American film maker George Lucas attend the European Premiere of “Star Wars - The Force Awakens” at Empire Leicester Square in London on December 16, 2015. Lucas wants to build a museum for his $743 million art collection, but is getting major pushback from Friends of the Park, a group that doesn't want any more waterfront development along Lake Michigan. File Photo by Paul Treadway/ UPI |
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CHICAGO, June 20 (UPI) -- Despite a federal lawsuit against placement of a George Lucas Museum on the Chicago waterfront, Friends of the Park now say they are willing to negotiate if 5 percent of museum revenue goes in to a neighborhood park fund.
They are not budging, however, on plans to put the museum in a parking lot near Soldier Field. Instead, they are considering allowing it at McCormick Place's Lakeside Center, part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's politically difficult and expensive backup plan.
The group's executive director sent a memo to the board Thursday in response to some members' desire to work with Lucas, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Until now, Friends has opposed any development plans along the Lake Michigan waterfront. The non-profit's federal lawsuit aimed to block the project, the Star Wars creator's showcase for his $743 million art collection.
Still, the Chicago Park District on Sunday accused the group of making an "outrageous" list of demands, going so far as to call it extortion, The Chicago Sun-Times reported. The park service said the demands will likely be the "final nail in the coffin" of plans to build the museum in Chicago.
Other demands made by the Friends group include improving DuSable Park in Streeterville; setting aside a significant number of jobs for minorities and low-income residents at the museum and that the Soldier Field south parking lot, originally considered for the Lucas Museum, be converted in to green space instead.
The Friends demands would force Emanuel to return to the costly alternative of demolishing McCormick Place East, which isn't likely to move forward since it would require $1.2 billion in borrowing and the extension of tourism taxes in five districts.
San Francisco and Los Angeles are also in the running.
Park District Board President Jesse Ruiz accused the Friends group of having no real desire to make the museum work in Chicago.
"Your legacy will have been to oppose the construction of the Barack Obama Presidential Center until community outrage drove you to retreat and now, to fight the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, therefore denying the city, especially its children and residents who most need it, of untold opportunities that this museum would bring," Ruiz said in a statement to the Friends of the Park.
