An amusement park at the foot of the Seattle Space Needle could be replaced by a major Chihuly museum if the project wins approval.
The owners of the Space Needle, a Seattle icon originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair, want to partner with the area’s other towering local figure, Dale Chihuly, in a bid to increase tourism to the Seattle Center area of the city. They have proposed leasing space near the foot of the Space Needle currently occupied by the Fun Forest Amusement Park to build a $15 million, 44,000-square-foot museum dedicated to one of the most famous living artists in the world. The Seattle Times newspaper reports that a project spokesperson announced plans to fill the museum with “at least $50 million” worth of Chihuly’s artwork.
As a partnership between Chihuly and the Wright Family, the owners of the Space Needle, a Chihuly museum would be privately funded and cost Seattle taxpayers nothing, while paying the city more in rent for the site than its current amusement park tenant. But like any private project proposed for public land, the Chihuly Museum needs the approval of public officials who are holding a series of hearings to solicit input from local citizens. The Seattle Times‘ Brian Shapiro told the Hot Sheet that the majority of the crowd who filled a public forum last Tuesday evening wore stickers showing they were in favor of the Chihuly museum proposal which boosters are saying will attract more than a thousand visitors a day.
While there is no shortage of support for this project from local tourism officials and even regular citizens, there are also vocal opponents of using public land for a museum that will charge between $12 and $14 for admission. Coverage in the blog of the Seattle alternative newspaper The Stranger, for example, has often focused on the loss of free and open access to public space. Another question is how a Chihuly museum in Seattle might impact attendance at the nearby Museum of Glass in Tacoma, which attracts 162,000 visitors each year to a museum situated in a formerly blighted industrial waterfront.
Project organizers are reportedly seeking a 30-year lease on the site, and hope to begin construction as early as this September. If all goes as planned (and projects of this scale and involving public land rarely do), the Chihuly museum could open its doors as early as next spring.
—Amanda Asmus