The Coral Gables Cultural Development Board will consider Tuesday whether the city should pursue an 18-ton steel sculpture by celebrated American artist Richard Serra for up to $5 million, even as arts advisers seek answers about where the work would go and what it would cost to install.
The sculpture, Fin, is a towering, curved steel wall created in 1989 for a Manhattan office lobby. The City Commission voted 5-0 on Sept. 15 to authorize negotiations with the seller, but no purchase has been approved and no location has been selected.
The Cultural Development Board meets at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the Sister Cities Conference Room at the Coral Gables Museum. The proposal is agenda item 26-2209, “Richard Serra – New Acquisition Proposal.”
How the proposal reached the commission
The sculpture came before commissioners Sept. 15 as a late addition to the agenda, commonly called a pocket item.
Mayor Vince Lago, who introduced the proposal, apologized for missing the agenda deadline and asked commissioners to support advancing it through the city’s arts advisory process.
Assistant City Manager Carolina Vester said the city had pursued the work for about a month but nearly lost the opportunity.
“It looked like the seller was going in a different direction and then over the weekend we got some good news,” she told commissioners.
Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson said the sculpture was headed to an auction house and that staff were “close to losing this piece.”
Catherine Cathers, the city’s arts and culture coordinator, presented the sculpture and the artist’s background.
Commissioners were not being asked to authorize a purchase. The immediate request, Anderson explained, was similar to the process used for the city’s Frank Stella acquisition: approve a letter of intent allowing negotiations to proceed while advisory boards review the proposal.
The sculpture would return to the commission for final approval.
What the commission authorized
Resolution 2026-270 allows City Manager Peter Iglesias to execute a nonbinding letter of intent at a price not to exceed $5 million, including removal of the sculpture from its current location and transportation to a city facility.
Anderson said staff were negotiating to include those costs in the sale price, “so that there is no additional cost to the city” for dismantling and shipping the work.
The letter of intent would not obligate Coral Gables to purchase the sculpture, spend money or pay a deposit.
Before any acquisition, the city must obtain an independent appraisal, verify ownership and authenticity, examine the sculpture’s condition and establish that sufficient funding is available.
The proposal also requires review by the Arts Advisory Panel and Cultural Development Board. Any final purchase agreement must return to the commission for a separate vote.
The resolution does not identify the seller or name the artwork, describing it instead as a Serra work to be specified in the contemplated letter of intent.
A steel wall designed for a Manhattan lobby
The sculpture measures 171 inches high, 217¾ inches wide and three inches thick, approximately 14 feet by 18 feet.
Made of hot-rolled steel, it forms a gently curving wall that leans backward. The acquisition materials describe its shape as an inverted, truncated cone, an early example of the curved forms that became central to Serra’s later work.
Cathers told commissioners that Fin is a unique sculpture, produced as an edition of one.
Serra, who died in 2024 at age 85, was internationally recognized for monumental steel sculptures that transform how viewers experience architectural and outdoor spaces.
Fin was commissioned for the 11th-floor lobby of 623 Fifth Avenue in New York, then the North American headquarters of Swiss Bank Corporation.
According to the acquisition packet, the work has been displayed there since 1990. Its ownership history lists Swiss Bank Corporation, Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation and an unnamed current owner.
Serra conceived the sculpture specifically for that room.
“The sculpture which has been conceived for the space is derived from the conditions and architectural measure of the space,” he said in a statement reproduced in the packet.
The materials describe Fin as “a monumental, yet indoor-scaled work.”
Cathers acknowledged that the sculpture had been commissioned for indoor display but said its material could permit an outdoor installation with appropriate treatment.
“The material does suggest that proper treatment will allow for a transition to an outdoor environment, which is what we would pursue it for,” she told commissioners.
A Sept. 15 letter from Trina McKeever, included in the acquisition packet, states that Serra’s works do not have associated certificates of authenticity. It identifies Fin in the Richard Serra Studio database under reference RS-0149.
Where could it go?
No permanent location has been designated.
During the commission discussion, Lago suggested placing the sculpture near the city’s planned Frank Stella installation. Commissioner Richard Lara proposed the intersection of Coral Way and Granada Boulevard as a temporary location, while Commissioner Ariel Fernandez suggested Lee Lincoln Park, off U.S. 1, where the piece could become a focal point at an entrance to the city.
The possible locations are significant because Fin was designed for an indoor space, while Coral Gables is considering displaying it outdoors.
The work would need a suitable foundation, adequate room for viewers to move around it and protection from South Florida’s weather.
After the Sept. 15 vote, Lago also asked the city manager to consider a public-art maintenance funding strategy, suggesting that 90 percent of available funding go toward acquisition and 10 percent toward maintenance.
He said developers installing art to satisfy the city’s public-art requirements should be held to comparable maintenance standards.
That proposal was separate from the commission’s authorization to pursue Fin.
Arts panel asks for more information
The Arts Advisory Panel reviewed the proposal Oct. 7, according to a draft summary included in the Cultural Development Board’s agenda materials.
Marlen Batista and Antonio De la Guardia of Tresart, representing the seller, attended.
Panel members had received a recent appraisal and described Fin as an exceptional artwork, the summary says. Their questions, however, centered on the proposed budget, installation expenses and possible locations.
Raul Valdes-Fauli moved to defer the matter until staff could provide additional information about costs and siting. The draft summary does not record the vote tally.
The panel requested estimates for installation, foundation work, landscaping, outdoor protective treatment, maintenance and storage.
It also sought feasibility assessments and renderings for several possible locations, including Centennial Park, a proposed park near Publix, Country Club Prado and sites near 57th Avenue or Eighth Street.
The summary notes that the sculpture would need a publicly accessible location where visitors could approach and experience it. A conservator had advised that outdoor installation would be feasible with appropriate treatment, according to the document.
Funding and other questions remain
The documents available to the Gazette do not disclose the seller’s asking price, the recent appraisal’s valuation or the current owner’s identity.
They also do not establish the full cost of installing an 18-ton steel wall outdoors, including foundation work, landscaping, protective treatment and long-term maintenance.
Anderson told commissioners Sept. 15 that Art in Public Places money was restricted to art purchases and was “not taxpayer dollars.”
The city’s published program guidelines describe a more complicated funding structure. The program receives contributions associated with private development and municipal construction projects, and its permitted uses include acquisition, installation, conservation and certain related expenses. Routine maintenance is treated separately.
The proposed Serra resolution refers to Art in Public Places money and “other approved funds,” but the materials reviewed by the Gazette do not establish the amount currently available for this purchase.
The proposal follows the commission’s May 2025 approval of Frank Stella’s Puffed and Inverted Star II for the planned redesign of Ponce Circle Park.
The Stella acquisition was approved unanimously after the Cultural Development Board recommended it by a 5-2 vote. The city authorized funding for the acquisition and transportation, with foundation, installation, lighting and landscaping expenses to be funded separately.
The $5 million ceiling for the Serra sculpture is not an agreed purchase price, and the full cost of installing and maintaining it remains unknown.
Tuesday’s Cultural Development Board review is another step in the acquisition process, not a final authorization.
Before the city can complete a purchase, commissioners must approve the terms and any necessary budget amendments.
For now, Coral Gables has authorized negotiations for a major work by one of America’s most celebrated sculptors. It has not determined where the 18-ton sculpture would stand, what installing it would cost or whether the city ultimately will buy it.
Author: Coral Gables Gazette News Staff
Originally established in 1996 and relaunched as a digital publication in February 2025, the Coral Gables Gazette is an independent local news organization dedicated to factual, objective and accountable community journalism. Our newsroom reports on the people, policies, institutions and events shaping Coral Gables, Florida, providing residents with timely, informative coverage of the issues affecting their community. Our reporting includes City Hall, local government, municipal elections, public spending, real estate development, business, education, arts and culture, and neighborhood affairs throughout the City Beautiful. We follow City Commission decisions, examine public records and report on the businesses, organizations and individuals contributing to Coral Gables. We believe informed residents are essential to a healthy, engaged community. Stories published under the Coral Gables Gazette News Staff byline are prepared or compiled by the publication's editorial team. We strive for accuracy, fairness, transparency and clear distinctions between news reporting, opinion and advertising. Readers are encouraged to submit news tips, corrections, editorial inquiries and story suggestions through our Contact page and learn more about our standards through our Editorial Policy.
This massive nondescript (ugly) piece of steel says absolutely nothing about Coral Gables. It was designed for a specific indoor space in Manhattan, but our City’s art connoisseurs are trying to find an outdoor location in which to place something that has no connection to Coral Gables.
Best of all, they are willing to spend $5 Million dollars to acquire it, and then they will also have to protect it from the South Florida weather…because it’s not made for South Florida’s weather. But bring it on down because Coral Gables has to own this monumental (ugly) hunk of steel!
Is there no better way to spend $5 Million dollars???
Is someone making a big commission off of this sale???
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But some people have all their taste in their mouth.