(Bloomberg) -- Pretium Chief Executive Officer Don Mullen and his wife, Amanda, have helped to back the $25 million purchase of a Miami building by an art museum that’s free to the public.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami has acquired a 30,000-square-foot (2,800-square-meter) property in the city’s Design District that doubles the museum’s footprint. The deal was supported through contributions from a pool of donors that also included the Witkoff family, BGO Co-CEO John Carrafiell and H.I.G. Capital co-founder Tony Tamer.
The museum is expanding into the building that previously housed the collection of Cuban-born businessman Carlos de la Cruz and his wife Rosa, which was sold at auction after Rosa de la Cruz’s death in February.
“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,” Design District impresario Craig Robins said in a statement Tuesday.
The purchase shows the strengthening muscle of the civic-minded and wealthy in Miami. Mullen, a former partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and his family live in the area. Pretium, his New York-based investment firm, has an office in Miami Beach.
In New York, the Mullens are major supporters of art on the High Line elevated park.
“ICA Miami is part of what makes our creative community flourish,” said Amanda Mullen, who is a member of the museum’s board. “The acquisition of this building in the Design District takes a page from New York City’s High Line and brings it to our expanding urban art scene in Miami. Don and I are thrilled to see this new chapter for ICA come alive.”
The Witkoff family’s real estate company, led by Steven Witkoff and his son Alex, is a major developer in New York, with projects including luxury condos in Manhattan. The firm is behind South Florida’s Shell Bay Club, an exclusive golf club where membership fees are north of $1 million. Alex Witkoff is on ICA Miami’s board.
The museum also received a $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Part of those funds will go toward a space dedicated to digital work, according to Alex Gartenfeld, the museum’s artistic director.
ICA Miami was founded 10 years ago and offers free admission year-round thanks to underwriting from the City National Bank of Florida. Since 2014, it has organized nearly 100 exhibitions and hosted more than 1 million visitors.
“It’s very rare that you’re able to acquire a building that is already outfitted as a museum and you don’t have to really start from the ground up,” Gartenfeld said. “It’s a symbolically important expansion in the community, but it’s also a really efficient one and a really amazing opportunity for us to absorb a really complimentary space.”
--With assistance from Amanda Gordon.
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