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Downtown Whitney Museum Development
The Whitney Museum of American Art is planning its new branch at the two-story High Line park entrance on Gansevoort Street. In 2006, the Whitney Museum of American Art reached a conditional agreement with the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to buy a city-owned site at Gansevoort Street. This announcement ended a decade long battle with Upper East Side preservationists over plans for the Whitney’s expansion at its current location and brings the Whitney closer to its Greenwich Village roots where the museum first opened.
With approximately 185,000 square feet of gallery space, the new downtown Whitney designed by Renzo Piano is slated to be finished by 2012 and will roughly double the Whitney’s total space - including exhibition space, a theater, and areas for educational programming. The museum will share the site of the former Meat Market with an existing commercial co-op, which will continue operations on the north end of the site.
The proposal is currently going through New York City's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) because the museum requires a special permit to build on the site, which is zoned for manufacturing. The economic downturn will increase already significant pressure on the Whitney to raise its targeted $680 million, $435 million of which is necessary for funding construction. No target dates for beginning construction have been released, though museum officials insist the building will be complete by 2012.
Last Updated: August 13, 2009