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New Whitney Building to Open in Meatpacking District in 2015

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Whitney Bolting UES for Downtown
The Wall Street Journal - May 26, 2010
By Kelly Crow

Board Approves New Building, Slated for 2015 Opening in Meatpacking District

The Whitney Museum of American Art is moving downtown.

After spending the past four decades in a Brutalist building on the Upper East Side, the 80-year-old institution said that it plans to break ground next May on an airy new home in the Meatpacking District.

On Tuesday, the museum's board unanimously approved the $680 million plan to open a six-story, 195,000-square-foot building designed by Renzo Piano on Gansevoort Street, at the southern end of the High Line promenade. The museum said it has already raised $372 million for its new location and expects to open it to the public five years from now.

The museum said it is also in talks to lease its current home on East 75th Street to the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met has confirmed these discussions, but a deal has not yet been finalized.

The move will nearly double the museum's gallery space, all the better since its collection of American artists, from Edward Hopper to Ed Ruscha, has swelled to 18,000 pieces, up from 2,000 when it moved into its current, Marcel Breuer-designed site in 1966.

The new downtown location may also appeal to a younger audience of art lovers who don't typically troll the august avenues of upper Manhattan. The Whitney's need to stay relevant to newcomers eventually won the support of Leonard Lauder, the museum's chairman emeritus, who confirmed he was initially skeptical about the move. For the full article, click here

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