A hurdle cleared, Getty villa sets a reopening date of 2005

The J. Paul Getty Trust has cleared the last legal hurdle to expansion at its villa in Pacific Palisades, officials said, and has set a reopening date of fall 2005.

The villa project, a $275-million plan to make the 64-acre property a museum and center for the study of Roman and Greek statuary and other works of antiquity, includes a 450-seat amphitheater. The project was delayed when neighbors challenged it in court, saying that the expansion could bring traffic snarls and other ills. After a work-stopping victory by neighbors’ groups in Superior Court in 2000, the Getty appealed and in October 2002 prevailed before a state appellate court.

That left neighbors with the state Supreme Court as a last recourse, and on Jan. 15, Getty officials reported, that court declined to hear an appeal. Though the system was still processing the decision late last week, said Jill Murphy, chief of staff for Getty President Barry Munitz, the trust expects in coming days to secure previously blocked city permits and move into a 30-month construction schedule.

The villa was the Getty’s principal site from 1974 to 1997, its displays housed in a reproduction of a 1st century Roman country house. It closed to the public when the museum collection and Getty administration moved to the Getty’s current Brentwood hilltop location.