The Park City Council is working on a plan to develop five acres the city owns at the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard. Park City purchased the land in 2017 to create a new arts and culture district, with new homes for the Kimball Art Center and the Sundance Institute.
Those plans fell through amid high cost projections. City leaders have since wiped the slate and are finalizing a new planning effort that included collecting community feedback through open houses and online surveys. The city council still wants to reserve space for the Kimball on the five acre site. Sundance has not been involved in negotiations.
Kimball Art Center Executive Director Aldy Milliken says one acre would fit with the nonprofit's goals for a new home.
“In a perfect world we would lease the acre from the city,” Milliken said. “The city would maintain ownership. That’s more of a common model across municipalities across the country. So that lease agreement would actually be a way the city could support the Kimball.”
Milliken said they have money left over from the sale of the Kimball’s former home in Old Town. However, he said they would need to conduct a capital campaign to raise money for the new building.
“We’ve learned a lot in the last 10 years about what we need to really focus on,” Milliken said. “Focus on the contract first, and then we can focus on what we’re going to achieve as a community. What is the Kimball and the future of the Kimball going to look like? And that’s going to require everybody to participate.”
Milliken said their current focus is getting a contract signed with Park City.
He said the Kimball hasn’t drafted any architectural designs for a new headquarters, but they do have master planning ideas.
“We’re going to engage the community,” he said. “Do you want a cafe in there? I mean, the answer is yes to me. I miss Ritual coffee and spent a lot of time there. So I want us having resources mixed-use sort of opportunities for people that are facilitating our mission, supporting our mission for art, but also providing spaces - open spaces, dialog spaces, sitting spaces, working spaces, creative spaces - for artists.”
The city council plans to finalize a request for proposal, or RFP, to send out to developers later this year. The RFP will include details about the city’s plans with Kimball, along with the other goals for the site, which include affordable housing, commercial space and underground parking.
The Kimball Art Center’s existing location on Homestake Road has a new art exhibition this month. Titled “In the Shadow of the Wall,” the work highlights the struggle and spirit found at the U.S.-Mexico border.
