Big plans in the works for city's art museum

Coming soon to Big Spring International Park: a European-style restaurant in the Huntsville Museum of Art.

More galleries and an auditorium could also be on the horizon for the museum, say officials who are studying ways to raise money for programs and possible building additions. Any expansion will likely face intense scrutiny from city officials given the public's passion for Big Spring International Park.

The restaurant, to be called Cafe des Arts, will be built in the museum on the side facing the duck pond. A city planning subcommittee authorized the proposed location Wednesday.

Plans call for the restaurant on the ground level, with tables inside the building and on a terrace outside. Canvas awnings will line the exterior of the building to provide cover.

Mario Facella, a consultant for Cafe Baba in southeast Huntsville, will own and operate it. Opening is targeted for spring.

Clayton Bass, president of the Huntsville Art Museum, said Wednesday the restaurant will be a nice addition to the museum and park.

"It's what was envisioned when the building was built," he said. "There was a beautiful place for a restaurant on the lower level. But, for a number of reasons, it was never developed and has sat there empty since 1998 when we opened."

The space is now used for storage. Facella said the eatery will seat 44 people inside and 50 to 60 outside. Tentative plans call for featuring a breakfast and luncheon menu on weekdays, expanding to dinners on Friday and Saturday nights.

"I think it's an excellent location," Facella said.

The cafe will be open to museum patrons and walk-ins, Facella said. A staff-only area will have to be modified to provide a passageway for museum guests to reach the restaurant from the inside. The new corridor will be lined with children's art, Bass said.

The restaurant may not be the only new addition for the museum. The museum board has hired a consultant to look into ways to get more money to expand and improve programs and exhibit space.

"We are conducting a planning study that will explore the possibility of doing a fund-raising campaign for an endowment and possible other facility additions to the building,'' Bass said.

Details remain sketchy because officials won't know until Dec. 21 what the consultant's report found, Bass said. One factor will be whether the endowment money would come with restrictions.

City Council members Sandra Moon and Bill Kling said Wednesday they'd been briefed on museum plans. Both said they'll need assurance that any museum addition won't chew up any more green space.

"I applaud them for any efforts they make to improve their educational offerings, but the bottom line is there must be no encroachment on the park,'' Moon said.

"It sounds good what they're talking about but I do have some concerns about covering more land in the park,'' Kling said.

Bass agreed with that, saying, "We love the park. I would be very opposed to the museum taking up more space in the park. It won't happen under my watch."

Kling said museum officials mentioned the need for bigger shows and more exhibit space when they briefed him on the plans. Kling said the plans proposed an auditorium on the south side of the museum where service trucks now enter and exit. An outdoor band shell was also mentioned for the museum grounds, Kling said.

Kling said he didn't get the impression the museum planned to ask the City Council for any money. Kling recalled $7 million as the estimated cost of the building improvements.

The consultant, Edward Collins of Biloxi, "was very candid about not knowing whether this city could raise $7 million,'' Kling said.

Bass emphasized that any building renovations are still tentative.

"There are a number of creative ways this building could be modified without having a negative impact on the park,'' he said.

Museum supporters endured a stormy path when pushing for approval to build at that site. The City Council agreed in 1989 to give $4 million for an art museum if the board raised $2 million.

The Huntsville Museum of Art was founded in 1970, and the first director was hired in 1973. Exhibits were initially displayed in a municipal building, moving to the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus in 1974. In 1975, the museum moved to more permanent facilities in the Von Braun Center.

By the 1990s, the museum had outgrown its space and began the drive to build downtown. The city committed $4 million and a public fund-raising campaign chipped in $3.4 million.

The three-story museum is on the site of the old senior center building and opened in March 1998. The city recently authorized construction of the Big Spring Summit office tower across the lagoon from the museum.

Times staff writer Howard Miller contributed to this report.