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Consideration of the Deaccession of Two Permanent Public Artworks Located at 10000 Washington Blvd.
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Meeting Date: 09/20/16
Contact Person/Dept: B. Christine Byers / Cultural Affairs Division
Phone Number: (310) 253-6003
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No []
Public Hearing: [] Action Item: [X] Attachments: [X]
Public Notification: Meetings and Agendas - Cultural Affairs Commission (09/15/16)
Department Approval: Sol Blumenfeld, Community Development Director (09/15/16)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Cultural Affairs Commission (CAC) approve the request to deaccession two permanent artworks located at 10000 Washington Boulevard.
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
10000 Washington Boulevard is an eight-story office building currently referred to as Sony Pictures Plaza (SPP) which in 2015 was purchased by LBA Realty. Sony Pictures Entertainment has been a long-term tenant at the site and will vacate the property by the end of the year. Plans for a remodel were reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission in June 2016 and include a rebranding of the property as “One Culver”, upgrading outdoor and indoor common areas, upgrading the building’s exterior cladding, and installing drought-tolerant landscaping. The remodel is intended to enhance building entry and circulation, improve the usability of the outdoor space and transform the property to an externally-oriented building that better connects with the downtown area and pedestrian traffic. Currently, the estimated hard costs for the remodel are $20 million which, per CCMC Section 15.06.120, translates into a minimum 1% Art in Public Places Program (APPP) requirement of $200,000.
There are two permanent artworks located at the site which were commissioned in 1998 and 2000 by Sony Pictures Entertainment in fulfillment of APPP requirements triggered by improvements associated with their Development Agreement as approved by the City Council in 1993. The first artwork, a sculpture (Untitled) by artist RM Fischer, was commissioned for a pre-existing plaza fountain and references sets from the 1937 MGM film Lost Horizon. The fountain sculpture is primarily stainless steel and was valued at the time at $253,813. The second artwork at the site, comprising five 6’ x 3’ panels displayed just inside the lobby over the main entry doors, is representative of a larger community-based art project that involved fifth grade students from Culver City schools working together with five artists in residence (one for each school) and resulting in a 30-panel film storyboard titled, My Movie: Portraits of My Neighborhood and costing $54,000. Michelle Isenberg was the art consultant for both projects and has been engaged by LBA Realty as the art consultant in conjunction with the most recent proposed improvements to the site.
CCMC Section 15.06.175 provides guidelines for deaccessioning permanent artworks commissioned in conjunction with the City’s Art in Public Places Program. A basic requirement for deaccessioning is that the artwork must have been installed for at least five years which if met, should be accompanied by one or several additional findings supporting the artwork’s removal. In this instance, the developer is making the case that the artworks will lose their reference to the site once Sony vacates the building and that they are aesthetically and physically incompatible with the proposed changes.
Michelle Isenberg has contacted RM Fischer who is supportive of the deaccession of the fountain sculpture. Preliminary arrangements have been made in conjunction with Joyce Pomeroy Schwartz to display the sculpture in New Rochelle, NY as part of a public art initiative in that city. Isenberg & Associates has reached out to the five schools and artists associated with the community-based art project. Linwood Howe School has agreed to take the panel created by former students from that school. The remaining four panels currently displayed at 10000 Washington Blvd. will, pending CAC approval, be returned to the corresponding artists working with each school.
Isenberg & Associates, together with the project architect, met with staff and the CAC Public Art Subcommittee (Vice Chair Cherry and Commissioner Pali) on August 29, 2016 to review the deaccessioning request. The subcommittee supported the request with the caveat that the schools originally involved with the community-based project be notified in case they wish to have the panel associated with their school returned to them.
Pending CAC approval, per the CCMC, if the deaccessioned artwork is on private property, the then property owner shall replace the deaccessioned artwork with an artwork of equal or greater value or pay an in-lieu fee equivalent to the cost of the artwork to the Cultural Trust Fund. The combined value of the two artworks is $307,813 which the property owner intends to add to the 1% APPP allocation for the new improvements, totaling $507,813. Ms. Isenberg would like to return to the CAC with an art concept proposal for new permanent public art for the site in the spring of 2017.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
Per the CCMC, the owner has several options for replacing the deaccessioned artwork, including providing new art for the site or paying an in-lieu fee to the Cultural Trust Fund. Given that there already exists a 1% APPP requirement associated with the pending improvements, the impact on staff resources is minimal for coordination if that amount is increased. In the event that the property owner were to pay all or part of the value of the deaccessioned artwork to the Cultural Trust Fund, that money would be used to support other Cultural Affairs projects and programs as outlined in the CCMC.
ATTACHMENTS
1. One Culver - Artwork Deaccession Request, Prepared by Isenberg & Associates, Inc.
MOTION
That the Culver City Cultural Affairs Commission:
1) Approve LBA Realty’s request to deaccession an artwork by RM Fischer (Untitled) originally commissioned under the City’s Art in Public Places Program in 1998 for the property located at 10000 Washington Blvd.;
AND
2) Approve LBA Realty’s request to deaccession five panels of an artwork titled, My Movie: Portraits of My Neighborhood, originally commissioned under the City’s Art in Public Places Program in 2000 and installed at 10000 Washington Blvd.