The Los Angeles City Council has given the go ahead for a new US$90m contemporary art museum in the city.

The Broad Collection - to be funded by real estate tycoon turned philanthropist, Eli Broad - will boast 53,000sq ft of exhibition space and will be built on Grand Avenue, adjacent to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

The museum's artefacts will largely consists of pieces of art that Broad and his wife Edythe have collected.

The couple founded the Broad Art Foundation in 1984, and have so far made more than 7,000 loans to more than 450 museums and university galleries worldwide.

According to financial publishers Forbes, Broad is among the 100 wealthiest people in the world.