Whitney Selling Neighboring Townhouses to Finance New Museum Building
From Crain’s: Whitney Museum selling nearby townhouses
Theresa Agovino
The Whitney Museum of American Art is seeking to sell at least some of the townhouses next to its Madison Avenue location that were slated to be part of a now-defunct, controversial plan to expand on the Upper East Side.
A Whitney spokesman said the museum is in the early stages of exploring a sale and will use the money to fund the new building it is planning in the meat-packing district.
In 2006, the Whitney scrapped a plan to construct a tower behind the townhouses even though it had won the necessary approvals despite bitter opposition from some Upper East Side residents and preservationists. The townhouses were going to be incorporated in the expansion.
Well who would have expected this to happen? Especially after the Whitney went to virtual war with the Upper East Side to gain approval for their plan, eventually resulting in the New York Times joining the fray. (It shouldn’t surprise anyone that we were against it, stating that “in general, HDC does not believe that buildings should be demolished in order to create empty space” – a problem that we are continuing to struggle against with the Purchase Building and Admiral’s Row).
First the Hotel Pennsylvania and now this; score another for the shaky economy.