For Disney Concert Hall : Take the $50-Million Gift, County Advised

After a month of negotiations, Los Angeles County’s chief fiscal officer recommended Thursday that the Board of Supervisors accept a $50-million donation from Walt Disney’s widow to build a concert hall across from the Music Center facilities.

Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon, in a letter to the supervisors, said county negotiators and attorneys for Lillian B. Disney have come to terms not only on the concert hall but also on key maintenance and operating issues.

If the supervisors agree next week, the Walt and Lily Disney Hall will be built on 3.6 acres of county-owned land used as a parking lot, across 1st Street from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Although a timetable for construction has yet to be set, Music Center officials said they hope the hall will open within two years.

Lillian Disney announced the $50-million offer to build the concert hall on May 12. Mindful of past disputes over where to build Music Center expansion, she gave the county 30 days to reach an agreement in principle on the offer. Approval of the leadership of the Music Center and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra--which will occupy the hall--has already been secured.

Tribute to Disney

As proposed, the concert hall and such related facilities as administrative offices and rehearsal space would occupy all or part of the acreage over a large underground parking lot to be built by the county. Any unused part of the property could be developed commercially by the county, but Lillian Disney retains veto power over any such development.

“First and foremost, the concert hall . . . must be designed and built . . . to be one of the finest in the world and serve as a permanent tribute to my late husband, Walt Disney,” Lillian Disney said in a letter accompanying Dixon’s report. She said that any adjoining development must not conflict with the concert hall and should be designed by the same architect who designs the hall.

Lillian Disney also will be consulted on the development of two other county-owned 1st Street parking lots east of the concert hall site. County officials expect to build a luxury hotel or high-rise office buildings on the lots, which are considered among the most valuable undeveloped properties downtown.