PCUSA sells right to purchase O’Keeffe property By John H. Adams The Layman Online 
SANTA FE - For $350,000 and other concessions, the
Presbyterian Church has sold to a family foundation the
denomination's legal right to purchase the adobe house and 12
acres of land once owned by artist Georgia O'Keeffe. The residence, which is appraised at $735,000, is within the 21,000-acre Ghost Ranch and near the Presbyterian Church's conference center near Santa Fe, N.M. The final settlement was announced recently after a months-long legal tug-of-war between negotiators for the Presbyterian Church and the Burnette Foundation operated by John and Anne Marion. The Marions announced on August 21 that the Presbyterian Church had agreed to release its first right of purchase, and let them buy the O'Keeffe property in order to preserve it for scholars studying the artist's life and work. The Marions said they would spend $500,000 to repair the house. But Presbyterian negotiators said then that the deal would not become final unless the Marions made written commitments restricting the foundation's use of the property and paid the denomination $350,000. Those agreements were finalized Sept. 4. "We are pleased to have arrived at an agreement that protects the integrity of both the Georgia O'Keeffe property and our program at Ghost Ranch," said John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council. "The agreement reflects good financial stewardship on the part of the church. I expect that the proceeds from this transaction can be used to enhance programming and make much needed improvements at Ghost Ranch." Contest enters third month In July, the Marions offered Juan Hamilton, O'Keeffe's handyman, companion and heir, $3 million for the property. They also offered the Presbyterian Church $250,000 in return for release of its right to buy the O'Keeffe property. But some Presbyterian staff and the executive committee of the General Assembly Council began mapping a strategy to buy the O'Keeffe residence. After a number of private meetings, the executive committee General Assembly Council arranged a $3 million, 8.25 percent loan from the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program and approved purchase of the property. Alerted to these developments, The Layman Online released a story on the planned purchase and began making inquiries. Questions were raised by The Layman and other news organizations about Ghost Ranch finances and details of executive committee plans. On July 31, the Presbyterian Church filed a lawsuit to prohibit the sale to the Burnett Foundation. That action bought time for negotiations. It also resulted in more coverage by The Layman Online, The Santa Fe New Mexican and the Presbyterian News Service. News coverage prompted a number of questions about the feasibility of the church paying $3 million for property with an appraised value of $735,000, utilizing a loan program that is intended principally to help local congregations build and renovate churches, and whether Ghost Ranch, with a decade of deficits, had the capacity to repay the loan. Vigorous discussions triggered Those questions triggered vigorous discussions among PCUSA leaders. There was also some acrimony. The lawsuit filed by the Presbyterian Church included a claim on O'Keeffe's personal items that Hamilton had donated to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Anne Marion called the suit "just a bunch of noise," adding, "There's no way they have any claim of anything that Juan gave to the museum." In Santa Fe, where the Marions have invested an estimated $55 million in the arts, sentiment strongly favored their purchase of the O'Keeffe property. In an editorial on August 20, The New Mexican urged Presbyterian leaders "to embrace the Marions as the good partners they would be in preserving the O'Keeffe corner of Ghost Ranch." The editorial expressed "puzzlement over national church officials filing for an injunction against the sale and taking steps to buy the property for the church." Anne Marion is the granddaughter of a Western cattle baron. John Marion, her husband, is the retired chairman of Sotheby's. The Marions established the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Study Center in Santa Fe. Denomination's plans unclear Denominational leaders would not reveal plans for the property if the PCUSA acquired it. Neither did they explain how owning O'Keeffe's residence would complement the operation of a church conference center. Ghost Ranch programs are largely secular with a reputation for offbeat gatherings on spirituality and gay-lesbian caucuses that have little to do with Presbyterianism. Perhaps the most significant obstacle to acquisition by the denomination is Ghost Ranch's shaky fiscal condition. The early decision by the executive committee to purchase the O'Keeffe property prompted widespread distribution of Ghost Ranch financial reports revealing operating deficits totaling more than $4 million since 1992. The deficits have seriously diminished two major funds: the Driscoll Fund, maintained by the Presbyterian Foundation, and the private National Ghost Ranch Foundation Fund. Assets of two funds shrink Driscoll Fund assets, totaling $2.8 million in 1989, were drained to $1.06 million on June 30, 1998. The value of the Ghost Ranch Foundation Fund on June 30, 1998 was $1.3 million, down from $2.3 million in 1989. Because of its financial problems, Ghost Ranch has reduced its staff and deferred much needed maintenance and capital improvements. The PCUSA's agreement with the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program (PILP) called for a 20-year loan, according to Ken Grant, chief executive officer of PILP. The loan agreement represents nearly 20 percent of PILP's planned $15 million in 1998 loans, he said. While a $3 million loan to the PCUSA falls within PILP's lending guidelines, promotional material has emphasized that PILP was established chiefly to help local congregations build and remodel churches. Ed Craxton, associate director of the Congregational Ministries Division of the PCUSA and a leader in the effort to buy the O'Keeffe property, told The Layman that the denomination would need only a one-year "bridge loan." He said the debt could be retired through a fund-raising campaign. Later, in an official news release, Presbyterian officials noted that they might have to sell off some parcels of Ghost Ranch to retire the debt. Without reducing the principal, the annual debt service on a $3 million loan at 8.25 percent interest would have been $247,500. Artist warmed up to Presbyterians O'Keeffe purchased her adobe house before the Ghost Ranch property was donated to the Presbyterian Church in 1955. After having attempted to buy some of the Ghost Ranch property, O'Keeffe responded to the church's acquisition by telling a biographer, "I never had any use for Presbyterians anyhow!" O'Keeffe would later become friendlier with the Presbyterians, especially after Ghost Ranch dispatched Hamilton, a maintenance employee at the conference center, to help her with some repairs. Hamilton left the employment of Ghost Ranch and moved into O'Keeffe's house. Shortly thereafter, O'Keeffe gave Ghost Ranch $50,000 toward construction of a conference center. |
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