George Lucas Picks Chicago for Museum Site

Billionaire filmmaker George Lucas has decided to erect his planned museum of movie memorabilia and populist art in Chicago, spurning offers from San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The prospective museum’s board was expected to vote Wednesday on the Star Wars creator’s selection of a 17-acre site near Lake Michigan and several other Chicago cultural attractions. Pending approval by the Chicago Plan Commission, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art would open in 2018.

Mr. Lucas grew up in the Bay Area and built his cinema empire in San Francisco rather than in Hollywood. Chicago, the hometown of his wife, prominent businesswoman Mellody Hobson, emerged as a candidate for the museum after the Presidio board rejected his plan to build it in the San Francisco national park. San Francisco city officials subsequently offered a 2.3-acre waterfront site, and Los Angeles entered the bidding earlier this month.

A source told the Tribune that Chicago’s tourist figures—the city drew 46.37 million visitors in 2012, nearly triple San Francisco’s total—and opportunities to collaborate with the nearby Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, and Adler Planetarium weighed heavily in the Chicago selection.

The 70-year-old filmmaker has pledged $700-million to build and endow the museum. “Choosing Chicago is the right decision for the museum, but a difficult decision for me personally because of my strong personal and professional roots in the Bay Area,” he said in a statement Tuesday.