Southwest Museum Might Move : Museum: The Highland Park repository of American Indian art and archeology has outgrown its current location and is seeking proposals for a new site in Southern California.

The Southwest Museum on Wednesday began issuing requests for proposals for a new site in Southern California. The appeal is being sent to mayors, city managers and major developers in 140 municipalities in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties to determine what land, buildings and incentives are available to the museum. Responses are expected to help the museum’s trustees decide if relocation is the answer to the institution’s space crisis.

“This doesn’t mean we are going to move,” museum Director Thomas H. Wilson said. “It is just the next step in our process of planning the museum’s future.” Neither does the request mean that the museum has put its activities on hold. “We are going full-speed ahead with all our on-site programs as if we are going to be here for the next hundred years,” he said.

The Southwest Museum, one of the nation’s foremost repositories of American Indian art and archeology, has long since outgrown its home in a historic, Spanish-revival style landmark overlooking the Pasadena Freeway. A study commissioned by the board and released in April, 1992, offered three alternative solutions to the problem: a move to a larger, more modern facility; a major renovation on the current site and a “bare-bones” renewal of the charming but antiquated building.

A controversy broke out over the possible move, which would deprive Highland Park of a cultural asset it has claimed since 1914, but museum officials say they must consider all options if they are to take proper care of the collection and fulfill the museum’s mission.

“Everyone loves the building,” Wilson said, “but it gets in the way of being as successful as we would like to be in all areas of operation. We need a modern place for collections care and storage, and for exhibitions and educational programs. It would also be nice to have a few nuts-and-bolts things, like loading docks and a conservation laboratory, which we don’t have space for.” Another pressing need is additional parking, he said.

The request for proposals offers bidders a world-class collection of Indian baskets, ceramics, textiles and beaded leather work and a research library containing more than 50,000 volumes, 750 manuscript collections and 120,000 historical photographs. The community that provides a home to the museum would profit from the construction of a $35-million facility and from revenue generated by an estimated annual attendance of 300,000, according to the document.

The desired location would include space for a 100,000-square-foot facility or an existing building of that size, expansive parking, access to public transportation and freeways and proximity to leisure-time destinations. A land parcel of at least 7.5 acres is optimum, the request says. The appeal also solicits information about financial assistance and other incentives that might be available.

Letters of intent are due on Aug. 16. The deadline for proposals is Nov. 1.

“I’m sure we will get a response,” Wilson said. “We’re wide open to proposals, within our guidelines. Some people have already talked to us, but we would like to know what Los Angeles can do.” In Los Angeles, the request for proposal was sent to the mayor’s office, each member of the City Council and each member of the County Board of Supervisors.

Wilson said the appeal was not sent to arts institutions, and the trustees of the Southwest Museum do not want to merge with an existing museum.

Whether the trustees decide to move or renovate the museum, they will need to raise substantial funds, Wilson said. The cost of a limited renovation is estimated at $12.9 million. An ambitious redevelopment project on the current site is pegged at $21.9 million.

Building a new museum would cost around $35 million, a daunting sum at a time when many Southern California museums are suffering financial cutbacks. But an article of fund-raising faith is that it’s easier to raise money for new buildings than for renovation, Wilson claimed. “When you renovate, you end up spending a lot of money on things like earthquake proofing that you would build into a new structure,” he said.

Critics of the museum’s relocation option have charged that the trustees have already decided to move, but Wilson said the search for a new site is a logical step in making a difficult decision. “We are very sensitive to the community,” he said. “But trustees’ fiduciary duties are not to the community but to facilities and collections. We have to keep that in focus.”