Will George Lucas bid farewell to Chicago?

The final location of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art remains an open question as a Chicago civic group known as Friends of the Parks has successfully fought attempts by the city to begin construction on the lakefront. In response, Oakland has invited the museum to open in the East Bay city instead.

The attorney for Friends of the Parks, Tom Geoghegan, has called the construction of the Lucas Museum by Lake Michigan “a violation of public trust” and said the project was not in the best interest of Chicago, according to the Chicago Tribune. The messy fight between Chicago and the advocacy group even entered Chicago’s rough-and-tumble mayoral race.

The delay in construction and the possibility of a long court battle has other cities extending invitations, including Oakland. “If plans for a museum in Chicago do not come to fruition, we’d be thrilled to explore the possibility of this exciting project coming to life in Oakland,” Mayor Libby Schaff's director of communications, Erica Derryck, tells us.

The Lucas Museum was originally intended for San Francisco’s Crissy Field. A unanimous vote against the plan sent the Star Wars creator packing to Chicago.

According to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s official webpage, it will “feature popular art from illustration to comics, an insider’s perspective on the cinematic creative process, and the boundless potential of the digital medium.” [Trib]