Fine Arts building project canceled
by Anya Bergman
News | 9/16/08
Posted online at 5:22 AM EST on 9/16/08
The Edmond J. Safra Center for the Arts will not be built due to increasing costs, University President Jehuda Reinharz announced at a faculty meeting Thursday, Sept. 4. Reinharz said he could not disclose further details about the project, which is in the midst of being terminated.
"Costs have gone through the roof," Reinharz said at the meeting.
"The parties, [including the University and the donor], are winding down [negotiations]," which is why Reinharz cannot release more information at this time, Senior Vice President for Communications Lorna Miles said.
The Justice reported in August 2004 that the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation donated a $10 million gift for the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Arts.
Administrators did not give an answer to questions about the final price of the Center for the Arts or specifics about the relationship between the University and the Safra Foundation. Vice President for Capital Projects Dan Feldman told the Justice in an e-mail last week that he could not add any information to what Reinharz told faculty members.
The Safra Foundation brought in Moshe Safdie and Associates to design the project. The Edmond J. Safra Fine Arts Building, which was going to replace the Pollack Fine Arts Teaching Center, was phase one of the project.
Ori Rittenberg, a project architect for Safdie and Associates, said the architectural firm had no part in the price negotiations for the Center for the Arts and received notice from the University that the project had come to a close.
Fine Arts department chair Prof. Charles McClendon wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the University worked with two other architects, Polshek Partnership, who did the initial programming, and Bruner Cott, who did preliminary designs, before Safdie.
Miles said Reinharz has to renew his fundraising efforts in order to build a new fine arts center but will not seek a donation from the Safra Foundation.
"Costs have gone through the roof," Reinharz said at the meeting.
"The parties, [including the University and the donor], are winding down [negotiations]," which is why Reinharz cannot release more information at this time, Senior Vice President for Communications Lorna Miles said.
The Justice reported in August 2004 that the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation donated a $10 million gift for the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Arts.
Administrators did not give an answer to questions about the final price of the Center for the Arts or specifics about the relationship between the University and the Safra Foundation. Vice President for Capital Projects Dan Feldman told the Justice in an e-mail last week that he could not add any information to what Reinharz told faculty members.
The Safra Foundation brought in Moshe Safdie and Associates to design the project. The Edmond J. Safra Fine Arts Building, which was going to replace the Pollack Fine Arts Teaching Center, was phase one of the project.
Ori Rittenberg, a project architect for Safdie and Associates, said the architectural firm had no part in the price negotiations for the Center for the Arts and received notice from the University that the project had come to a close.
Fine Arts department chair Prof. Charles McClendon wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the University worked with two other architects, Polshek Partnership, who did the initial programming, and Bruner Cott, who did preliminary designs, before Safdie.
Miles said Reinharz has to renew his fundraising efforts in order to build a new fine arts center but will not seek a donation from the Safra Foundation.
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