ST. PETERSBURG — The Arts Center could have been a victim of the current real estate crisis. Instead, it’s looking like a survivor.

The 90-year-old organization’s leaders announced today they have severed ties with the Arts, a planned two-tower high rise that touted as its centerpiece a grand 62,000-square foot Arts Center and museum devoted to the works of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. The condo project leaders say it is still alive but  stalled due to slow sales.

There will still be a new Arts Center, board chairman Terry Brett  said at a news conference. Evelyn Craft, its executive director, said it will be smaller than first conceived, built on its current site at Central Avenue and Eighth Street. But it will still have the Chihuly museum, the only one of its kind in the world.

"We have a signed contract with the Chihuly organization,'' Brett said, "for a $6-million collection that will be owned and controlled by the Arts Center.''

It also has a new gift of $1-million from Bank of America Charitable Foundation, also announced today, the largest amount ever given to a Pinellas County organization by the bank, said Bernie Craig , Bank of America’s Pinellas County president.

For almost four years, the Arts Center has linked its growth to the Arts, a condominium project one block west of the center that was expected to open in 2008. The center, which serves more than 100,000 adults and children annually through educational programs and art exhibitions, would have occupied a historic bank on the property with new wings totaling about 62,000 square feet. Its star component was to be the Chihuly Collection, the first museum devoted to the monumental glass sculptures that have made Chihuly one of the most famous artists in the world.

Craft said that the slow real estate market was creating concerns about a construction schedule for the Arts Center. "Now we can control the schedule,'' she said. "The longer we went without progress, the more our supporters doubted the expansion would happen.''

They regrouped, coming up with an alternative that will enlarge and reconfigure their current footprint, adding about 20,000 square feet to its existing 30,000 square feet. It will include the Chihuly Collection; the Bank of America Children’s Learning Center; more gallery space for exhibitions; and a hot shop that will function as a studio for glass artists and a viewing center for visitors.

The redesign, Craft said, "will cost about $10-million,'' half of what was projected for the original expansion. With the $1-million gift and an earlier one from philanthropist Beth Morean of $8-million, Brett said construction will begin in September with a completion date in 2010.

Yaron David, managing director for the Arts, said, "We very much courted the Arts Center, though it was always a separate development, not part of ours. We were giving them a piece of land to build on. We always wanted to be adjacent to the Arts Center. Now we still are, we’ll just be separated by a crosswalk instead of a wall. And we didn’t have to give away any land.''

He hopes construction can begin on the 292-unit north tower in 2008 but it is contingent on sales, which at about 30 percent of the building, are 20 percent less than the typical industry number for a project to go forward.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal reported late last year that existing condominium sales fell 20 percent in the Tampa Bay area. The Arts is one of about 11 projects in some stage of development in downtown St. Petersburg, the majority of which have yet to break ground.

The Arts Center was also affected by more than the real estate market. Like all not-for-profits, its fundraising efforts have been hampered by the overall economic slowdown. Craft said that she and her board felt the new plan was realistic and allowed them to commit to a specific groundbreaking date. She said that during construction, the Arts Center will remain open.

- Lennie Bennett, Times staff writer

Rendering courtesy of Arts Center.