Bass Goes Fishing
Rising Costs Have Stalled Museum Expansion Project

"We are now hanging works in the café…. We’re that desperate for space.”

By Ryan Brown

The long-awaited, half-completed renovation of the Bass Museum of Art is currently at a standstill.

Since the renovation was first planned in 1998, the price of construction has risen considerably, leaving the partly constructed public museum with an ever-rising price tag.

The first phase of the renovation increased the museum from 15,000 to 35,000 square feet. The second phase will expand the building’s total space to 68,000 square feet. The finished structure will include 25,000 square feet of exhibition space, almost three times the existing 9,000 square feet.

The Bass Museum is currently a half-structure, but the completed renovation, according to Chief Curator Diane Camber, will “place the museum at the forefront of American museums” with sufficient space not only for new exhibitions from around the world, but also for the museum’s permanent collection. The museum has spent more than $250,000 conserving this collection, which includes works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as European paintings from the 15th through the 21st centuries.

The renovation has already received $8.6 million in public funding, some from the state but much of the money coming from the city of Miami Beach. The renovation also included the hiring of famed Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, who designed the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Museum in Soho, New York, and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

According to Camber, the renovation was originally projected at $10 million but will now cost at least $15 million due to rising construction prices. “We would have saved a lot of money if it was all done together … but the project was put on hold and shuffled around,” says Camber, also noting that city funds originally planned to be spent on the Bass renovation were redirected to the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

Some of the strongest advocates for the completed renovation are members of the Collins Park Neighborhood Association (Collins Park is directly adjacent to the museum). “When a big exhibit comes to town, the Bass cannot be considered,” says Ray Breslin, president of the Association. “The King Tut exhibit that came to Fort Lauderdale couldn’t come to Miami.” Breslin notes that even if every piece of art in the museum were put in storage, the Bass still could not have held the Tut exhibit. “Look at what that exhibit brought to Fort Lauderdale in terms of tourism,” Breslin adds. Another problem Breslin sees is that many of the permanent collection works are permanently in storage. “Many of the permanent works will never be seen by the public; they just don’t have the display space.”

“We are now hanging works in the café, we’re that desperate for space,” Camber says.

According to Miami Beach Design and Preservation Manager Tom Mooney, “Only the first phase of the addition was approved [by the city of Miami Beach]. The second phase has not even been submitted for approval.”

“The entire conceptual idea of the renovation was approved,” says Camber. “He [Mooney] is speaking strictly from a construction point of view. We have not submitted working drawings for the construction because they cost between one and two million dollars to produce.” This is money that the Bass does not have. “Why would anyone approve only half a building?” Camber adds.

“If the city says ‘you need to put up one million on your side,’ I’ll go out and fund-raise myself,” says Breslin, “but they won’t sit and meet. There’s something political, there’s something going on with both sides that can be resolved but isn’t, and I don’t know why.”

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