Unfortunately it’s inevitable that LCM is going away. For folks outside Seattle who may be unaware, Allen’s military museum was closed and exhibits sold off last year, and his Cinerama facility looks to be heading the same way.
It’s hard to believe this was the estate plan he intended. A lot of local people are pointing the finger at his sister who appears intent on erasing his legacy outside pro sports.
All of those are significant losses, too. I don’t care as much about the military museum and there’s an ongoing argument about the ethics of flying some of those old planes (wear and tear is bad), as Allen did, but the collection still mattered.
I think the only Allen project besides sports that’s going to survive is MOPOP and that’s very tourist-friendly in an excellent location.
Unfortunately it appears to be the case that this is what Allen wanted. A connected sports journalist in Portland wrote about this last year (see below link).
> “Paul directed that the trust be liquidated upon his death and the assets used to fund his passion projects,” a source said. “None of this is up in the air. The instructions are clear: The sports franchises and everything in the trust must be sold.”
From someone two degrees of separation away from the situation, this really was a core issue. A lot of bickering involved from family members and outside interests on what's funded and how much. (yes, all second hand random internet rumors, heresay, take it with a grain of salt, etc.)
It's sad because the LCM and Cinerama had such an impact on Seattle culture.
Business Insider says brain research was one of them. I imagine if I was a competent financial reporter I could dig into where the money’s going and maybe learn something but I don’t have those skills.
Allen Institute for Brain Science and AI2 were never going to lose funding. Waaaayyyy too many people employed and involved with them with a fancy South Lake Union building they built. I'd love to see financials from them because they pull in a lot of research money and act as a tech incubator/investor. They're probably pulling significant revenue from those ventures.
It’s hard to believe this was the estate plan he intended. A lot of local people are pointing the finger at his sister who appears intent on erasing his legacy outside pro sports.