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Letter to the editor

$1 Dali lease deal gets sticky

The museum doesn't want to be bothered by auto races or planes.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published November 2, 2007

The city agreed Thursday to a 99-year lease to move the Salvador Dali Museum to land near Mahaffey Theater.
	[William Dunkley | Times (2006)]

ST. PETERSBURG - All the city wants to do is hand over - for $1 a year - 3 acres of its downtown waterfront for the new Salvador Dali Museum.

Voters already overwhelmingly supported the idea in 2004. The rest should be simple.

But after a second round of public talks Thursday, museum and city officials continue to bicker over details of the complicated land deal.

No one has said the new museum's move is in jeopardy.

No one seemed particularly happy, either.

"Sometimes you can get so caught up in the details of something that you can miss the significance of what you're doing," said Mayor Rick Baker, hoping to ease any tension near the end of a four-hour meeting. "At the end of the day, we're going to have a magnificent center."

The city and museum officials want to relocate the Dali from Third Avenue S to a new facility near the Mahaffey Theater. The city has agreed to lease the Dali space at $1 a year, for 99 years. The proposal mimics the museum's current lease with the city on the site to the south.

On those terms, everyone agrees. After that, it gets much less clear.

Museum officials say they need better access to the Dali during the spring Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, restrictions for aircraft taking off and landing at the nearby Albert Whitted Airport and promises that the city will pay the museum's landscaping and reclaimed water bills.

City attorney John Wolfe said the lease can be amended.

Faced with a Nov. 30 deadline to get an agreement, the city wants to get the deal done. Otherwise, the city has to hold a second referendum to authorize it.

City Council members said Thursday that they never thought the deal would be so hard to close. "I just want to get this over with," said council member Rene Flowers, forgoing a line of questioning during Thursday's debate.

The proposed lease, which is 55 pages long, has been through at least 40 drafts. Baker, himself, was working on substitute language to pacify museum officials during his lunch break.

The City Council approved the 99-year lease Thursday, despite some objections from the museum's attorney, Jim Martin, and executive director, Hank Hine.

The museum's board of directors, which has more than 20 members, must now decide whether to sign the city's version.

"I don't know what they're going to do," Martin said.

The museum must still work out a $6-million deal with the University of South Florida to sell the Dali's current site to the school. The museum said it needs the money from the sale to build the $32-million facility.

Hine said officials could break ground on the new museum in July if an agreement could be reached by Nov. 30. Construction would take more than two years.

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or 727 892-2273.

Fast facts

The details on Dali

-The city agreed Thursday to a 99-year lease to move the Salvador Dali Museum to land near the Mahaffey Theater.

-The museum's board of directors must still approve the lease.

-If the museum does not approve the lease by Nov. 30, the city must repeat a referendum to approve the plan.

[Last modified November 2, 2007, 01:09:56]