The Beat Goes On: Texas Musicians Museum Relocating
IRVING (CBSDFW.COM) – The popular Texas Musicians Museum in Irving will close its doors this week and move out.
Museum co-founder Thomas Kreason says they've spent the last two weeks packing up their exhibits, and memorabilia and loading them on to trucks to be taken to storage.
He says he was surprised to receive orders from the city of Irving to vacate the building which is owned by the city.
In a statement sent to CBS 11 News a city of Irving spokesperson said:
"The City of Irving's lease with Texas Musicians Museum (TMM) requires the TMM to make monthly rental payments. The city has not received any payments in Lease Year 3, which began August 2017. In Year 3 alone, TMM owes $28,000, plus late fees and penalties.
The nonpayment of rent by TMM constitutes an event of default pursuant to the lease. Therefore, the city is requiring TMM management to vacate the city-owned premises no later than May 17, 2018."
However, Kreason says that is not the agreement that was in place.
He added, "Although they try to portray us as some dead beat renters. We actually had a deal we weren't supposed to be paying rent. We were doing a trade out of hosting events and doing those events in exchange for rent. They were crediting us before and all of a sudden they decided not to credit us."
Kreason says while his museum is being forced out of the Irving location other North Texas developers with space and interest in entertainment districts have reached out to him.
He says some possibilities for a new location he is looking at include space in Frisco, Fort Worth, and even Deep Ellum in Dallas.
Kreason said, "We've had people contact us from all over the metroplex different cities different developers that really want to have our museum."
Kreason assured while their time in Irving has come to an end he has no plans of taking the museum outside of North Texas.