Okay, yeah, we all knew that all the drama about how maybe Eli Broad wasn’t going to put the museum to house his art collection downtown after all, because maybe Santa Monica (or Beverly Hills) was going to be nicer to him….was simply a negotiating ploy in getting what he wanted from The Grand Avenue Authority et al….but we’re happy anyway.
Santa Monica’s fine (and, hey, it’s closer to my house) but no one believed for a second that Broad would have wished to let go of the majestic cache that the 2nd & Grand Avenue spot just south of Disney Hall would give him.
It also helps that the nearly $8 million in lease money he must pay to the Community Redevelopment Agency will be used to build affordable housing downtown—a fact that is much more in keeping with Broad’s image of himself as a socially-conscious philanthopist.
So, now that the soap opera of dealing is over, it is very, very good news that our once moribund downtown area will have another beautiful and architecturally intriguing space that anyone and everyone can enjoy. (Broad has chosen as his architects the New York firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro.)
“This is our gift to the city that has been so good to us.” Broad said in the official release. “We want to make great works of contemporary art accessible to the broadest public, and we can think of no better location than in the center of the contemporary art capital of the world.”
Well, yeah. Exactly.