Art Center Plan for Huntington Beach OKd

Bringing a long-proposed municipal art center a step closer, the City Council on Monday approved final design plans and voted to seek bids for remodeling and renovating a downtown office building.

The work is expected to cost about $700,000, all of which will be privately funded. The building to be renovated is a 1950s-era former Southern California Edison office building at 538 Main St.

The building will be revamped inside to provide 11,000 square feet of gallery and exhibition space.

City officials said renovation work could be underway by April and added that the new Huntington Beach Art Center could open by early 1994.

“This is something the city has been talking about for the past 10 years,” said Naida Osline, a city staffer who serves as director of the forthcoming art center.

“Arts are important to any city, and this is going to be a place where people can have a focus for their cultural life. Among other things, art is important because artists reflect community issues, such as cultural diversity.”

Ron Hagan, the city’s director of community services, said the city hopes to award the contract in March and start renovation work in April. Construction will take about nine months, Hagan said.

The Huntington Beach Art Center Foundation, a nonprofit group, has already raised $450,000 for the renovation work. The City Council in 1991 authorized a short-term loan of $300,000 so that the project could begin while the foundation continued to raise private funds.

The project was discussed at the council’s study session before its regular meeting Monday night. Representatives of the nonprofit foundation told the council that they will continue raising money to help support the operation of the art center when it is opened.

Mayor Grace Winchell said she was pleased with the financial support the foundation has given to the art center. She said she also is pleased at the progress the facility is making.

“This is fantastic,” she said. “It’s wonderful that a city of our size will now be having something like this art center. The financial support shows that the residents of this community really want to have it.”