Since 2003 the board and staff of the Catalina Island Museum have embraced the goal of expanding the museum and finding a permanent home for a new facility. After years of planning, getting community input, researching potential sites, and raising funds, on January 29, 2009 the museum became the proud owners of over 16,000 square feet of land on Metropole Avenue, in the heart of downtown Avalon.

Thanks to many individual donors, and a few in particular, the Museum owns the property outright and has not incurred any debt.

The nature of the national, regional and local economies has shifted dramatically in the last year and the board and staff are in the midst of planning efforts and are particularly focused on creating a thoughtful and sustainable phased plan, given the downturn in the economy and the uncertainty as to how long it will last.

We will use this new page on our website to keep you up to date on our plans as they evolve and solicit feedback periodically.

This is an exciting time for us and for the future of our Island's history!

Stay tuned!

UPDATE:  October 20, 2009

If you drive by the site of the future museum you'll see a brightly colored 60' banner on the front of our fence.  We hope it will inspire you to see so many different images from our past!

Here's what's happening in other departments with the lot and the future museum:

We have secured the contractors for the hazardous waste abatement project (all very minor things, by the way) and the demolition.  We are finalizing some items with the city that will then allow us to finally clear the lot.  This will also include some minor regrading of the lot so that it will soon look much nicer.

Meanwhile, we've come up with some initial concepts for a first phase of the new museums in working with our first architects that were helping us with our "pre-design program planning."  What this means is our first take at what functions will fit on the lot, given some constraints like the bedrock underneath and various city codes.  It's called "pre-design" because it truly is about thinking about the functionality of the building before worrying about how the building will look.

This winter we will be working with a planning firm (we will be announcing who that is in mid-November) who will help us create a realistic budget for the building and how it will operate.  This will help us make sure that we don't under- or over-build but end up with a new building (whether the first phase or full build-out) that is truly functional for us and the community and is economically sustainable. 

After that careful planning process is completed, it'll be time to go back to the drawing boards with the architects (the firm has not been chosen yet...that's another project for this winter!) to perhaps revise our initial thinking and get into actual design issues.  I know everyone is wondering what it will look like (including me!) but it's far more important at this stage to be focusing on the functions of the building and their short and long-term affordability. 

I know we're all impatient to get going, but the careful planning that we do now will save us many headaches and lots of dollars in the long run, insuring that the new Catalina Island Museum will be an exciting place for future generations to enjoy!

--Stacey Otte, Executive Director

UPDATE:  June 20, 2009

In the past several months we've worked with the city on the issue of hazardous materials that may be in the old city hall building.  Per the purchase agreement hazmat is their responsibility and they have been doing their due diligence in finding a suitable contractor to identify the materials and a plan for removal.  As this took several months, it became apparent in May that demolition of the old city hall building prior to July and August was no longer feasible.  Metropole traffic and congestion is too significant during the summer season to impose all the equipment and trucks needed for the demolition.  The city and museum agreed to postpone the hazmat removal and demolition of the building until the fall.

The demolition process is the museum's responsibility and we sent out an RFP for the demo to several local contractors.  We are now in the process of awarding the contract and then building a timetable for the project this fall.

In the meantime, we have been working on slowly cleaning up the lot. A new fence was just installed to better secure the lot for liability purposes, and once the building is demolished we'll then complete the fencing.  We also will be adding some colorful fence banners that will brighten up the lot and remind everyone how fun Catalina history is--nostalgic postcards and luggage labels will abound!  We also look forward to regrading the lot and landscaping, but are awaiting finalizing our plans before making that investment of time and money.

Staff and board are in the midst of developing a comprehensive phased plan for the project and we hope to have an update for you on sometime during the summer!