‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas chooses LA for $1 billion museum



After years of suspense over where filmmaker George Lucas would build his $1 billion museum to house an extensive personal collection of paintings, illustrations and film-related memorabilia, Los Angeles has been chosen as the location, the museum’s board of directors said Tuesday.

“After extensive due diligence and deliberation, the Board of Directors of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is pleased to announce plans to build the museum in Exposition Park in Los Angeles,” the board said in a statement. “We have been humbled by the overwhelmingly positive support we received from both San Francisco and Los Angeles during our selection process.”

The museum is a huge get for the city.

“This is the largest civic gift in American history,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told The Associated Press earlier this month. “I think Los Angeles is the natural home for it” — a notion that San Francisco officials enthusiastically contest.

• RELATED STORY: LA leaders put out ‘welcome mat’ for ‘Star Wars’ creator’s planned museum

The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, as it will be called, is expected to bring hundreds of jobs to the area and a high-profile attraction.

The “Star Wars” creator is financing the project himself, and plans to spend more than $1 billion to build the museum, endow it and provide a trove of initial artworks valued at over $400 million. With help from Chinese architect Ma Yansong, Lucas has proposed a sleek, futuristic design looks like a cross between the Guggenheim and a galactic starfighter.

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