Dive Brief:
- In an effort to avoid the red tape that scuttled San Francisco's original plans for George Lucas' Museum of Narrative Art, the city's Board of Supervisors has expressed its full support for another area site, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
- If the deal moves forward, Lucas will build the museum on a 4-acre, Treasure Island parcel, which already passed necessary environmental reviews when developers proposed to a 200-room hotel there.
- Members of the Board of Supervisors said the museum will be an "iconic landmark" and that "free is good," referencing the fact that Lucas will pay for the museum himself.
Dive Insight:
If San Francisco wants to cement the museum deal, however, it needs to move fast as Lucas is also considering a ready-to-go site in Los Angeles' Exposition Park. Lucas has said that he will not suffer through any additional bureaucratic delays like those that he experienced previously in San Francisco and in Chicago.
In fact, Lucas told Chicago officials pretty much the same thing when he took his museum there last year after being subjected to lengthy approval processes when trying to build in the Presidio. However, the opposition in Chicago, driven by a local parks advocacy group, proved to be too contentious for the "Star Wars" director, so, once again, he announced earlier this year that he would seek another location.
San Francisco's Treasure Island neighborhood, the proposed future site of the museum, is already the center of a major development boom. The island in San Francisco Bay, as well as adjacent Yerba Buena Island, will be home to a high-density, sustainable community that has already won LEED Neighborhood Development Platinum-certification. This particular LEED designation is reserved for communities that are designed and built with an eye toward resident health. The development is the largest LEED-v4-certified property ever, in terms of square footage, and will include up to 8,000 residential units, commercial and retail space and hotels.