Times Mirror Set to Pledge $5 Million for Disney Hall

The Times Mirror Foundation is poised to make a commitment to donate $5 million over five years to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the planned new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The pledge, when approved, would represent the largest philanthropic gift ever initiated by the foundation.

The donation represents the first gift to the Disney Hall campaign in more than a year. Other than a $2-million gift from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation in early 1995, it is the only donation from an entity outside the Disney family since the project was initiated by a $50-million gift from Walt Disney’s widow, Lillian, in 1987.

The Disney Hall project is facing a $150-million funding gap in the $264.9 million needed to build the Frank O. Gehry-designed facility. The project has experienced several delays because of spiraling cost estimates.

By July 1, the campaign must have at least $50 million in pledges or risk cancellation of the project by Los Angeles County, which financed and has built a $100-million underground parking garage on the site at 1st Street and Grand Avenue.

“We believe that Disney Hall is important to the future vitality of downtown Los Angeles,” said Richard T. Schlosberg III, vice chairman of the foundation and publisher and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Times. “It will help improve the Civic Center area significantly, benefiting both downtown employees and visitors as well as providing another world-class venue for concert-goers.”

“We are delighted with this first corporate gift to the Disney Hall campaign,” said Nicholas Goldsborough, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Music Center. “Following several months of discussions, the Times Mirror Foundation indicated to us that they believe the Disney Hall project is clearly viable, and they concur that our current fund-raising prospects are promising.”

In recognition of the donation, Disney Hall’s planned main entrance, to be made up of a curved series of steps leading to an open courtyard, will be named in honor of the Los Angeles Times. The county has approved the possibility that the adjacent Music Center complex, comprised of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre, might be named after a major donor of $100 million or more.

Approved Tuesday by the Times Mirror Foundation’s board of directors, the donation remains subject to the drafting of a final agreement.