Pier 24 Photography, the vast museum showing the collection of its creator, Andy Pilara, announced Friday that it will close when its lease with the Port of San Francisco expires in July, 2025.
In a declaration, Pilara said that the Pilara Structure, which developed out the abandoned pier near the Bay Bridge and opened as a peaceful sanctuary for the photographic arts in 2010, will shift its focus to organizations in the fields of health care research, arts and education. Pilara kept in mind that the closure was precipitated by a long fight over a lease extension.
“After having a hard time for five years to protect a new lease with the San Francisco Port Commission and its ultimate decision to triple our lease certainly notified our choice to close,” Pilara stated in a statement. “Instead of running with a significantly higher yearly budget, we believe that cash could be better used by local companies.”
Port Director Elaine Forbes stated in a statement that the firm had a “successful partnership with the Pilara Foundation over the years,” and that if the foundation selects to let its lease end, “we will be sorry to see them go and hope they continue to find methods to share their unique and inspiring collection with the public.”
Pier 24 is among the largest locations worldwide devoted to viewing photography. Given that its inception it has actually constantly been free to see the comprehensive collection of more than 5,000 works by 500 professional photographers, all acquired by the Pilara Foundation.
The gallery area is almost 27,000 square feet and participation has always been by appointment and restricted, to offer the audience a serene experience while taking a look at the Pilara collection, in addition to other personal collections on loan, like that of Bob and Randi Fisher.
The personnel just mounts one exhibition each year, while also co-sponsoring the Larry Sultan Checking Out Artist Program, with the California College of the Arts. Pier 24 has likewise released 20 books on photography.
Keith Silva views”The Little Screens,” by Lee Friedlander at Pier 24 Photography, Thursday, July 1, 2021, in San Francisco, Calif.Santiago Mejia,
Staff/ The Chronicle At the end of 2019, the Port of
San Francisco served an expulsion notice on the exhibition space for failure to pay $1.3 million in delinquent lease built up during its 10-year lease, plus 2 years of month-to-month extension. Pier 24 countered that it had actually been improperly credited for the $14 million it cost to build out the aging wooden pier. Efforts to work out a settlement stopped working, and the issue appeared to climax when the port purchased the gallery to abandon the premises by January 2020. An offer was eventually exercised, with terms that called for simply under $93,000 in base lease, or $3.40 per square foot for the 27,311 square feet of area. Pier 24 got $5.5 million in rent credits for improvements to the pier. This breaks down to $3.19 per square foot, decreasing its month-to-month expenses to 21 cents per square foot, or $5,735 a month. The deal was for 5 years, backdated to the start of settlements. Part of the offer also stipulated that Pier 24 would continue its school and community outreach program. After a COVID-19 induced closure, it resumed in July 2021, with its 10th anniversary exhibition. It opened a 2nd part of this show, titled “Looking Forward,” which will be up till the end of the year. Nothing yet is planned to follow it, but there will be a final exhibition stated Pier 24 Director Chris McCall. It is not yet understood what will occur to the complete time personnel of 6, or the collection or the pier that houses in on the Embarcadero. Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @SamWhitingSF