Wednesday, August 11, 2010

What we didn't get: Metal sculptures at the Palermo entryway on Indian Canyon Drive



Full-time and vacation homeowners who purchased Palermo townhomes and villas were promised many features, but will these obligations be kept now that the Enterprise Cos. has been issued a notice of default? Through sales materials and signage on the grounds, on the development's Web site, through sales agents for Scott Lyle Realty, and at city meetings, much was promised, from tennis courts to a dog park. Positively Palermo will review some of these missing features in the days to come. Share here what you were told. One thing missing is the public artwork that was to grace the sidewalk area along Indian Canyon Drive, approved by the city art commission. The 15-foot metal sculptures by California artist Heath Satow were titled "Fata Morgana." They were described as: "Two large abstracted animal forms from stainless steel with a golden patina fading into the upper section. Stretched in appearance, the 'animals' are topped with branch-like forms with leaves in the area where the head and tail normally would be. The idea is two-fold: One part of this concept is to play upon the idea of a Fata Morgana mirage sometimes seen in the desert areas, which is a mirage that stretches the appearance of things in the distance, sometimes allowing nearby taller things to combine with the object, thus the stretched animal combined with parts of the tree. The other part of the concept is simply to provide an object that will inspire ... an unusual thing that people will not easily forget ... They follow the philosophy of the surrealist movement in that they inspire the imagination stimulating your senses with something absurd, a non-sequitur." (Thank you to the resident who sent in information and pictures of the sculptures.) Miss Penny Lane asks: Do not the residents of Palermo Palm Springs deserve what we were promised was to come?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool.

Anonymous said...

I was really looking forward to the tennis court and the dog park. I remember there was also supposed to be some retail space which would have been great. I hope to be at Palermo for a long time, so hopefully these things will eventually happen.

Anonymous said...

It's all about the economy. What was promised and the legal contingencies in the contracts homeowners signed are two different things. Ethically, yes, homeowners deserve all the amenities promised by the developer..but the developer is BROKE. I suppose if the HOA wanted to push it...they could sue. But would legal action yield anything but huge lawyer's fees for the HOA? On the other hand, if the HOA doesn't get in line to collect on the promises, when the economy does improve and the developer begins to develop...Palermo could be skipped-over. A notarized letter from the HOA to the developer should be on file regarding this matter so that if another company takes over the new owner is aware of the property owners's concern to have the development completed.

Anonymous said...

The developer is NOT broke. They have lots of other projects and resources. They seem to be just trying to get on of this LLC operation, or to buy the property back at reduced prices at an auction. But they are not broke in any fashion.

Public Art Fan said...

The Fata Morgana art is fabulous. Or would be in our case. Does anyone know if the city had funds from the developer already in place for these sculptures? They would be such signature pieces for our community.

Anonymous said...

I was told by one of Scott Lyle's reps when I bought that Koffi had taken the retail space at Indian Canyon and San Rafael. So much for truth in advertising! Of course, I was also told about the dog park and tennis courts. "Sign right here...."

The art is new to me, but usually cities take a percentage of development fees and put them in a coffer as a part of the entitlement and then they buy the art. Has anyone asked the city if this was the case with Palermo?

Anonymous said...

Scott Lyle's peeps promised much.

Anonymous said...

Love it (the art)

Anonymous said...

I was really looking forward to making these pieces (I am the artist that was supposed to be commissioned to make them). The style and finish of them was to be similar to the animal sculptures I made for the Denver Zoo: http://www.publicsculpture.com/portfolio02.html

I would love to find out if there's any chance this will still happen some day, as I understood it, it was a city requirement to place the public art in the development.

Anonymous said...

PS: there's better images of the design located here: http://www.publicsculpture.com/palermopalm.html