A deal, still in its early stages, could bring the museum to cube and cylindrical downtown buildings.
By JANET ZINK, Times Staff Writer
Published November 11, 2005
TAMPA - Square buildings known as "the cubes" and two floors of an adjacent cylinder-shaped downtown office tower have emerged as the top contender for a new art museum site, a site selection committee announced Thursday.
"It's not guaranteed that it's going to be the site," said committee chairwoman Christine Burdick, executive director of the Tampa Downtown Partnership. "There are other possibilities, but this is one we're going to pursue further."
City and museum leaders need to negotiate details with the building's owner, America's Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm that bought the buildings at Kennedy Boulevard and Ashley Drive in January for $35.5-million.
"Discussions with the museum are very preliminary at this point," said Michael Lerner, the company's vice president. "As a prudent owner we would be remiss if we didn't listen to what the museum has to say."
The 31-story building, recently named Rivergate Tower, has 515,000 square feet. About 50 percent is vacant, Lerner said.
The cubes were mentioned this summer as a possible interim site for the museum. The property was used during the filming of the John Travolta movie The Punisher.
The cubes and second and third floors of the tower, also known as the "beer can" building, would provide the museum with about 58,000 square feet. The existing Tampa Museum of Art nearby along the Hillsborough River is about 44,000 square feet.
The proposal includes a city-owned plaza north of the building that was part of the footprint of the Rafael Vinoly museum design, a 150,000-square-foot, $76-million concept that died in April when the museum failed to secure a construction loan. The plaza serves as the tower's driveway.
Ken Rollins, interim director of the art museum and a member of the site selection committee, said it will take a few weeks to determine whether part of Rivergate Tower could function as a museum.
"There are a lot of things to assess," he said. "It's crucial that we are certain that it has all the characteristics that would allow us to have a successful working museum."
Issues to consider include lighting, air flow and security. The structures have a lot of windows, which could pose a challenge for displaying and maintaining art. It's also unknown whether renovations will cost less than building from scratch.
The site appeals to both museum leaders and the mayor, who have been at odds over the location for months. Museum officials wanted to keep a waterfront site, while Mayor Pam Iorio wanted to move it off the water to expand green space along the river. She recommended relocating to the old federal courthouse on N Florida Avenue, but that plan collapsed amid public opposition.
Museum board chairwoman Cornelia Corbett said the latest proposal offers the museum a prominent location.
"It's on Ashley, it's in downtown," she said. "It could back up to Kiley Park, which would be very attractive. It would give you a view of the river."
Iorio said Rivergate Tower holds great possibilities for the museum, but discussions are preliminary.
"We have to be very careful about raising expectations when we have not yet negotiated with the owners of the building," she said.
Museum visitors would park in an existing garage underneath Kiley Park, a nationally acclaimed garden north of the tower that has fallen into disrepair.
The garage, however, is also decaying and needs about $6.5-million in repairs, city officials say.
Iorio said fixing the garage would involve dismantling the park and rebuilding it, based on the original design. Kiley Park could then become a sculpture garden for the museum.
"It's not going to look like it looks today because you can't plant those big trees back," she said. "But the concrete pad directly in front of Kiley would be part of any future expansion of the museum."
Since its creation in August, the museum site selection committee has considered 12 locations throughout the city, including Ybor City and as far north as Fowler Avenue, Rollins said. In addition to Rivergate Tower, the group is still considering two city-owned properties in the Channel District and downtown, Burdick said.
Not everyone expressed enthusiasm for the group's top pick.
City Council member Rose Ferlita said Rivergate Tower seems more convenient than suitable.
Art museum board member Jan Platt, a former Hillsborough County commissioner, called the choice a "disappointment."
"That building has the reputation of being called the beer can. Only in Tampa would they put an art museum in a building known as the beer can," she said. The sculpture facing Kennedy is often referred to as an exploding chicken.
"Who's going to have pride in that building being an art museum? What a legacy," she said. "It's sad."
