WATER MILL: Very Big Museum Is Coming

The Parrish Art Museum plans to build an 80,000-square-foot facility on property now occupied by Whitmore's Nursery in Water Mill. The museum closed on the site on July 6, after several other plans had fallen through. A long town approval process has yet to begin.

The facility would occupy the equivalent of about two acres on a 14-acre site. By comparison, the main house on Ira Rennert's property in Sagaponack occupies 66,375 square feet.

Trudy Kramer, the museum's director, said on Monday that the museum board is considering a short list of architects for the project and will announce its decision within the next few months. The official announcement of the move was made at the museum's annual summer party on Saturday night.

A new building would allow the Parrish to put its collection of some 3,000 works on permanent display for the first time. The museum plans on 14,000 square feet of display area in the new building.

"The Chases, the Porters, the Lichtensteins, the Flavins, the Freilichers, the Bob Dashes will all be in a permanent installation," Ms. Kramer said. And the museum's collection is growing, she said, because "people are more eager to make gifts" that they know will be seen by the public.

Ms. Kramer acknowledged that she would seek the community's support for the project. "We've had conversations and will begin to have more" with community groups, business leaders, arts organizations, and schools. Museum trustees who live in Water Mill are acting as ambassadors for the museum's cause. Ms. Kramer will attend the Water Mill Citizens Advisory Committee's Aug. 8 meeting.

Tom Martinez, chairman of the Water Mill Citizens Advisory Committee, said that a rough drawing of the building the Parrish had proposed for the Villa Maria site - a plan that fell through - reminded him of the Clinton Library.

Mr. Martinez said that he would prefer to see a building that looked more like the Duck Walk Winery, next door to the museum's new site. "At the college it would have fit in. Put that kind of definitive design in a different location and it wouldn't look right."

Ms. Kramer, who said she was not aware that a drawing had circulated, added that the museum plans to be respectful of the site and that the building and landscaping will serve as a public park as well as an arts institution.

The museum's plan for the Villa Maria site included a large restaurant or catering hall, and Water Mill residents were wary of such a project. Ms. Kramer said she would not comment on the size of what she called a "cafe" in the new proposal until she had seen the architect's plans.

Gloria Rabinowitz, another advisory committee member, said that the majority of the committee favored the museum's location.

In regard to the size of the plans, "I think they have a challenge in front of them," Southampton Town Councilman Dennis Suskind said. "Any type of project has challenges . . . . They knew looking at the site that they had to go through a tedious approval process." The area is zoned residential but a museum is a permitted use with planning board approval of the site plan. Mr. Suskind said that the Parrish might ultimately have to compromise on the scale of their plans.

Yet the size of the expansion has been part of their plans from the beginning. "We've had the same footprint since the turn of the century," Ms. Kramer said. "We need more space." The museum says it needs space for a loading dock big enough for truck access, an auditorium, a cafe, collection storage, offices, and a multipurpose space for parties, workshops, and children's events.

Although the building may not be completed until 2009, Ms. Kramer said that the museum had already begun to raise money and hire additional staff for the curatorial, public programs, and development departments. The extended delay in their plans allowed extra time to raise money for the expansion, she added.

The museum had originally planned to expand its present building in Southampton Village, and bought the adjoining Rogers Memorial Library for that purpose. When the village rejected that plan, the museum decided to buy land at the Southampton College campus. Then Long Island University announced that it would discontinue undergraduate programs at the site.

Ms. Kramer began to consider alternative sites, including the Dominican sisters' Villa Maria in Water Mill. Mr. Suskind worked with the sisters and the museum to reach an agreement. Ms. Kramer wanted the building torn down before she would buy the property. and the nuns did not want a complicated transaction, according to Mr. Suskind. The deal fell through.

Both Ms. Kramer and Mr. Suskind said that the Whitmore's property will be easier to work with because it is undeveloped. The purchase price was $3.8 million, a significant savings from Villa Maria's asking price of $30 million.

According to Ms. Rabinowitz, Whitmore's sold the property to the museum at a favorable price. The owners had planned a residential develoment there before the Parrish indicated its interest, she said.

Without an architect, Ms. Kramer would not comment on the potential footprint of the site and whether it would be on one level or more. Mr. Suskind thought the museum might be restricted to two stories, but a basement could offer more space.

Ms. Kramer said she plans to use the old Rogers Memorial Library in some way, and would also like to have a program at the museum's current location. That, however, will be up to the village trustees, since the village owns the property.

In any case, an 80,000-square-foot facility will have an impact on the 14-acre plot. "That's pretty large," Mr. Suskind said, but added that "It's not an 80,000-square-foot shopping center." The museum is a highly regarded nonprofit organization, he said, adding that he had no problem with the use of the site as long as an effort is made to blend in and to preserve the vistas.