Could Chihuly museum come to St. Pete?

ST. PETERSBURG - The world reknowned, blown-glass creations of Dale Chihuly could soon have a home in St. Petersburg.

The Morean Arts Center will not comment, but FOX 13 News has learned it has leased 10,000 square feet in the 400 Beach building. That could be space for a new museum filled with the glass artwork of Dale Chihuly.

A 2003 Chihuly exhibit in the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg drew 180,000 people in four months. Plans for a permanent museum were announced in 2008: at that time, the Chihuly museum was to occupy space in twin condominium towers that never got built.

St. Petersburg mayor Bill Foster will not name the expected occupant of the 400 Beach space, but says it is a well-known "one word name" like "Dali".

He also compares the coming attraction to the Salvador Dali Museum.

"I would refer to both as destination bookends that single-handedly bring in tens of millions of dollars in impact," Foster says. "Add the northern component, you just multiply that by two."

A new Dali is under construction on the southern end of downtown St. Petersburg's waterfront. It projects 400,000 annual visitors spending an estimated $120 million when it opens next January.

An announcement by the Morean Arts Center could come by the end of the month.