Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
The Florida International Museum is being prevented from expanding into unused space as it struggles.
By BRYAN GILMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- The empty downtown department store complex was worth so little in 1994 that its owner gave it away.
Eight years later, that four-level building and adjoining parking garage occupy a prime block in a newly vibrant downtown. The Florida International Museum sits just across the corner of Second Avenue N and Second Street from the new BayWalk entertainment development.
And now the museum, designed to fill vacant space and draw visitors downtown when there was little else, is struggling even as downtown is in its best shape in decades. The city has sent the museum a notice that it is in default of its lease.
The reason: The Florida International Museum no longer hosts the "blockbuster" exhibitions like previous shows featuring the Titanic, Russian czars and Egypt. Far fewer visitors see its year-round selection of small exhibits.
The City Council told the museum this week not to expand into the building's second floor until a new lease can be discussed.
"All of the options are up for discussion," city economic development director Ron Barton said Friday. "Probably the primary issue for the city is building into the deal as much flexibility as possible.
"What I mean by that is we are a different city than we were five years ago, with a number of developments we're seeing downtown. We're not trying to close FIM down. But we do want to . . . allow the city to look at other options for that site or that building as they present themselves."
Florida International Museum uses only one floor of the former Maas Brothers department store, but it controls the whole site. After taking the building as a donation from Federated Department Stores, the museum spent millions renovating the ground level into galleries.
When the museum needed financial help, the city twice stepped up, paying $3.9-million to buy the buildings and most of the land underneath in 1997 and then $2.1-million for the rest in 1999. The city leases the site back to the museum.
Barton said a new lease could leave the museum in control of the whole complex or just a portion. City Council member Virginia Littrell would like the city to lease the museum just the single floor it occupies now.
Museum leaders could then focus on turning the museum around while the city worries about maintaining and leasing the other space, she said. The museum recently proposed subleasing space to St. Petersburg College for classrooms.
"The city needs to be in control of that space," Littrell said, and negotiate directly with any new tenants.
All this is a bit startling to the museum's managers, who have close ties to current and former mayors and have often dealt with the city on a handshake.
Mayor Rick Baker was formerly chairman of the museum board and had appeared before the council to lobby for the city to purchase the properties that include the museum.
"We as early as October 2000 called their attention to what I saw were things with our lease that needed to be addressed," museum president Dick Johnston said, and it was not until last month he received a "kind of cease-and-desist letter."
He said he is not sure the museum is in default, but that the letter could hurt its credibility. "If we're somehow being judged as not being totally upright because we're in default on our leases, would lenders of artifacts want to deal with us?" Johnston asked.
He is optimistic about scheduled exhibits such as a traveling version of the Baseball Hall of Fame planned for late next year. But he said the museum's future financial stability depends on renovating part of the second floor into galleries for exhibits loaned by the Smithsonian Institution. A 2000 lease amendment approved by a previous City Council mentions that plan, and the museum got a $500,000 state grant to help pay for the project last year, Johnston notes.
But Littrell questions whether expanding a struggling enterprise is wise.
Museum and city leaders say they don't want to become adversaries.
They agree the museum has a role in the future of downtown, even if Florida International Museum is no longer envisioned as the main draw. The council, city staffers and museum leaders plan to discuss the situation on Feb. 21 at City Hall.
"Everybody wants to do what's best," said Baker, who added that he will keep the city's interests paramount. "The whole reason they (founded the museum) was to help the city."