Broad in Beverly Hills

Last week, Culture Monster talked to Eli Broad and got him on the subject of his own museum and how plans are progressing:

“Our first choice is the Beverly Hills site,” he said. “It’s a great site. With great traffic on both Santa Monica and Wilshire, and then you’ve got the Peninsula Hotel, the Beverly Hilton and a proposed Waldorf Astoria right across the street. And lots of tourists in that whole area.” […]

“The City of Beverly Hills wants to do this. We want to do it,” he said. “But there are a lot of complications that include creating adequate parking. It’s a work in progress.”

The proposed museum would be located on one or two parcels of a three-acre commercial and retail project called the Gateway, near the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards, according to reports. The museum will consist of a two-story structure with approximately 68,000 square feet of gallery space. In the interview, Broad confirmed rumors that the Beverly Hills site isn’t finalized and that the museum could be headed for another part of town: “We are also being asked to build a museum if not there then in Santa Monica. And elsewhere.”