Officials in the US city of San Francisco are offering Star Wars creator George Lucas a spot on the waterfront where he could exhibit his lifetime collection of art and movie memorabilia.

City mayor Edwin Lee made the proposal to Lucas on Thursday (29 May) to build the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum on a 2.3 acre site owned by the Port of San Francisco, situated along the Embarcadero (eastern waterfront).

In the letter to Lucas, Lee wrote: "On behalf of the City and County of San Francisco, I propose an extraordinary location along our City's waterfront as the iconic new home for the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum.

"Seawall Lot 330 sits across from Piers 30-32, which, should you be interested, offers a unique opportunity to partner with the City and Port to transform crumbling piers and parking lots into complementary new waterfront educational and public open space."

Proposals to open a Lucas museum on park land at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge were rejected earlier this year, but the city later offered him another location near the home of Lucasfilm's special-effects, game unit and corporate offices. Lucas is reportedly considering that offer.

San Francisco now has to stave off challenges for the museum from other cities, most notably Chicago, which is said to be very keen to acquire the Lucas museum and has earmarked parking lots near Soldier Field football stadium as a possible location.

The collection includes illustrations by Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish and N.C. Wyeth, as well as works by Lucas's visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic and other companies. The proposed museum will also include temporary exhibits from other collections.

Lucas has said he plans to invest up to US$300m (€220m, £179m) in the project, with another US$400m (€294m, £238m) endowment coming when he dies.