Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Gap Inc. founder Don Fisher can’t get San Francisco to accept his $1 billion gift.

Fisher offered more than a year ago to donate his art collection and build a contemporary art museum at the Presidio, a former military post that’s now a national park. He owns more than a thousand works by Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Frank Stella and other artists, valued at $1 billion.

The proposed location of the Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio is the issue. The squat glass building would be in the Main Post, a cluster of structures in mission and colonial-revival design dating back to a 1776 Spanish fort.

“The word I hear most often is ‘appalling,’” said Gary Widman, 72, president of the Presidio Historical Association, a group dedicated to preserving the park. “The public is almost unanimously opposed.”

Residents and an umbrella group of community organizations are fighting the museum and succeeded in getting the public comment period extended three times, from July to Dec. 15. The Presidio Trust, which runs the 2.3-square-mile (5-square-kilometer) park on the north- western edge of the city, is to vote on the plan next year.

The Trust solicited proposals on ways to revitalize the Main Post and chose Fisher’s as the best submission. It sees museum visitors as a way to generate revenue when federal funding for the park expires in 2012.

Drawing Art Lovers

Fisher, 80, was a founding member of the Trust. He declined to comment, said Alex Tourk, a spokesman. Fisher built his fortune through the Gap clothing-store chain he and his wife, Doris, started in San Francisco in 1969.

The proposal comes at a time when the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is expanding its contemporary-art collection. San Francisco has museums of modern art, fine art and Asian art.

“We are competing constantly against Los Angeles,” said Ron Chase, 73, an art critic. “This is an exceptional collection that obviously needs to be in San Francisco.”

The proposed museum could increase Presidio visitors by as much as 60 percent, to 2.4 million a year, according to estimates in Trust documents. The nearby Golden Gate Bridge draws more than 9 million tourists annually.

The museum would cost about $100 million and Fisher would pay to renovate nearby structures, said Craig Middleton, executive director of the Trust. The plan calls for demolishing two buildings and tennis courts to make way for the museum and a 125-room lodge, the documents show.

Joining the Union

The Presidio, which means garrison, was established by Spanish colonialists from northern Mexico. It became a Mexican outpost in 1822 and came under U.S. control after California joined the Union in 1846.

The Army decommissioned the Presidio and transferred it to the National Park Service in 1994. The 230-year-old Main Post, about a mile southeast of the Golden Gate Bridge, has parade grounds and about 100 buildings. The park, a National Historic Landmark, has a total of 870 buildings, along with a cemetery, beaches, woods and recreational areas.

For revenue, the Trust rents former officer residences to individuals and office space to companies including George Lucas’s Lucasfilm Ltd. The park was the setting for the 1988 movie “The Presidio,” starring Sean Connery.

Two-Year Effort

Lucas, 64, faced opposition when he proposed constructing office buildings at the site of a former Army hospital on the Presidio’s eastern edge. He lobbied officials and residents for two years before signing an agreement with the Trust in 2001.

His Letterman Digital Arts Center opened in 2005, marked by a water fountain adorned with a bronze statue of the “Star Wars” character Yoda.

Lucas’s project increased vehicle traffic, said Lori Brooke, 45, president of the Cow Hollow Association, one of the neighborhood groups opposing Fisher’s plan.

“Virtually everything we do here seems to have some form of opposition associated with it,” Middleton said. “I’m a little surprised at how emotional it’s gotten.”

A history museum would be more appropriate for the Main Post, said Amy Meyer, 75, who served on the Trust’s board from 1997 to 2003.

“Any museum should deal with U.S. or Spanish military history involving the western U.S.,” said Doug Kirby, 63, who lived at the Presidio from 1973 to 1976 while serving in the Army. “I see this as somewhat cronyism.”

Some people may think Fisher has an agreement for the museum because he previously served as head of the Trust’s board, Middleton said.

“I can assure you, it’s not a done deal,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vivek Shankar in San Francisco at vshankar3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 26, 2008 03:00 EST