As the Downtown News reported yesterday, Eli Broad wants to bring his art museum to Downtown so bad he's putting a ring on it--he's upped his offer for Community Redevelopment Agency land at Second St. and Grand Ave., from $1 a year for 99 years to $7.7 million for the same 99 year lease. A letter to the LA County Supervisors says that figure "is based on a recent valuation" by the county. The offer has brought lone holdout, County Supe Mike Antonovich, over to the Broad side on the project, his spokesman tells the LA Times.
The museum is on the agenda for tomorrow's CRA board of commissioners meeting, including whether to agree to pay $30 million toward a 300 space parking garage below the museum (200 spaces would be public, 100 would be for museum visitors). The paper says "the garage would cost about $23 million, and Broad and his wife, Edythe, would advance $15 million that CRA/LA could repay over 11 years." Broad has already said he'll shell out a $200 million endowment and up to $100 million of construction costs for the project. If the CRA signs off tomorrow, the plan will still have to make it through a Board of Supes, City Council, and Joint Powers Authority gauntlet.
Meanwhile, poor, desperate-looking Santa Monica, which actually had a chance at the Broad museum once upon a time, is still offering a $1 a year lease on land there. And like a mean ex stringing her along, a Broad Foundation spokesperson tells the LAT "that Broad still considers Santa Monica a 'viable option' for the museum."
· Eli Broad offers $7.7 million for art museum lease, not $1 [LAT]
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