(rshsdepot) San Diego, CA

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Gifts to help convert depot building to museum space

By Robert L. Pincus
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 19, 2002

Led by a gift of $5 million from local philanthropists Irwin and Joan
Jacobs, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego will announce today that
$9.75 million has been pledged from a group of longtime patrons toward the
transformation of the venerable Santa Fe Depot's baggage building into a
museum space. Also part of the project is the replacement of the site's
Railway Express Agency building, with a sleek three-story structure. Besides
the big Jacobs contribution, $1 million or more will come from trustees and
major supporters of the museum, including Carolyn Farris, Peter Farrell,
Pauline and the late Stanley Foster, and Matthew and Iris Strauss. This
major gift, which would go toward the estimated cost of $12 million to $14
million needed for the project, virtually assures that the museum's
ambitious expansion plans for downtown will go forward. Formal approval is
necessary from the board of the Centre City Development Corp. (San Diego's
redevelopment arm) and the City Council. The project is on the agenda of the
CCDC board for Oct. 16. If approved, it would then go to the City Council
for a final vote Oct. 29. Pam Hamilton, senior vice president at CCDC, said
yesterday she doesn't expect opposition to the plan. "Their (the patrons')
generosity will energize both the Museum of Contemporary Art and the entire
San Diego arts community in the years ahead," said Hugh Davies, director of
the museum. "This is an extraordinary example of philanthropy." The museum
would maintain its current downtown quarters, which opened in 1993, at
Kettner Boulevard and Broadway. The modest facility sits directly across
from the Santa Fe Depot and the baggage building. The proposed galleries,
projected to open in 2005, would add 13,500 square feet to the museum's
exhibition space, almost doubling what's available at both its flagship
building on Prospect Street in La Jolla and downtown. The museum has
achieved an international reputation for its collection and exhibitions of
art created since 1960 - paintings, sculptures, installations and mixed
media. Among its holdings are stellar works by Ellsworth Kelly, Andy Warhol,
Jenny Holzer, Robert Irwin and others. The lead gift from Irwin Jacobs,
founder and CEO of Qualcomm, and his wife, Joan, is the latest in a series
of major recent gifts from them that have included $120 million to the San
Diego Symphony and $5 million toward a new theater complex of the La Jolla
Playhouse that will bear their name. The baggage building would be named for
them. The Jacobs Building will have galleries named for Farrell, the Fosters
and the Strausses. Some portion of its interior would also honor Farris, who
has headed the museum's 21st Century Campaign, designed to increase capital
and endowment funds. "This will allow the museum to become more of a center
downtown," said Irwin Jacobs yesterday. "Contemporary art is very important.
The baggage building will attract a new and wider audience to the museum.
They'll be able to do things they haven't been able to do before." Added
Joan Jacobs, "We saw the potential when it (the building) was used before,
for inSITE94, and it seemed like such a natural opportunity. We've traveled
with Hugh (Davies) and seen how similar spaces have led to great creativity
by artists." Others voiced similar reasons for giving gifts in support of
the baggage building. "This is an opportunity to have a strong contemporary
art presence in the heart of the city," said Matthew Strauss, a real estate
developer and trustee of the museum. "We're passionate collectors of art. We
love the city." His wife, Iris Strauss, is president of the board of the San
Diego Opera. Farrell is founding chairman and CEO of San Diego-based ResMed,
a specialized medical equipment company, which will be the corporate sponsor
of the museum's major upcoming exhibition, "Ellsworth Kelly: Red Green
Blue." Farris has been on the museum board for more than 25 years and is a
significant collector of contemporary art. Foster, who is president of
Foster Investment Corp., is president of the museum's board. The downtown
property would be given by current owners, Catellus Corp., to the city,
which would then lease it back to the museum until 2091. An area of the
baggage building will be named for Catellus. The agreement also specifies
that Amtrak would get storage space on-site. A year ago, the museum hired
two respected architects to create a design for the interior of the baggage
building and a modest-sized wing that would replace the deteriorating
Railway Agency Building. One is Richard Gluckman, of New York, who has
garnered acclaim as a pioneer of industrial loft design and for his elegant
transformation of a structure in Pittsburgh into the Andy Warhol Museum. The
other is Wayne Donaldson, from San Diego, who is much praised for his
careful reconstruction of Balboa Park's House of Hospitality and other
preservation projects. Catellus Corp. is responsible for restoring the
exterior of the baggage building, giving it a new roof and strengthening the
structure to meet earthquake standards. The adjoining three-story facility,
designed by Gluckman, will include classrooms and office space.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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