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Moss: SCI-Arc Staying Put

Moss: SCI-Arc Staying Put

Architect and SCI-Arc Director Eric Owen Moss talked to us the other day to correct our recent post on SCI-Arc’s future in the LA Arts District. Yes, he agreed, SCI-Arc does want to eventually own its own home (it tried unsuccessfully to buy its building from its landlord, developer Meruelo Maddux, a few years ago) . But the school’s lease is not up next year, nor does SCI-Arc face any pressure to leave anytime soon.

“SCI-ARC’s not going anywhere. SCI-Arc has no plans to go anywhere, and is not obligated to go anywhere,” he said.

The lease, it turns out, isn’t up until 2019. SCI-Arc does have the opportunity to opt out if it wants next year, in 2013, or in 2016. But that possibility, said Moss, is unlikely, especially because it’s happy with its building (which he said had become a local icon) and its location.

“SCI-Arc is committed to downtown,” said Moss, who praised the area’s “varied sociologies and different possibilities” and pointed to the benefits for architecture students in “an area still trying to discover itself.” He added: “Downtown seems to be a perfect place for us… Santa Monica, Century City, the San Fernando Valley: forget about it.”

Moss didn’t rule out the possibility of SCI-Arc eventually finding a new home though. “If a great opportunity came up we’d take a look at it,” he said.  He added that the economic situation and falling real estate prices could present good possibilities for ownership. When asked if Meruelo Maddux’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing would help SCI-Arc  obtain its building, Moss said, “It’s premature to say what the implications of that are.”


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