3 Sites Under Consideration for an Expanded Riverside City Museum

The Riverside City Council today could select a site to build a large, state-of-the-art complex to replace the city’s crammed municipal museum.

“We really are a big city, the 11th-largest in California. The museum has not expanded capacity since 1966,” said museum director Vincent Moses.

“As a big city, Riverside really is ready for a true metropolitan museum.”

The city’s current museum, a 25,000-square-foot main building and a 6,000-square-foot annex, is “jammed to the gills,” Moses said. Located at Mission Inn Avenue and Orange Street, the main building houses anthropology, history, natural history and education departments.

The city’s goal is to move to a 150,000-square-foot complex. In addition to exhibition halls, Moses envisions a theater, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a gift shop and other amenities.

In March, the City Council asked Moses to assess potential sites for the museum. A committee has narrowed the list to three locations: Fairmount Park Golf Course, Raincross Square at 3rd and Market streets, and a parcel at University and Chestnut streets.

Each site has advantages and disadvantages:

* The 10-acre portion of the golf course offers a “pastoral setting” and is owned by the city, but is on a 100-year flood plain with a high water table. Plus, the golf concessionaire has 18 years remaining on a city contract.

* The 6-acre Raincross Square tract is close to downtown and is also owned by the city, but is viewed by some as a good site for expansion of the convention center.

* The 4-acre parcel at University and Chestnut is also downtown, but is privately owned and would have to be acquired by the city.

The committee favored the golf course, closely followed by Raincross Square, the site Moses has endorsed.

Moses said that at a council workshop at 3 p.m. today, he will ask the council to select a preferred site, or, if they cannot, to narrow the list to two spots. He will also seek permission to conduct architectural and economic feasibility studies of the preferred site or sites.