PHILADELPHIA—Plans have been nixed for a museum devoted to famed mobile artist Alexander Calder amid stalled negotiations with the late sculptor's heirs over the terms of lending his works.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Ed Rendell, who had been working to bring the museum to Philadelphia since 1998, confirmed Tuesday that the project was off.

"We will not be moving forward," Kate Philips said. "It's disappointing that we couldn't bring this to fruition right now."

Last year, Rendell offered $15 million in state funding to jump-start the endeavor, but warned that he would not leave the money on the table indefinitely because it could be used for other projects.

Retired cable TV magnate and philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, chairman of the proposed museum's board, said Wednesday that he had withdrawn his standing offer from 2003 to raise $15 million for the museum another enticement that apparently failed to persuade at least some Calder family members.

"This chapter is closed," Lenfest said. "We tried very hard. ... We just couldn't bring it together."

The Calder Foundation does not have complete authority over the artist's estate and organizers were unable to secure acceptable agreements with all six of Alexander "Sandy" Calder's heirs who control the major pieces that would have constituted the foundation of the proposed museum's collection to loan some works for up to 99 years.

Lenfest speculated that some of the Calder heirs were uncomfortable with such long-term commitments, since many of the works are cherished family treasures. He added that anything shorter would have made donors leery to come up with the estimated $70 million needed to build, maintain and endow it.

"There's no animosity involved," he said. "If the family came back to us said, 'We'll do it,' we would try to go back and raise the money to make it happen."

Pennsylvania Council of the Arts chairwoman Diane Dalto, who was negotiating with the Calders for several years, has previously said that some family members were emotionally torn by the idea of parting with the art. Dalto did not return calls seeking comment.

Since plans for the museum were announced in 2000, it has been touted as a major component of a plan to turn the Benjamin Franklin Parkway home of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Rodin Museum into a cultural tourism hotspot.

The Barnes Foundation, after a protracted legal battle, recently won court approval to move its world-renowned collection of postimpressionist art from its suburban home to the parkway. The proposed 35,000-square-foot Calder museum, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, was to be located on a two-acre lot near the planned Barnes site.

A Calder sculpture garden currently on the planned museum site will remain. The garden is the second phase of a 12-year, $5 million effort funded by Pew Charitable Trusts to display Calder's large outdoor works along a stretch of the parkway. That initiative is not affected by the collapse of the museum deal.

Alexander S.C. Rower, director of the New York-based Calder Foundation and Alexander Calder's grandson, did not return calls seeking comment.


By Joann Loviglio, Associated Press Writer; Copyright 2005 AP