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Deadline at hand for Tampa art museum

A couple of million is still needed to close the gap on a fundraising deficit by Thursday.

By JANET ZINK
Published March 21, 2005

TAMPA - With just three days to meet a fundraising deadline and secure documents from a lender, Tampa Museum of Art board members are scrambling to raise millions.

Board president Cornelia Corbett has also sent several e-mails to City Council members in recent days, asking them to support the project and updating them on board activities.

Since Thursday, she said in an e-mail sent Saturday to council members, the board has raised more than $810,000, closing the gap on a $3.2-million fundraising deficit. Private donors have already contributed more than $44-million to the campaign.

Corbett said Sunday she had high hopes for at least one more potential big donor, and three contributions are in the works.

"It's going to be a race to the finish," she said.

In an e-mail sent Thursday to council members, Corbett addressed a concern raised by Councilman Shawn Harrison: the $2-million in operating costs the city has pledged to the new museum. That may be more than what's given to other city attractions for operations, Corbett wrote. But the city also pays debt service for those facilities.

She noted that the city only gives $850,000 to operate the Florida Aquarium, but pays $6-million a year for its debt service. The city gives $750,000 a year to operate the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and $4.2-million a year for debt service.

The city will pay $2-million a year for the debt service on the $30-million it has pledged for construction of the museum, but won't pay any of the debt service on the museum's construction loan.

Mayor Pam Iorio has said she will pull the plug on the $76-million project if museum officials can't secure a bank loan and satisfy questions she and her staff have by Thursday. The deadline was set so the City Council can hold a public hearing March 31 and vote on whether to fund the museum. The council needs to vote that day so the bonds can be closed before the guaranteed construction cost of the museum expires April 11.

Iorio has said she doesn't want to give taxpayer money to the project unless she's certain the museum won't have to come back to the city and ask for more.

If the museum doesn't meet the deadline, Iorio said she'll go to the City Council with her vision for a scaled-down project.

Some museum donors may not want their money going to a smaller facility, Corbett said.

"Some people feel very strongly about not supporting something smaller and less spectacular," Corbett said.

The current 150,000-square-foot design by famed architect Rafael Vinoly, she said, is intended to be an eye-catcher and to accommodate future growth, with plenty of classroom and meeting space, a cafe and large museum store.

[Last modified March 21, 2005, 01:50:19]