Farshid Moussavi of Foreign Office Architects has conceived a gemlike future home for MOCA Cleveland
story – Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer
Thanks to the Cleveland Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland jumped $500,000 closer to its goal of raising $26.3 million for construction of its proposed new building by the end of October.
The foundation, which had donated $1 million toward the new museum building in 2006, announced Friday it was making a second grant for a construction project, something it rarely does.
“This is pretty unusual for us,” said Robert Eckardt, senior vice president for programs and evaluation at the foundation. “The board [of directors] wanted to send a signal both of the importance of the project, and the importance of getting it done.”
Jill Snyder, MOCA’s director, said by phone from New York that she was elated by the foundation’s grant, which is based on the condition that fundraising is completed and the project goes ahead.
“Six figure days are great days,” Snyder said.
MOCA has raised $22.8 million for the project, not including the foundation’s grant. It needs to raise $26.3 million by Oct. 29 in order to qualify for federal and State of Ohio tax credits, which could pump an additional $4.5 million into MOCA’s endowment. That money would help pay for ongoing operations in the new building.
Asked whether she can meet the deadline and stay eligible for the tax credits, Snyder said, “Absolutely. I am pathologically optimistic.”
Earlier this year, MOCA unveiled dramatic plans for a 34,000-square-foot building designed by architect Farshid Moussavi of Foreign Office Architects in London.
Moussavi’s design for the MOCA building calls for a gemlike, four-story structure clad in highly reflective panels of black stainless steel and glass. It would rise from a hexagonal base to a square top.
The new building would be built at the intersection of Mayfield Road and Euclid Avenue as a centerpiece of the $150 million-plus Uptown development sponsored by Case Western Reserve University and University Circle Inc.
Eckardt said the Uptown development, which includes housing, retail and restaurants, with MOCA as an anchor, would be “transformative.”
MOCA has occupied rented space in the Cleveland Play House complex at 8501 Carnegie Avenue since 1990. The complex has been sold to the Cleveland Clinic, and MOCA needs to vacate.
Story Compliments Of The Plain Dealer
