In addition to the usual financial problems facing art museums around the country, the Seattle Art Museum had its own special burden. To fund its 2007 downtown expansion, SAM made a deal with a bank, renting out 240,000 square feet of office space in its new wing.
(Image of the ground floor of the museum’s expansion via. Suspended from the ceiling, Cai Guo-Qiang‘s Inopportune: Stage One, 2004)
What could go wrong? A bank is where the money is. But SAM got clobbered anyway, because the bank in question was Washington Mutual. At Washington Mutual, deals were backed by hot air instead of cold cash. When WaMu was seized by federal regulators on September 26, 2008, SAM was left holding an empty bag that used to contain
$4.6 million annually in rental income (closer to $5.8 million, when operating costs are included).
Into that gap rides Nordstrom. The retail giant has signed a letter of intent to lease 182,000 square feet from the museum, which leaves vacant 58,000 square feet, or two floors. SAM might end up making money on the deal, as JPMorgan Chase agreed to give SAM $10 million spread out over five years after Chase took over WaMu.
Nah. SAM will be lucky if the money turns out to be wash.
SAM and WaMu shared the block bounded by First and Second avenues and
Union and University streets downtown. Each occupied and owned a
separate building designed by different architects (NBBJ for the
defunct WaMu; Brad Cloepfil for SAM, an expansion on Robert Venturi’s
original building).
WaMu owned the top four floors and rented eight floors in Cloepfil’s
16-floor-high museum expansion, which is next door to WaMu’s own tower.
SAM occupies four floors in its new building. Eventually, it will
occupy 12 floors, which, including Venturi’s original 150,00 square
feet, will add up to 450,000 square feet.
That expansion is in the distant future. For more than a year, 240,000 square feet have been vacant. Filling 75 percent of that space in today’s real estate market is nothing short of amazing. No word yet on the specifics of the deal. What was a fair market rent in 2007 might not be one in 2010.
Who would have ever thought that the world of banking and the world of museum art would ever meet. The fact that the bank was Wa Mu, or Washington Mutual could only spell disaster for any poor business they swooped up in their financially tangled web. Wa Mu bank had some really cute, or really stupid commercials depending how you looked at it. Wa Mu would have been a fine partner to the Seattle Arts Museum, both floating along on the smooth waters of financial stability buying and selling art .The financial seas got rough for the gorgeous SAM remodeled space and all parties involved. Finances being what they are and the housing market being deep sixed, SAM took it on the chin from Wa Mu’s big fall and almost sunk in the process. Thank heavens for Chase bank entering the sinking ship and pumping insolvency out and fresh funds in. Even retail giant Nordstroms, has floated air in SAM’s, deflated sails. I don’t know if SAM can remain afloat, or for how long.