News
GARDNER GETTING THERE
May 1, 2011
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| The $118M project designed by Renzo Piano to expand and restore the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is coming down the home stretch with a January opening planned, its director Anne Hawley told a NEWiRE lunch crowd at the Four Seasons on Thursday. We snapped Anne with TD Bank?s Jackie Hanke and Riemer Braunstein?s Joan Parsons, the outgoing NEWiRE president. After three years of planning and a two-year court battle, Anne says the new complex will preserve Mrs. Gardner?s vision for a unique cultural institution. The 1903 reproduction of a Venetian Villa that features a flower-filled courtyard, art exhibits, chamber music concerts, and education will soon be part of a three-building complex. |
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| Anne says the museum was a difficult client for Piano since she and her advisors asked for five versions of the design. But, she says, the starchitect took it in stride, like a respectful nephew working with an eccentric great aunt. During the planning stage, Anne tells us she was shocked to realize the museum needed 80k SF of new space. But the Gardner has a staff of 120 compared to the 20 in Mrs. Gardner?s time (some now work in converted closets) and 200,000 visitors a year compared to 200 decades ago. Piano?s design separates the museum—the ?sacred? space—from the artist studios, classrooms and caf?—the ?profane? space. From the start, the Gardner was committed to a green project since as a museum it's an ?energy hog? given its need for precise climate control to preserve the collection. |
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| We snapped First American Insurance?s Jeanne LaBelle, an ex-president of CREW, who encouraged the lunch guests to attend CREW?s annual convention in DC from September 14-17. Jeanne works for First American?s CRE division on title, escrow, underwriting and closings. She tells us that in DC ?we have a little bubble in every asset class.? Offices, she says, are moving at ?eye popping? cap rates (in the 5 territory), she just closed on a warehouse deal, and her company's working with lenders on lots of re-fis. TD bank?s Jackie Hanke, meanwhile, says the bank will soon open its first net zero energy store in Ft. Lauderdale, a 3,800 SF space. |
