Lucas Museum drops Chicago, turns sights to Calif.

CHICAGO — “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas says Chicago won’t be home to his Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

Lucas Museum officials issued a statement today saying it will no longer consider Chicago as a potential site for the museum because of an ongoing federal lawsuit from a parks advocacy group. Instead, museum officials say the museum will be located in California.

Friends of the Parks has argued that the museum plans violate laws restricting development along Lake Michigan. The museum was to be built on a parking lot near Soldier Field, where the Chicago Bears play. Lucas said in a statement that no one benefits from the park group’s “seemingly unending litigation to protect a parking lot.”

Friends of the Parks didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The city of Youngstown attempted to interest Lucas in locating the museum in the city, sending a letter to him a few weeks ago.