Lancaster Museum of Art Discontinues North Queen Street Project

The Lancaster Museum of Art Board of Trustees voted tonight to discontinue the relocation and expansion project to the museum-owned property located at 215 North Queen Street in downtown Lancaster. In a January 21, 2010 letter sent to the members of the Museum, Executive Director, Stanley I Grand explained the rational behind this decision:

“I am writing to inform you of the Board of Trustees’ decision yesterday to discontinue the Lancaster Museum of Art’s North Queen Street project.

For almost half a century, the Museum and its predecessors have provided visitors with “the best available art.” We have done so in various locations including the Goethean Gallery on the Franklin & Marshall campus, a storefront on West Grant Street, and since 1979, the city-owned Grubb Mansion.

In 2005 the Board of the Museum purchased an historic building, 215 North Queen Street, and the adjacent surface parking lot. At the time, the Museum planned to transform this historic structure and the parking lot into a prominent cultural anchor. The Museum had no intention of selling the parking lot, which provided significant operating revenue.

At the urging of elected officials who wished to see this significant downtown corner developed, we sold the parking lot to Red Rose Transit Authority. We were also assured that state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) funding would be forthcoming as stated in a letter dated August 1, 2008: “…Governor Rendell (along with his Chief of Staff, Greg Fajt) committed $4 million in RACP funding for LMoA, which would come out of the 2009-2010 fiscal year allocation.”

The Museum acted in good faith to move the project forward and obtained an $85,000 matching grant from the Pennsylvania Museum and Historic Commission to restore the façade of 215 North Queen. Likewise, we invested substantial sums in the redesign of the new facility, incorporating an additional 10,000 square foot “Museum Annex,” the “shell” of which the RRTA agreed to build and lease to the Museum as a condition of the parking lot sale. The additional square footage would more than double the scope of the project and add significantly to our general operating costs.

Times have changed. The troubled economy and the fact that the promised 4 million dollars were not included in the State’s current fiscal year budget prompted the Trustees to reassess the Museum’s long-range plans.

While a new building would have been wonderful, it is not essential to the Museum’s ongoing success. The Trustees’ decision yesterday allows the Museum to refocus our efforts at the Grubb Mansion. By doing so we:

· Remain a premier regional museum
· Maintain a fiscally conservative management philosophy
· Develop adventuresome and wide-ranging exhibits and programs
· Work to be accessible to the entire community

Your continuing commitment does not go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Yet another chapter in the Museum’s four-decade history has begun, and we thank you for your support."