With little fanfare for its arrival early Thursday morning, Morgan Hill’s newest downtown centerpiece—yes the Fourth Street parking garage tarantula—was hoisted via crane from the back bed of a truck and ever so gently placed onto the three-story wall of the downtown structure.
About a dozen residents came out to see the public art piece with their own eyes after viewing images and sketches of Napa artist Gordon Huether’s arachnid creation paid for via use-it-or-lose-it redevelopment funds—and debating its worth at public meetings and social media sites.
“I think it’s beautiful. I love the color. It’s so cool,” said Judy Viegas, an administrative analyst in the City of Morgan Hill’s Community Services Department. “This is exciting for our city.”
Installing the red-legged tarantula, which spans 16 feet in diameter with limbs made out of waterjet cut aluminum and a body of headlights that light up and glow at night, was no easy task for construction workers. One in particular was tasked with finagling the spider onto a mounting pipe that protruded out high on the parking structure wall and then tilting it while the crane operator helped keep it in place.
“I actually think it’s really cool,” said Ali DeStasio, who works at Dr. Crowe’s medical office in the downtown. “I was looking forward to seeing it in person. It actually is cooler than I thought it would be and I’m excited to see it lit up.”
A green electric extension cord could be seen dangling from the wall and eventually will hook up to the tarantula to supply power to its LED lights inside the various headlights that make up the body.
But not everyone in town is a fan of the tarantula, mostly due to its six-figure cost.
“It’s 200 grand and I think honestly the money could’ve gone into infrastructure or other things,” said Dan Skeen, a local resident since 1987 who was the first one out taking pictures with his camera as it was mounted. “To me, it seems out of place in our downtown. Aesthetically, it doesn’t match up with the rest of the downtown.”
Morgan Hill native Jim Sergi, 58, shared similar sentiments about the spider’s place in the downtown.
“200 thousand spent on a spider and no animal control service in Morgan Hill is a disgrace to the community,” said Sergi, who called for the resignation of all those involved in commissioning the public art piece for the downtown. “I think the artwork is terrible.”
Mixed reviews—including some unfiltered comments about the tarantula selection—from some community members sprung up as soon as the city unveiled the idea several months back. But downtown business owner Nancy Reynolds, who, along with husband Chris, runs the Candy Parlor, was impressed with the tarantula statue that symbolized the species indigenous to the Morgan Hill area.
“I think it’s awesome,” said Reynolds, who explores other cities and appreciates their public art pieces. “I think it fits in our downtown pretty well.”
The parking structure, which is yet to open, consists of 270-plus parking spaces to serve downtown residents and future visitors. The $8.6-million construction contract with F&H Construction is funded by leftover Redevelopment Agency bond proceeds. The city purchased the property for the garage last year for $2.1 million from developer Rocke Garcia, also with leftover RDA cash.
The project is located between Third and Fourth streets, behind Huntington Station, Trail Dust and Toto Trattoria restaurants.
The contract also includes about $425,000 worth of public art. Along with the 12-foot spider sculpture, the city commissioned a 20-feet-by-12-feet glass depiction of poppy jasper, a mineral found only in Morgan Hill for the Third Street side of the garage.
Despite the outcry over the cost of the artwork seen on social media and heard at the installation site and various other places around town, the city got a bargain on the garage’s public art, according to Morgan Hill Economic Development Manager Edith Ramirez.
When the city sent out a request for proposals from qualified contractors for the project in late 2014, they specifically asked for a public art component, Ramirez said. Thus all three contractors included public art proposals with their garage plans, and F & H submitted the lowest bid. None of the submitted bids included local artists in the process.
Ramirez added F & H Construction negotiated the public art budget before they bid the project. Not only was their bid the lowest, but their public art proposal was the largest of the three bidders, Ramirez noted.
“They offered a wall of poppy jasper art glass to enclose the plaza stairwell and the tarantula as their public art component,” Ramirez said. “The city did not choose the art. And, had the city gone with a different contractor, the total cost for the garage would have been more.”
The garage project also includes about 4,000 square feet of retail and commercial space on the side facing Third Street, which will also feature a public plaza of benches, tables and wide walkways underneath a sprawling oak tree just outside the parking structure.
The entrance and exit for vehicles to the structure will be on Fourth Street.
