
The Art Alliance building on Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square has been purchased by the Curtis Institute of Music.
In Thursday’s (1/16) Philadelphia Inquirer, Susan Snyder and Peter Dobrin write, “The Curtis Institute of Music will be permitted to purchase the Art Alliance building owned by the shuttered University of the Arts after the agreement was approved Wednesday afternoon in bankruptcy court in Wilmington. Curtis successfully bid $7.6 million for the building, which is close to the school on the east side of Rittenhouse Square, during a live auction Tuesday held by UArts bankruptcy trustee Alfred T. Giuliano. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan L. Shannon noted during the hearing there were no objections to the sale. It is the first of nine buildings to be sold as university assets wind their way through bankruptcy following the abrupt June closure of the school…. Curtis … outbid Temple University during the auction…. Exactly what Curtis will do with the Art Alliance remains to be worked out, as does the cost of any needed renovations … With the acquisition, the school might shuffle around space in its current buildings on Locust Street and move some of those functions into the Art Alliance. The building at 251 S. 18th St. includes a small performance hall, exhibition galleries, and some outdoor space.”