 In planning or under construction at the time were the California Plaza project that incorporated the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, funded through the sale of zoning rights for the Museum Tower project; and the Orange County Performing Arts Center, which opened in 1986 as part of South Coast Plaza.Locally, the Edgemar project was part of wider restoration and adaptive reuse activities that included the Santa Monica Pier and Carousel and the transformation of the 1894 Roy Jones house into the Heritage Square Museum.Sher selected architect Frank Gehry to design Edgemar, in part because many of his early projects included renovated and new construction, his then predilection for modest materials including galvanized metal, chain link, concrete, and stucco—all materials found on the original site—and because of his early experience working in the office of Victor Gruen Associates, premier shopping center architects.