed us to take another look at the plan and think through some infrastructure issues” to make the redeveloped areas of the island as enticing as possible when construction begins.
The goal of Lucas and his board is to open the museum by 2021.