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Nov 18, 2008 6:26 pm US/Central
Kimbell Art Museum In FW To Get New Building
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum is getting a new look for the first time since 1972. But not everyone is happy about it.
The announcement comes as Fort Worth's Cultural Arts District, west of the downtown area, is going through a major makeover.
The Kimbell is at the end of a booming corridor of development. Designers are trying to fit old with new and are having to answer worries about protecting the view of the current building and taking away a green space next door.
"I think for a lot of us around here, we are really centered on the museums and the parks," said Sara Gold, who was enjoying the park Tuesday. "I think what we've been seeing is a lot of people just enjoying the outdoors."
The park will soon be the new addition to the Kimbell Art Museum. Its designer, like Luis Kahn back then, is trying to fit his work into the environment.
"The proper conversation between the Luis Kahn building and the new one could only happen if it were located on the lawn," said the Kimbell's director, Malcolm Warner.
The new $70-million building will add green space where there is parking, will use new architecture to highlight the old and try to marry the old with the new.
In the now booming corridor joining the cultural district to downtown, the transition for now is not as harmonious.
"We got a parking lot going in across the street. We got a Marriott on the end over there. We've got some offices and we got some retail on the bottom," said Al Cavazos, who owns La Familia restaurant on Foch St.
While those are welcome additions for the future, right now the construction threatens businesses already here. Construction chokes traffic and squeezes parking. Some businesses report sales off 25-percent. With months left in construction, business owners hope they can hang on until it's complete.
"Right now it's just put another hole in your belt and learn how to survive," said Cavazos.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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