Vancouver Art Gallery eyes downtown home

The Vancouver Art Gallery is optimistic it will be able to build its new home on its preferred site on the corner of Georgia and Cambie streets.

The gallery, which is squeezed for space on Hornby Street and is only able to exhibit about 3 per centof its permanent collection at any given time, is negotiating with the City of Vancouver, which owns the property now occupied by a parking lot.

It hopes to double its space in a new home a few blocks east of its current location.

Mayor Gregor Robertson says the city is considering the gallery's proposal, but there is a lot of interest from other groups.

David Aisenstat, chairman of the Vancouver Art Gallery's board of trustees, said the board has unanimously agreed the best place for the new gallery is downtown, across the street from the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

And he's confident the city will eventually agree.

"I think it's a very good likelihood," he told CBC News on Friday. "Our initial discussions with the city have gone quite well and the city seems receptive to what we're talking about."

He expects a decision in the next few months.

In 2008, the provincial government offered to move the gallery to the False Creek waterfront on the site of the Plaza of Nations.

After conducting a feasibility study, the board turned down the proposal in January, saying the high water table at False Creek would pose stability problems for a gallery that normally keeps its storage vaults underground, and raising vaults above the high tide level would prove expensive.

It also considers False Creek less accessible than downtown Vancouver.

Vancouver artist Tiko Kerr told CBC News that the city's art community would be behind the gallery move to Georgia and Cambie streets,making it a vibrant cultural district.

"All artists have a very strong conviction about more art for everyone,"Kerr said.