The Force awakens in Los Angeles: George Lucas settles on final site for $1.5B museum

Dive Brief:

Filmmaker George Lucas will build his $1.5 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on a site in Los Angeles' Exposition Park, according to Bloomberg.
Lucas and his museum board chose the Los Angeles location over San Francisco's Treasure Island proposal. Lucas' project will join the park's other museum attractions — the Natural History Museum, the California Science Center and the California African American Museum.
Chicago was the original planned site for the museum, but, although local officials were on board, advocacy group Friends of the Park bombarded Lucas and the city with time-consuming legal challenges that prevented the plan from moving forward.

Dive Insight:

Since Lucas had begun his quest for a museum site with a San Francisco-area location, some believed that the city was a shoe-in after the messy struggle — and ultimate failure — of trying to build the venue in Chicago. One of the reasons that experts say Lucas took up the Windy City's offer in the first place was the fact that city officials, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, assured him that he would not encounter the same regulatory hurdles he encountered in San Francisco. Fast forward to May of last year, and the sweet deal that Chicago had offered was destroyed by litigation.

As for the most recent San Francisco proposal, access is believed to have played a role in the Lucas final decision to build in Los Angeles. The Exposition Park site is near University of Southern California's main campus, as well as next door to the future home of the Los Angeles Football Club, the $250 million Banc of California Stadium. Construction crews broke ground on the 22,000-seat soccer venue in August, and it is expected to be ready in time for the 2018 Major League Soccer season.

As for the museum itself, Lucas said he plans to display much of his personal art collection there, as well memorabilia from the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" film franchises. It will also serve as a learning center with art and film-related education workshops and seminars.