The South Bend Museum of Art expects to learn Thursday that the city will give them three years to move out of the Century Center.
The city’s Downtown 2045 plan calls for removing the Century Center’s northern part that houses the museum, to open that area up to the riverfront.
Since 2018, museum executive director Lisa Shaffer says the nonprofit, free museum has operated on a month-to-month lease, paying no rent or utilities to the city. But the city has the right to end the lease with three years’ notice.
The Civic Center Board of Managers will hear a resolution on the issue at its meeting Thursday. Shaffer says she’ll meet next Tuesday with city leaders to start discussing a new location. But she doesn’t think the museum could be moved into a new building in three years.
“I’m sure as we work with the city about trying to identify the next great opportunity to really grow and expand the museum, I’m sure we can come to some resolution about how long this takes," Shaffer says. "Retrofitting a building, building a building, there’s lots of things to consider here in a short period of time.”
