City and Barnes agree on lease
Youth Study Center still an obstacle
Mayor Street and the Fairmount Park Commission have taken the first official steps to transfer a choice site on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Barnes Foundation for its prestigious art collection, but the biggest obstacle to the move from Lower Merion remains unresolved.
The Street administration yesterday introduced City Council legislation making zoning changes and approving a lease agreement with the Barnes. And last night the Park Commission, which controls part of the site, approved the 99-year lease.
Councilman Darrell Clarke said it was important for the city to show contributors to the Barnes' move some progress on the long-stalled project.
"We want to show that we are committed to the site, and hopefully we can move this legislation prior to [Council's June 14] recess," Clarke said yesterday.
But while Council may well approve the Barnes legislation, there's no visible progress on the obstacle that has so far held up the project: the city's aging Youth Detention Center, which stands on the proposed Barnes location.
Plans to build a new center at a five-acre West Philadelphia site have been blocked by Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, and so far the Street administration hasn't come up an alternative plan for the roughly 100 delinquent kids housed at the center.
Street has promised to replace the obsolete center with a modern facility, but the long delay in building a replacement has prompted the administration to look for temporary housing for the youths so the Barnes project can begin.
Under the proposed lease with the Barnes, the city must hand over the Youth Study Center site by May 30 of next year or the Barnes has the option of backing out of the project.
Blackwell said yesterday there's been "no further talk" of the site in her district.
Street spokesman Joe Grace said the administration hopes to eventually build on that site, but that it is now "actively looking at several interim locations."
He declined to name any locations.
The city and Park Commission's lease agreement with the Barnes provides that the foundation will get the land virtually for free for 99 years, provided it resolves parking issues, demolishes the Youth Study Center, builds and maintains a museum on the site, and ensures low-income visitors some access to the world-renowned collection.
Several speakers made impassioned pleas for the commission to reject the project last night, including Lower Merion Township Commissioner Brian Gordon.
Drexel history professor Robert Zaller predicted the Barnes would never be able to fund the project, and said giving the valuable parcel to the museum is "one of the most disastrous ideas ever to come before the city of Philadelphia."
Barnes Foundation director Derek Gillman said the institution has firm commitments for the $150 million cost of the project, which includes a $50 million endowment. *
