Art collector and philanthropist Eli Broad has nearly doubled the size of the museum he intends to build for his 2,000-piece collection of contemporary art, and the cities of Beverly Hills and Santa Monica are competing to be its home.
Broad said recently that he isn't playing two municipalities against each other -- and he said a third city that he declined to name is in the running.
"We don't know which of those sites are going to work out. None of them are without complications," Broad said.
"We don't want this to go on indefinitely, which can happen when you're dealing with cities," Broad said. "It could be three years, and I'm 76 years of age."
He said he plans to create a $200 million endowment that would generate $12 million a year to operate the privately run nonprofit museum.
The only bigger single cash donation to the arts in Southern California history would be J. Paul Getty's initial $700 million 1976 bequest to establish the J. Paul Getty Trust.
Broad said that establishing another major venue devoted to contemporary art would solidify Los Angeles' standing as a leading center for works created since World War II.
Cheryl Burnett, the city of Beverly Hills' spokeswoman, issued a statement making it clear that Beverly Hills will compete for the museum. "While we recognize that the Broad Foundation has many options.... There's no better place than Beverly Hills to showcase this world-class contemporary art collection."
Kevin McKeown, a Santa Monica city councilman, said, "I'll do everything I can to make this happen," noting that a museum would dovetail with the city's plans to rejuvenate the Civic Auditorium as a performance venue.
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