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Museum seeks pass on debt

The Florida International Museum wants the city to forgive $260,000 left on a loan.

By CRISTINA SILVA, Times Staff Writer
Published December 19, 2007

The Florida International Museum, 244 Second Ave. N, has been closed since May after its last exhibit was less successful than anticipated. The museum will reopen in February with what it hopes will be a blockbuster exhibit of artifacts from the Vatican.
	[Scott Keeler | Times]

ST. PETERSBURG - The Florida International Museum, which has struggled to keep its doors open despite a history of securing millions in public funds and landing blockbuster exhibits, is asking the city for a handout - again.

The private, nonprofit museum wants the city to forgive a $260,346 loan it owes from an outdated lease agreement. The proposal stipulates that the city would forgive the debt only if the museum's other lenders do the same.

The City Council will vote Thursday on the agreement. If approved, the measure could mean the museum would be free of $1.5-million in debt.

But even that might not be enough.

Despite a recent announcement that the museum will host a high-profile collection of Vatican artifacts in February, the museum's future looks bleak.

The museum, which has less space for exhibits since its 2004 cost-saving move into a smaller facility, recorded a $20,000 shortfall last year.

This year, it hasn't been able to pay rent, and has remained closed since its spring exhibit failed to attract the anticipated crowd.

There are no exhibits planned after the Vatican show ends in May.

"The museum is going through kind of an adjustment period," said Kathy Oathout, the museum's executive director. "There really are no answers right now."

City Council members said they will take both the museum's recent financial battles as well its past involvement with the city into consideration Thursday.

"It's an uncollectable debt," said council member Bill Foster. "If they were going to remain viable, we wouldn't forgive the debt."

Council Chairman Jamie Bennett said a renewed sense of financial security could breathe new life into the museum.

"Let's not write them off yet," he said. "They were there when we needed them and I don't think we are going to stand by when they need us."

In a time when other local museums such as the Dali and the Museum of Fine Arts are expanding, the Florida International Museum's hardships have shocked the art community.

"Many of their exhibitions have been very educational and very important for the city," said David Connelly, a spokesman for the Museum of Fine Arts. "It would be unfortunate if they were forced to close."

Local leaders organized the Florida International Museum in 1992 to help fill an entertainment void left in the city's downtown after a major department store closed. The museum was an instant success, attracting thousands of visitors annually.

Business investors took notice, and soon, the museum was credited with helping to revitalize downtown St. Petersburg.

Over time, the city poured more than $6-million into the facility to ensure its success.

But after the museum endured a series of financial setbacks, city officials closed their coffers. The museum eventually moved from a 30,000-square-foot facility it leased from the city into a 9,000-square-foot building at St. Petersburg College.

The council agreed to forgive $1-million in unpaid rent, but demanded the museum pay $350,000 in back rent in 2004.

The $260,000 the museum now wants forgiven is the remainder of that debt.

The museum's other lenders said they are willing to help the museum one more time if the city also dismisses its loan.

They include John Galbraith, the museum's biggest contributor, who is owed $1-million for a loan, and St. Petersburg College, which is owed $247,000 in unpaid rent.

"The museum doesn't have money," Galbraith said. "I thought, 'If I could forgive the debt, the city should, too.'"

Many of the museum's troubles seem to stem from its original design as a home for touring exhibits.

"It's hard to build a membership base or donor base because your exhibitions change so much," Connelly said. "You are dependent on those shows for survival."

Since opening, the museum has secured various blockbuster exhibits, including shows built around the Titanic, Princess Diana, Alexander the Great and ancient Egypt. Other shows were less successful.

The museum's most recent exhibit, "Wolf to Woof: The Story of Dogs," attracted less than 50,000 visitors during its five-month run earlier this year, far below expectations, Oathout said.

After that exhibit closed in May, the museum shut down. It will reopen in February for the Vatican show, which took the museum more than a year to secure and could attract as many as 300,000 visitors, Oathout said.

The exhibit will feature more than 200 objects from the Vatican, including some that have never been displayed in the United States, she said.

"We really are focused right now on making this a hugely successful show," Oathout said.

Cristina Silva can be reached at 727 893-8846 or csilva@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 19, 2007, 01:42:06]