A series of large-scale, outdoor sculptures decorate Miami Beach’s Collins Park as part of Art Basel. Local 10’s Christina Vazquez shows what goes into installing these works of art.

read more at http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2009/12/02/600883/un-bunker-para-el-arte-de-art.html

El promotor inmobiliario de Miami, David Lombardi, se encontraba en una reunión de ejecutivos de seguros a obras de arte en el 2006 cuando se les ocurrió una posibilidad de pesadilla: ¿qué sucedería si un huracán sorpresivo azotara el sur de la Florida durante Art Basel y se llevara millones de dólares en pinturas y esculturas?

Tres años más tarde, Lombardi recorre Museo Vault, el búnker de 86,000 pies cuadrados que construyó para evitar un apocalipsis artístico.

Desde adentro, la estructura de cinco pisos ubicada en el 346 NW 29 Street parece hasta cierto punto un almacén de self-storage para paranoicos: está diseñado para resistir un huracán de Categoría 5, tiene generadores de emergencia, controles de temperatura por sector individual, un sistema biométrico de seguridad y un sinfín de cámaras de vigilancia en los techos.

Pero el edificio de $10 millones es más que una enorme caja de caudales, sino que cuenta con salas de exposición privadas, dos galerías en la planta baja y un centro de restauración de arte.

Un reciente día laboral, Lombardi, de 43 años, supervisaba a trabajadores que cargaban contenedores –lo suficientemente elaborados para ser considerados un arte por derecho propio– en vans con destino a una de las 19 ferias satélite en Miami.

El negocio ha estado lento desde que se inaugurara Museo Vault el año pasado, admitió Lombardi. Pero, en un momento en que cientos de galerías se precipitan a la ciudad para participar en Art Basel, muchas de ellas no quisieron pagar el gasto adicional de enviar gente a Miami para que les ayude con el transporte y la instalación.

Y eso ha dado fruto para Museo Vault, según Lombardi.

“Este ha sido un año duro para todo el mundo”, dijo Lombardi. “Así que ellos estuvieron encantados de saber que estábamos aquí”.

Lombardi ha sido parte integral del mundo artístico de Miami durante casi una década. Desde el 2000, su grupo –Lombardi Properties– ha estado comprando terrenos en la que fuera un área de fábricas venida a menos y ahora se conoce como el distrito artístico de Wynwood. El posee unas 40 propiedades en el área, incluyendo el lote en el que se alza Museo Vault, rodeado por mayoristas de ropa, talleres de reparación de autos y la escuela primaria Enida Hartner.

Al principio, Lombardi planeó Museo Vault desde el punto de vista del promotor inmobiliario.

“Somos caseros, y la situación ideal para nosotros era llenar el lugar y cobrar alquiler”, dijo. Pero eso no ha ocurrido. El edificio está dividido en unidades de almacenamiento de 50 a 400 pies cuadrados, y el alquiler es de $2 a $3 por pie cuadrado. Hasta el momento, alrededor del 15 por ciento del espacio está alquilado, dijo. El punto en que las ganancias compensan las pérdidas está cerca del 50 por ciento.

Eso ha hecho que la compañía dependa más de brindar servicios ancilares, tales como instalación y envíos.

“Pronto nos dimos cuenta de que era importante que nuestra división de servicios fuera de la más alta calidad”, dijo Lombardi. La compañía tiene ocho empleados, la mayoría entrenados en museos, y al menos uno de ellos traído especialmente de Nueva York.

Chelsea Guerdat

Registrar & Exhibitions Manager

Bass Museum of Art

www.bassmuseum.org

I’m very happy with Museo Vault’s services. Having help with scheduling and making sure every aspect of the installation was covered, was greatly appreciated! The installers were very professional and punctual. They came prepared and listened to the client’s requests. I would definitely recommend their services to others.

Constance Teissier

Rockstar Interiors, Inc.

www.rockstarinteriors.com

This past summer of 2011, I presented Museo Vault with a very difficult project of 25 large concrete sculptures - each one of which weighed between 600 and 3000 lbs. Each one was very fragile. We had a very short window of time to complete the job, considering that the job entailed: carefully moving each of the sculptures, packing them for international travel, placing each one in a 40′ cargo container and securing them in a safe way for ocean travel, and all of the organization that goes with such a large international shipment of delicate sculpture.

The Museo Vault team moved swiftly, professionally and intelligently to make the job go smoothly. The shipment arrived to its final destination in Europe without a single hitch. It was such a relief to have Museo Vault handle the entire situation as my confidence in their staff was invaluable. Many years ago I worked for various museums and high end galleries (from the American Museum of Natural History, to Matthew Marks Gallery) and I always prided myself on my strategic know-how and intelligent problem solving when it came to difficult installations and projects. But I was continuously impressed by the ideas and skills of the Museo crew that seemed to trump my own abilities to handle this large project!

I work on a number of large scale sculpture installations at this point in my career. And I feel very lucky that Museo Vault exists to help me! I look forward to working again with them in the very near future. I can’t thank them nor applaud their skills and professionalism enough. Thank you!

David Brooks

Artist

This is the second year we have chosen to put our important art work in storage with Museo Vault during the months we are away. Not only are we much more relaxed when storms approach, but we want to complement on the quality and care of the men they send to pick up and reinstall the art. Kevin and Tao are professional, meticulously careful, and knowledgeable about how to handle the work in their hands. I want to thank Museo Vault for the excellent service they provide. We look forward to having our art in their hands for many years to come.

Helene Berger

Client

Andrea Gonzalez is awesome! She coordinated the fabrication of a crate I needed quickly. I was very thankful for all the handlers who provided me with ink samples and suggestions. And I look forward to working with Museo again in the near future.

Don Lambert

Artist

www.donlambert.net

We were extremely satisfied with everything and everyone. The crew were professional and patient and extremely pleasant to be around even after working long hours. These are qualities that are rare to find and are necessary in a business.

Jin Ting Gow

HerbalScience Group, LLC.

www.herbalsciencegroup.com

It has been stellar working with Museo Vault these past few years and witnessing the development of the services given and the structure that has been implemented. I feel quite confident that the HMF collection is handled with the highest care and that we are in highly capable hands. My experience has been working, for the most part, with Aramis Gutteriez, and frankly, the main reason I feel so confident with the care of the collection. He is remarkable, unflappable, and extremely efficient, a true asset to the company. I also find Kevin McGary and Anthony Malakates’ execution of just about any task given, to be of the highest order. These are clearly, highly capable staff and a very solid team to work with. I look forward to continuing our relationship with Museo Vault in the years to come.

Kimberly Marrero

Curator, HMF Collection

www.HadleyMartinFisherCollection.org

I use Museo Vault for the temporary storage of my artwork during hurricane season, every year. The art handlers are excellent and very professional.

Helene Berger

Client

I am delighted to recommend Museo Vault for any of the many services they offer. The staff is extremely professional and goes above and beyond to make sure that they have done a good job. There is no other storage space like this in Miami and it is the only space I would recommend any gallery, museum or art collector to use. Every staff member at this facility has been wonderful to deal with and I highly recommend!

Sincerely,

Evelyn Montiel

Projects & Operations Manager

FriendsWithYou

www.FriendsWithYou.com

I recently used Museo to ship some of my artwork and it went amazing. The pieces showed up in perfect condition and the gallerist was very impressed with the crates. Richard Martinez is a master packer and did an AMAZING job!

Jen Stark

Artist

www.jenstark.com

The Art installers did an excellent job and were very helpful in letting me think through the placement of the paintings. Museo Vault is lucky to have such a professional team.

Alvaro Martinez-Fonts

CEO of J.P.Morgan Florida Private Bank

www.jpmorgan.com

We were very pleased with the fine art services rendered by Museo Vault. They handled the artworks we were borrowing with the utmost care and offered superb and timely communication.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Washington University in St. Louis

www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu

I am pleased to recommend Museo Vault for any storage, shipping, crating, and packing needs of any artworks, sculpture and paintings. I have used them numerous times when I have lent out works to out-of-town institutions and found them to be professionally qualified and very dependable in a timely manner. The facility of Museo Vault is second to none, and I consider it a great resource and one of its kind in the City of Miami.

Sincerely,

Martin Margulies

The Margulies Collection

www.margulieswarehouse.com

Our gallery works with Museo Vault for a variety of jobs from crating and packing, to transportation and storage. Their staff is always doing everything possible to understand our every need and they work efficiently and effectively on the most intricate projects. I am always at ease when I know that they are handling our artwork and it is without hesitation that I recommend them to others.

David Daniel

Registrar

Bortolami Gallery

www.bortolamigallery.com

Whenever I have any art related projects the first company I call is Museo Vault. The staff is professional, reliable, efficient and cost effective. I would never use any other art handling company.

Cricket Taplin

Curator

Cricket Taplin Collection Sagamore Hotel

www.sagamorehotel.com

Museo Vault, in our experience, has consistently provided 1st class service in all areas of art handling, packing and shipping. Credit goes to the management team at Museo for assembling and more importantly retaining a highly qualified and professional staff. OHWOW has been working with Museo Vault for roughly 2 years and we always are greeted by the same field staff. Everyone is professional, punctual and consistently providing better than expected results. In our industry there are no other local competitors in the same league as Museo.

Mills Moran

Managing Director

OHWOW Gallery

www.oh-wow.com

We attended an auction held at Museo Vault where we purchased some very high end antiques and furniture, which required extreme care and professional transfer. We are incredibly pleased to have used Museo Vaults services in this regard. The items were delivered on time and in a professional manner. We would highly recommend Museo Vault’s services.

Scott A. Wagner

Moore & Company, P.A.

www.moore-and-co.net

October 8, 2010

Americans have a lot of stuff. That obvious fact led to the creation in the 1960s and 1970s of a whole new business concept: the self-storage industry.

Now, some storage companies are expanding the market by going upscale — providing extra security and specialized services to wealthy collectors of everything from art to exotic automobiles.

Keeping Artwork Safe From Hurricanes

Over the past decade, Miami has developed a reputation as a place to buy and sell fine art, in large part because of Art Basel Miami Beach, an annual event that has grown into one of the largest art shows in the U.S.

It’s led to a boom in art galleries and other companies that specialize in handling, shipping and storing art.

David Lombardi owns Museo Vault, a secure storage facility he founded a year and a half ago that specializes in fine art. “Our clientele are art dealers, collectors as well as institutions — and it’s not just South Florida,” he says. “We have clients coming in weekly from Europe and South America as well.”

Outside, Museo Vault is a multistory, concrete building with few windows. Inside, it’s a sleek and cavernous state-of-the-art storage facility.

Lombardi got the idea for the business at an Art Basel event held by an insurance company after the active 2005 hurricane season. “The topic of conversation was how to keep artwork safe in this environment where we have five or six months of terrible hurricane storms that come through,” he says.

Museo Vault is designed to withstand the 200-miles-per-hour wind speeds of the most powerful hurricanes. The art is stored at least 35 feet above sea level to prevent water damage from even the most ambitious storm surge.

One of Miami’s top art collectors, Marty Margulies, says all art collectors in South Florida need a hurricane storage plan that satisfies their insurance companies. “They want to see sprinklers, hurricane glass, concrete structure, that type of thing,” he says.

Museo Vault, located in the Miami’s Wynwood Art District, offers full-service art storage facilities to galleries, art dealers and collectors from South Florida and abroad. All images are courtesy of Museo Vault.

By Tracy Kerscher

Biometric thumbprint scanner, mantraps, multimillion-dollar artwork. No, I’m not setting the scene for an episode of the TV series Burn Notice-I’m describing Museo Vault, a full-service art storage facility located in Miami.

Plopped in the middle of Wynwood, at 346 NW 29^th Street, this unassuming building covers 86,000 square feet and plays host to millions of dollars worth of fine art.

The brainchild of David Lombardi, a highly regarded real estate developer in South Florida, the idea for Museo Vault was conceived during Art Basel in December 2006. Lombardi attended a breakfast lecture hosted by AXA Art Insurance Corporation on the trials and tribulations of keeping artwork safe in Miami’s tropical and unpredictable climate. “The previous hurricane season [was] very rough, and insurance companies were becoming increasingly nervous as to their real exposure and liability- with collectors keeping their artwork in waterfront homes, susceptible to damage from hurricanes and flooding,” explained Lombardi. Observing a missing link in the art storage industry, Lombardi set out with Tarco Properties to create the first storage facility of its kind, built from the ground up, to the latest and highest specifications of the art insurance industry.

Working closely with Global Risk Partners, an international consulting firm in risk control and loss prevention, Lombardi began the process of planning and designing this facility in 2007. Ground was broken in January, 2008, and just eleven months later, the doors to Museo Vault were open.

Museo Vault is a one-stop shop for museums, galleries, and individual art collectors, providing collection management, conservation, storage, transportation, and handling services.

Through the collection management service, entire catalogs of artwork are inventoried. This includes photographing, measuring, and researching the works of art. Clients can then view their entire collection online at any time. If a client is in need of restoration and conservation services, Museo Vault coordinates with highly skilled conservationists to make any necessary repairs onsite, reducing the risk of any further damage during transportation.

In addition to providing storage space, Museo Vault’s experienced staff also provides space customization services. Clients can receive advice on the best ways to safely optimize their private spaces, and have access to Museo Vault’s customized mounts, storage cases, and racks.

Trained art handlers are available to transport paintings, sculptures, and other works of art to and from the storage facility. They are also available for on-site installation at galleries, museums, and private residences, as well as for crating, packing, and shipping.

But Museo Vault doesn’t stop at providing top-notch services. This $10 million facility also offers the highest level of security, including cameras that constantly monitor every inch of the building, biometric thumbprint scanning for elevator access, and a ‘man-trapped’ loading dock. Made to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, Museo Vault was built 18.5 feet above sea level and includes a redundancy system that allows it to continue operating at 100% capacity in the event that outside power sources become unavailable.

Despite having a state-of-the-art, fully equipped building, Lombardi recognized that this was simply not enough to accomplish his goal of making Museo Vault the ultimate art storage experience. He explains, “We set out to find the very best art handlers, and the very best crating and packaging people.” This includes appointing Anthony Malakates, who opened the first art handling company in Miami in 1985, to his dream team as operations manager. “We quickly realized that you can have the finest facility in the world, but if you don’t have the staff, you have nothing.”

During its first year, business for Museo Vault was slow. Lombardi states, “We opened at a terrible time, at the outbreak of the recession.” Nevertheless, understanding the importance of earning the trust of artists and collectors, Lombardi focused on establishing an impeccable reputation among the clients it did have. Through word-of-mouth, satisfied returning customers, and an influx of art fairs, exhibitions, and galleries to recently hit Miami, Museo Vault is doing well now. It continues to grow and offer, as Lombardi describes it, “the highest quality for a reasonable value.”

Museo Vault is located at 346 NW 29^th Street. Miami, FL 33127.

Phone 786 838 0803 / Fax: 305 751 1145  info@museovault.com  / www.museovault.com

Tracy Kerscher is a writer based in Miami. She has collaborated with DV8 Magazine, CitySmart Magazine, and Crunk Magazine

ART BASEL

Developer is prepared for art apocalypse

A $10 Million fine-art storage facility in Wynwood provides a safe haven for galleries and collectors.

Fort Knox Redefined

Written by By Anne Tschida

You’ve finally brought home one too many Picassos. Now what? The entry to Museo Vault is flanked by two small but sleek art galleries, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing NW 29th Street. Inside one are sculptures made from old drive-in movie speakers, staplers, radio parts. Viewed in this nicely air-conditioned space, the exhibit “Rocket Man” is pretty cool all around. It turns out to be a prescient preview to what stands behind the tightly sealed doors of the Vault. The Museo Vault, opened this past November, is an art storage, services, and shipping facility. But that makes it sound prosaic. Unlike the intentionally retro “Rocket Man” in the front annex, this place is truly space-age. After handing over ID to security, the first of many thick, heavily video-monitored doors opens, revealing five floors and 86,000-square-feet of state-of-the-art everything, or so it seems. There’s the handsome and expertly lit viewing room, where collectors, artists, and museum curators can show guests artwork in a posh setting. There’s the security-intense loading dock and also the crating and packing center, where craftsmen build customized shipping containers and insulated casings. Upstairs: color-coordinated storage and office rooms, and hanging panel spaces. The whole building is cocooned by a hyper climate- and humidity-controlled system, and happens to sit on some of the highest land in Miami. That, at least, is according to the project’s founder and owner David Lombardi, a prominent developer in the Wynwood arts district. The elevation of the property is an extra bonus here in flood-prone hurricane alley, Lombardi points out as he maneuvers another high-tech entry into another part of the Vault. In fact all of this techno-gadgetry has a distinct purpose and makes a distinct statement: This is a unique art-services center, and it was built in Miami for a reason. We have growing art collections and galleries, with increasingly important and expensive work, and handling all of it should not be left to amateurs, especially on this southern tip of Florida. That would be the thinking behind the $10 million facility for Lombardi, whose Wynwood Lofts were some of the first spaces built specifically for artists and artist studios, and which he says are now all occupied. Lombardi explains how humidity and water are the worst enemies of art; so the humidity inside Museo Vault is constantly monitored with 50 sensors, and water sprinklers will only activate in very targeted areas in case of fire. The lights are covered in UV protection sleeves, and the entire building has a back-up power system to keep those climate and security controls running even if a dreaded hurricane should hit. Says Lombardi: “It provides a [new] infrastructure for Miami.” That safety structure is especially necessary here in Florida, according to Jane Hart, curator of exhibitions at the Art and Culture Center Hollywood. “Even compared to a similar place like L.A., our humidity and salt are brutal here,” she says. “Serious collectors need a serious storage space.” Hart points out that as household collections have grown along with the status of art, “people have more stuff in their homes than they can handle. It’s become popular to rotate your collection, and it is now very important to safely store what you are not showing.” There’s more to the facility than doors and climate, says a proud Lombardi on this hot spring afternoon. “We have the best people providing the services.” Almost on cue, Alan Myers, the fine arts collection manager, steps out of an elevator. He had served a 17-year stint at the Whitney Museum in New York before coming to Miami. Lombardi remarks that Myers had just changed the protective plastic covering on a painting, and Myers explains that leaving it on too long can cause harm. He gets very personal with the art, even visiting a collector’s home first to get to know it and then “figure out the best way to store it.” Hands-on care extends to the crating and shipping side of the business as well. There are legion shipping disaster tales, of art arriving late for an opening, and worse, arriving damaged or half dismantled. And packaging contemporary art is no small task — pieces can include room-size installations, delicate rice paper, glass sculptures. From the back of the huge crating room, one carpenter remembers trying to transport an enormous metal sculpture from the artist Britto, which he said eventually had to involve forklifts. Security measures at the Vault include confidentiality about what art is already in storage and who owns it — Lombardi and his staff don’t want to give potential thieves any extra information. But a major Miami collector, Dennis Scholl, doesn’t have to follow a similar vow of silence. He was recently named Miami program director for the Knight Foundation, which includes leading the $40 million Knight Arts Challenge; and parts of the collection he created with his wife Debra currently are showing in an exhibition at the Frost Art Museum at FIU. “I can’t imagine a better place to have important objects if you want them protected,” he says. “The space is world-class — well thought out, organized, and ready to handle almost any kind of art object. It’s a dramatic upgrade from existing facilities.” But while many seem to agree there is a need for such up-to-date services, even Lombardi acknowledges the timing might be off. “Unfortunately,” he says, “we opened just as the recession hit the art market.” The occupancy rate is not nearly as high as he had hoped at this point, and they are not running at full capacity in terms of services, “but we’ll wait it through, like everyone else.” A potential client arrives to take a tour. If Lombardi’s dream succeeds, the client might be one who catalogues his collection using the viewing room as camera-ready documenting space, and in the future will log-on on the Vault’s secured Website to check out his artworks, or show them to others, maybe while he’s in Paris. “It is a high-quality project, and anything of high quality gets high marks from me,” says Michelle Weinberg, local artist and director of the Girls’ Club, a private art foundation and alternative art space. “But obviously the economy at this moment may make it a challenge to launch.” Scholl says that Museo Vault’s presence means more than merely additional storage space: “This concept is another statement about Miami’s position as an important city in the art world. We’re one of the largest collecting cities in America now. It’s an amazing facility, and I do hope they do well.”