The landowner of the building behind the Boneyard Saloon, Mark Fischer offered the art center a significant discount on rent in 2019, thinking that an arts and culture center would be built by now.
But after a new administration was elected in 2021, the project that would have been home to the Sundance Institute and Kimball Art Center headquarters there, as well as a mixed-use development with affordable housing and public gathering spaces, went off the rails.
With a price tag of more than $85 million including the land costs, the city council decided to take a step back and take another look.
Kimball Art Center Director Aldy Milliken said the delay in redeveloping the five-acres now requires him to renegotiate a lease with Fischer by next March when the current lease expires.
Milliken said the Fischer family are great landlords and have been more than generous with the art center. But they’re now hamstrung by the city’s delays.
“We want to see this culture district through,” Millien said on the Local News Hour recently. “So, the culture district has taken a lot longer than we all thought, and Mark has been caught up in the middle of that with the building, because we needed a temporary location in the meantime. But it still goes back to this shared desire to build a culture district or cultural hub or a cultural center, something for locals, that includes the Kimball Art Center.”
Five years ago, Fischer had hoped to have the Kimball moved out by now so that the Boneyard could move forward with its expansion plans. Milliken understands and appreciates Fischer’s patience.
“I think decisions have to be made,” he said. “Decisions have to be elevated. We need support from our community. We need support from our council members, and we need to make this project happen.”
Mark Fischer said he believed that the arts and culture district would have been built by now but knows that it’s not the fault of the Kimball Art Center. Still, it’s put him in a conundrum.
“The Boneyard would like to expand into that space and they've been very patient and understanding,” Fischer said. “We're also waiting for the new Bonanza Park mixed-use zoning, which will enable that expansion to occur. So as a result, I'm working well with Aldy and the Kimball and intend to continue to support their efforts while there's hopefully a solution brought to the table from the city.”
The good news is that Park City closes the window on accepting proposals for a public-private partnership for the five-acres this week. City Manager Matt Dias said the plan is that the city would likely lease the five-acres to a developer who would oversee development of the property, including a new art center.
“It's a really, really important milestone,” Dias said. “I think we're proud to get there finally. But look, these things take time. There are multiple prisms the way you can evaluate these. And I just think sometimes you must move fast, sometimes you move slow, and you can never please everyone.”
As to how soon that development can happen, Dias couldn’t say, but certainly not before the Kimball must renegotiate a new lease.
“We're really proud to be here,” Dias said. “And we are moving, I'll call it heaven and earth internally, to prioritize this for the mayor and council, because we know it's very important to them.”
When asked if he’s willing to wait another three years, Fischer responded, it’s going to take at least three years before a new art center can be built.
