ICA Miami buys former de la Cruz Collection building

The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Miami has bought the former de la Cruz Collection building two doors down from its Design District home as part of a $25m capital campaign, effectively doubling the amount of space it has for exhibitions and other public programmes. The de la Cruz Collection closed earlier this year, following the death of the private museum’s co-founder, Rosa de la Cruz, in February.

The $25m capital campaign to buy and renovate the de la Cruz Collection building at 23 Northeast 41st Street included support from the ICA’s board, its longtime supporter and collector Craig Robins (who also founded the Miami Design District, where the museum is located) and a $5m grant from the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The acquisition gives the ICA another 30,000 sq. ft.

“It is fitting that the space, which for almost two decades as the de la Cruz Collection presented thought-provoking, innovative contemporary art exhibitions, will continue that tradition,” Robins said in a statement.

The ICA’s plans for the newly acquired building include spaces to display its permanent collection and a dedicated new media gallery to showcase works engaging with new media and technology, which will be named for the Knight Foundation. The building will also house several new classrooms for education programming, venues for talks and performances, and a media lab.

The former de la Cruz Collection building will host some ICA educational programming in the coming months before closing for a renovation.

Choice works from the collection of Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz were offered at Christie’s in New York this spring, bringing in a total of $28.1m ($34.4m with fees).