Posted on November 18, 2009

Eli Broad Ready to Commit $200 Million to Endow Museum, Hopes to Fast-Track Development of Site

Billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and art collector Eli Broad is ready to commit $200 million to endow the contemporary art museum he hopes to build in Southern California and is eager to cut through any red tape in order to get the museum built relatively quickly, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Broad told the Times he believes a $200 million endowment should generate $12 million a year in income for the museum, which will house his 2,000-piece collection of contemporary art, function as the headquarters of the Broad Art Foundation, and contain a storage and research area for works not on display.

According to the Times, Broad has nearly doubled, to about 40,000 square feet, the planned size of the museum and is in talks with several municipalities — Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and a third, unnamed city — about possible building sites. "We don't want this to go on indefinitely, which can happen when you're dealing with cities," Broad told the Times. "It could be three years, and I'm 76 years of age."

Although Broad said he does not want to pit the municipalities against each other in his eagerness to fast-track development of the site, both Beverly Hills and Santa Monica have identified possible locations for the venue.

"We don't know which of those sites are going to work out," said Broad. "None of them are without complications."