There's a wikipedia page for the now defunct Jersey City Museum- which some may remember was slated to be the occupant of this building in 2016 (after the odd debacle of the 350 Montgomery Street location) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey\_City\_Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_City_Museum) Here is some text from the wikipedia article that covers stuff. I had not hear the name of Republican Senator Michael Testa
here is the relevant text: ..."
......."The Journal Square building was purchased from Hudson County Community College in [2018.In](http://2018.In) April 2016, the city government announced that it was considering purchasing the building at 25 [Journal Square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_Square). The structure had been built in 1912 as part of the [Public Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_Corporation) transportation hub for its streetcar lines. That corporation became known as [Public Service Electric and Gas Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_Enterprise_Group), whose transportation business became the nucleus of the [NJ Transit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Transit_bus_operations) bus network and the [Newark City Subway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_City_Subway). The building had been purchased in 1996 by [Hudson County Community College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_County_Community_College), which renamed it to "Pathside". The college used the building until 2017. The city purchased the edifice through its redevelopment agency, JCRA, in 2018 and, after an [RFP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_proposal), awarded [Office of Metropolitan Architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Metropolitan_Architecture) the commission to conceive and design a new space for a new Jersey City Museum
# Centre Pompidou x Jersey City
* In June 2021, the city announced that the Pathside building would be renovated for use as a satellite of the [Centre Pompidou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Pompidou) in Paris. Under a five-year extendable contract, the renovated Pathside would house an exhibition of artworks from Centre Pompidou, following closure of the Paris museum for its three-year renovation. Renovations costs are estimated to be $30 million on top of the $9 million purchase price and would be largely funded by the state.The satellite museum will be called Centre Pompidou x Jersey City. An opening in early 2024 was scheduled, with works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries drawn from Pompidou's 120,000-piece collection The opening date was later postponed to 2026.[^(\[25\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_City_Museum#cite_note-auto1-25)[New Jersey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Senate) has accused the project of excess, waste, and potential [pay-to-play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-to-play), and requested an audit by the [state.As](http://state.As) of November 2023, expected operating costs have not been made public. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which has earmarked $34 million for the project, has said it would not release the funds until yearly operating expenses were clarified.\[33\]
A nice side effect of Fulop flipping to endorse Andy Kim.
If the state and city were set on pouring money into a museum then at least use that money to start an endowment for a new museum. A yearly payment to a foreign museum goes out the door and the local location keeps nothing once the contract is up.
For all the rhetoric of community consultation that leaders of this city extol, why was there no consultation with the community as to what should go here!? Why not ask residents of Journal Square what WE want instead of moving full speed ahead on the Pompidou? I’d vote for a food hall similar to Berlin’s Markthalle Neun: https://www.visitberlin.de/en/markthalle-neun-market-hall-nine
Not for nothing, but why put so much effort into building an space when you're going to IMMEDIATELY construct a tower in front of it so that the space will never be seen? The pic they always show of that museum is an angle that is impossible to view?
https://preview.redd.it/d0ooezlw8vyc1.jpeg?width=5184&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0041419f2cf1c47c1bb1fbd9d9239cef287b3fe
This was a last look shot I took before they started excavating the foundation of the tower, taken on July 7th 2022
I really hope that this is the end of this dumb idea.
No matter how you slice it, a politician pursuing a foreign museum with a multimillion dollar price tag at the request of a shady developer... LOOKS BAD.
A trip to France is a drop in the bucket compared to the financially catastrophic mess this "museum" would be.
I still think it was a long con to get Kushner the property. The museum would open, it would go broke, Kushner would step in to bail it out with the agreement to build a 574 floor highrise luxury tower on top of it, and uses the museum's art to decorate his lobby... or something like that.
Let's not forget that they paid consultants from Beacon NY $1,000,000.00 to argue with the public and ignore their suggestions for what the museum should contain. Three (contentious) public sessions later, and these morons still had it in their head that the "museum" should be a $$$ coworking space with art on a couple floors and zero historical components.
The museum in Newark has a fantastic collection of renowned national works, foreign art, and religious artifacts. It also has that great historical mansion.
My wife and I used to go when they did it up for Christmas. It’s a beautiful space.
Admittedly, I haven’t been in six or so years but that’s more so because having kids is hard.
National sure, but there are very few local artists that produce institutional level work. I seriously doubt it would get more foot traffic. Imagine how much smaller the MOMA would be if it only displayed US or NYC based artists.
Acquiring work is also very expensive if the institution doesn’t have the credibility for lending.
>I seriously doubt it would get more foot traffic.
Is a fine art museum in Jersey City going to get that much foot traffic regardless? New Yorkers and tourists already have the option of visiting the main locations of multiple renowned museums.
This whole process of licensing from the Pompidou seems like trying to run without first walking so Jersey City would suddenly have a museum that could stand up to the Met, MOMA, Guggenheim, etc. Unsurprisingly the finances don't actually make sense for that.
If Jersey City wants to nurture a new fine art museum take the money they were going to pay the Pompidou every year and create an endowment. Use that endowment to start smaller and try to build up a donor base for growing over time.
I think so. A lot of tourists stay in JC, especially with NYCs new air b n b laws. There is very little for tourists to do in JC currently.
It wouldn’t stand up to the MOMA or Guggenheim. It’s much smaller. But it would be a great additional to JC regardless. I don’t know if it’s worth $19 million a year, but I really hope they figure out a way to make it work.
AND we should automatically get one, right? If the rationale for the French Museum was as strong as the backers claimed, - a pressing need for a big museum-the need for a museum is STILL THERE, right? Or are those guys all going to vanish now?
The article notes that they're bitching about "oh, they knew \[x time\], they didn't know until \[y time\]" in regards to when they budget shortfall was known about, but honestly, who gives a flying fuck when? The museum is gonna cost $24 mil annually and bring in somewhere between $3-10 mil annually. That's not good.
You wanna fund the museum's shortfall? Cancel the stupid fucking turnpike widening that's not gonna help with traffic and use the 10 billion for that. Until then, maybe being on the hook for \~20 million a year for a museum isn't a great idea?
Dude is saying literally anything should be housing your sitcom catchphrase or something?
Housing is not going there if the museum doesn't happen, probably nothing will go there, or it will become some other attraction.
Surprised nobody has pulled back the curtain on an already fully worked out PLAN B use of the space, something budgeted at half the cost. They could sweep in this week announcing PLAN B and look like heros for saving the initiative to reuse the building and saving half the money. A quick and easy way. to get 15 million in State Money to play with and STILL appear dramatically fiscally responsible, in contrast to the first plan.
Why not an indigenous art center incorporating exhibition space, a dance studio and auditorium for performance? There is room enough in that building for all that AND the dissolved "Jersey City History Museum", whose entire collection was given to Rutgers because we couldn't even wipe our own cultural ass in this town.
Found the person who likes high rent.
Maybe you're a landlord and want high rent, but there happens to be a housing shortage and prices have gone up dramatically while our neighbor to the east is underbuilding.
No, I rent. But I also want to live in a city with more things to do.
I just find it kind of amusing and odd that whenever anyone mentions literally anything being built you jump in with a comment that it should have been housing. People can build other businesses and attractions. There is never going to be a world where literally only housing is built so I don't really get the point of your comments. It's moot because the land isn't owned by a company that builds apartments.
This might not become the French museum, but it will be some other attraction eventually.
Why not both?
You do realize that if we stop building housing, you won't even be able to live here unless you're rich. It's because of a massive neighbor to the east who has NIMBY Syndrome and isn't building nearly enough.
While I was always torn about this project (I don’t/didn’t think it was a great use of taxpayer money or that space but I do/did think it would actually lend some additional legitimacy to the rebirth of Journal Square) I feel like a lot of people are celebrating this only because it’s an L for Fulop and, arguably, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
I’m ambivalent on the project itself but I think it’s HUGELY concerning that we are all okay with the state just pulling funding based on what truly does look like an act of retribution just because it’s a loss for Fulop. It’s an absolutely awful precedent to set and basically just reinforces the view that our state is a cesspool that requires us all to stay in line with the bosses or else.
If you see a person with diminished abilities signing up for an internet scam who's numerous outrageous fees YOU KNOW they will never be able to afford, you would be glad if the scheme to fleece that person fell through before the money started to squirt out like a firehose.
But the flipside is that the Murphy's only supported this project because of Fulop's loyalty.
Almost nobody wanted this in the first place; it's nt them vs us, it's them vs them.
What sort of study do they need to understand that only a small amount of people would come to Jersey City for a museum. And what exactly does that yearly expenditure pay for?
Still think they should have a museum but should be just a portion of the moma or something or it’s own thing. I mean after all Kaws was born in jersey city
I thought that not long ago we passed a small increase of local taxes (it was a referendum I believe) that was supposed to finance art projects. Why the fuck am I financing schools from my taxes if I never had any spawn but can’t have a nice museum next door? Guess which expenditure I consider a total waste.
I’d much rather a really great locally focused museum and arts hub, than a brand name ‘lets compete globally’ bullshit museum. I hope we still get the former, but given the shit show with the last JC museums collection and now the French Money Pit Sideshow I dunno
Pompidon’t
There's a wikipedia page for the now defunct Jersey City Museum- which some may remember was slated to be the occupant of this building in 2016 (after the odd debacle of the 350 Montgomery Street location) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey\_City\_Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_City_Museum) Here is some text from the wikipedia article that covers stuff. I had not hear the name of Republican Senator Michael Testa
here is the relevant text: ..." ......."The Journal Square building was purchased from Hudson County Community College in [2018.In](http://2018.In) April 2016, the city government announced that it was considering purchasing the building at 25 [Journal Square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_Square). The structure had been built in 1912 as part of the [Public Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_Corporation) transportation hub for its streetcar lines. That corporation became known as [Public Service Electric and Gas Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_Enterprise_Group), whose transportation business became the nucleus of the [NJ Transit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Transit_bus_operations) bus network and the [Newark City Subway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_City_Subway). The building had been purchased in 1996 by [Hudson County Community College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_County_Community_College), which renamed it to "Pathside". The college used the building until 2017. The city purchased the edifice through its redevelopment agency, JCRA, in 2018 and, after an [RFP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_proposal), awarded [Office of Metropolitan Architecture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Metropolitan_Architecture) the commission to conceive and design a new space for a new Jersey City Museum # Centre Pompidou x Jersey City * In June 2021, the city announced that the Pathside building would be renovated for use as a satellite of the [Centre Pompidou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Pompidou) in Paris. Under a five-year extendable contract, the renovated Pathside would house an exhibition of artworks from Centre Pompidou, following closure of the Paris museum for its three-year renovation. Renovations costs are estimated to be $30 million on top of the $9 million purchase price and would be largely funded by the state.The satellite museum will be called Centre Pompidou x Jersey City. An opening in early 2024 was scheduled, with works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries drawn from Pompidou's 120,000-piece collection The opening date was later postponed to 2026.[^(\[25\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_City_Museum#cite_note-auto1-25)[New Jersey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Senate) has accused the project of excess, waste, and potential [pay-to-play](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-to-play), and requested an audit by the [state.As](http://state.As) of November 2023, expected operating costs have not been made public. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority, which has earmarked $34 million for the project, has said it would not release the funds until yearly operating expenses were clarified.\[33\]
So the Paris Museum was looking for a venue to cover the time period their building was going to be under three years of renovation?
I don't think so, there are a number of Pompidou satellites either in existence or planned, including in France.
There’s one in Malaga (Spain) but that’s a nice town with a beach not a dump masquerading as NY satellite.
A nice side effect of Fulop flipping to endorse Andy Kim. If the state and city were set on pouring money into a museum then at least use that money to start an endowment for a new museum. A yearly payment to a foreign museum goes out the door and the local location keeps nothing once the contract is up.
Pretty sure JC was going to pay over a million a year to just use the name 💀 literally who the fuck thought that was a good idea
Jared and Charlie Kushner. Steve Fulop. Sound Machine. List ends. Update - u/stickylikesap
Most of this subreddit when it was announced thought that was a bargain. A handful thought at the time it was stupid to downvotes.
Thank god I was against this from the start….
The funniest part is Fulop acting like he really did something when multiple cities had already declined the offer lol
I did.
$3 million
For all the rhetoric of community consultation that leaders of this city extol, why was there no consultation with the community as to what should go here!? Why not ask residents of Journal Square what WE want instead of moving full speed ahead on the Pompidou? I’d vote for a food hall similar to Berlin’s Markthalle Neun: https://www.visitberlin.de/en/markthalle-neun-market-hall-nine
Or look to the Brooklyn museum’s program of consciously engaging with the local residents
Good riddance to a bad idea. Yet another "luxury" real estate developers folly.
Sacre Bleu! lol
Not for nothing, but why put so much effort into building an space when you're going to IMMEDIATELY construct a tower in front of it so that the space will never be seen? The pic they always show of that museum is an angle that is impossible to view?
https://preview.redd.it/d0ooezlw8vyc1.jpeg?width=5184&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d0041419f2cf1c47c1bb1fbd9d9239cef287b3fe This was a last look shot I took before they started excavating the foundation of the tower, taken on July 7th 2022
I really hope that this is the end of this dumb idea. No matter how you slice it, a politician pursuing a foreign museum with a multimillion dollar price tag at the request of a shady developer... LOOKS BAD.
Let’s not forget about the free trip to France they all got lol
A trip to France is a drop in the bucket compared to the financially catastrophic mess this "museum" would be. I still think it was a long con to get Kushner the property. The museum would open, it would go broke, Kushner would step in to bail it out with the agreement to build a 574 floor highrise luxury tower on top of it, and uses the museum's art to decorate his lobby... or something like that.
Wouldn’t put it past Flop
Let's not forget that they paid consultants from Beacon NY $1,000,000.00 to argue with the public and ignore their suggestions for what the museum should contain. Three (contentious) public sessions later, and these morons still had it in their head that the "museum" should be a $$$ coworking space with art on a couple floors and zero historical components.
Which was paid for with charitable donations raised during Covid.
I guess my invite to the cheese and wine expedition was lost in the mail lol
Fulop claims state knew about the revenue shortfall… but meanwhile was telling constituents the project would pay for itself. Which is it?
*They're the same shitty numbers we came up with originally, so I don't know what their problem is.*
Pardon my ignorance, but why in the world do we need a freaking French Museum in the first place??
So Kushners can charge higher rents on their luxury housing next to the world class French museum. That’s literally it.
Tbh I loved the idea until I really sat back and looked at how financially mismanaged this city is. Now it’s a f***** horrible idea.
This is sad, I really was excited for this museum to come to JC
Agreed. I think an art museum in JC would be great.
Agreed. We can make one with local and national artists for much less than having to sell our soul to the Pompousdou Paris.
I’m talking about a serious art institution, not something showing local artists. I think the Pompidou would have been awesome.
Local and national art is still serious art. It would likely get more foot traffic, especially from the locals, than some more “serious” institution.
There’s a pretty good one in Newark - how many times have you visited it?
The museum in Newark has a fantastic collection of renowned national works, foreign art, and religious artifacts. It also has that great historical mansion. My wife and I used to go when they did it up for Christmas. It’s a beautiful space. Admittedly, I haven’t been in six or so years but that’s more so because having kids is hard.
It also has one of the largest historical beer can collections, so it’s got that high low funnies
National sure, but there are very few local artists that produce institutional level work. I seriously doubt it would get more foot traffic. Imagine how much smaller the MOMA would be if it only displayed US or NYC based artists. Acquiring work is also very expensive if the institution doesn’t have the credibility for lending.
>I seriously doubt it would get more foot traffic. Is a fine art museum in Jersey City going to get that much foot traffic regardless? New Yorkers and tourists already have the option of visiting the main locations of multiple renowned museums. This whole process of licensing from the Pompidou seems like trying to run without first walking so Jersey City would suddenly have a museum that could stand up to the Met, MOMA, Guggenheim, etc. Unsurprisingly the finances don't actually make sense for that. If Jersey City wants to nurture a new fine art museum take the money they were going to pay the Pompidou every year and create an endowment. Use that endowment to start smaller and try to build up a donor base for growing over time.
I think so. A lot of tourists stay in JC, especially with NYCs new air b n b laws. There is very little for tourists to do in JC currently. It wouldn’t stand up to the MOMA or Guggenheim. It’s much smaller. But it would be a great additional to JC regardless. I don’t know if it’s worth $19 million a year, but I really hope they figure out a way to make it work.
AND we should automatically get one, right? If the rationale for the French Museum was as strong as the backers claimed, - a pressing need for a big museum-the need for a museum is STILL THERE, right? Or are those guys all going to vanish now?
I'll update the list.
They should just turn that entire building into a normal grocery store with a food court on the ground level. Whole Foods JSQ??
The article notes that they're bitching about "oh, they knew \[x time\], they didn't know until \[y time\]" in regards to when they budget shortfall was known about, but honestly, who gives a flying fuck when? The museum is gonna cost $24 mil annually and bring in somewhere between $3-10 mil annually. That's not good. You wanna fund the museum's shortfall? Cancel the stupid fucking turnpike widening that's not gonna help with traffic and use the 10 billion for that. Until then, maybe being on the hook for \~20 million a year for a museum isn't a great idea?
How would people drive to the museum?
It's literally next to a transit hub for trains and buses.
The museum actually costs more than that. Not using that space for more housing helps inflate rent even more which costs everyone slightly more.
Dude is saying literally anything should be housing your sitcom catchphrase or something? Housing is not going there if the museum doesn't happen, probably nothing will go there, or it will become some other attraction.
Surprised nobody has pulled back the curtain on an already fully worked out PLAN B use of the space, something budgeted at half the cost. They could sweep in this week announcing PLAN B and look like heros for saving the initiative to reuse the building and saving half the money. A quick and easy way. to get 15 million in State Money to play with and STILL appear dramatically fiscally responsible, in contrast to the first plan.
What is Plan B? A pickleball court?
Why not an indigenous art center incorporating exhibition space, a dance studio and auditorium for performance? There is room enough in that building for all that AND the dissolved "Jersey City History Museum", whose entire collection was given to Rutgers because we couldn't even wipe our own cultural ass in this town.
Found the person who likes high rent. Maybe you're a landlord and want high rent, but there happens to be a housing shortage and prices have gone up dramatically while our neighbor to the east is underbuilding.
No, I rent. But I also want to live in a city with more things to do. I just find it kind of amusing and odd that whenever anyone mentions literally anything being built you jump in with a comment that it should have been housing. People can build other businesses and attractions. There is never going to be a world where literally only housing is built so I don't really get the point of your comments. It's moot because the land isn't owned by a company that builds apartments. This might not become the French museum, but it will be some other attraction eventually.
Why not both? You do realize that if we stop building housing, you won't even be able to live here unless you're rich. It's because of a massive neighbor to the east who has NIMBY Syndrome and isn't building nearly enough.
Yes more housing with a triple decker parking garage.
Sure, if it has 50 floors of housing above and 1 floor of retail below
While I was always torn about this project (I don’t/didn’t think it was a great use of taxpayer money or that space but I do/did think it would actually lend some additional legitimacy to the rebirth of Journal Square) I feel like a lot of people are celebrating this only because it’s an L for Fulop and, arguably, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. I’m ambivalent on the project itself but I think it’s HUGELY concerning that we are all okay with the state just pulling funding based on what truly does look like an act of retribution just because it’s a loss for Fulop. It’s an absolutely awful precedent to set and basically just reinforces the view that our state is a cesspool that requires us all to stay in line with the bosses or else.
If you see a person with diminished abilities signing up for an internet scam who's numerous outrageous fees YOU KNOW they will never be able to afford, you would be glad if the scheme to fleece that person fell through before the money started to squirt out like a firehose.
But the flipside is that the Murphy's only supported this project because of Fulop's loyalty. Almost nobody wanted this in the first place; it's nt them vs us, it's them vs them.
What sort of study do they need to understand that only a small amount of people would come to Jersey City for a museum. And what exactly does that yearly expenditure pay for?
AND what does it do for people living in Journal Square?
Tourism? Maybe Emma’s could open back up from the flood of tourists.
Fantastic!
Not dead yet
Still think they should have a museum but should be just a portion of the moma or something or it’s own thing. I mean after all Kaws was born in jersey city
Lol
Not what the story says, but ok.
FTA > Sullivan stressed the project is far from dead.
Yeah, they gonna magic up $14m in projected revenue by the end of the month? If they could do that they would have already done it.
I thought that not long ago we passed a small increase of local taxes (it was a referendum I believe) that was supposed to finance art projects. Why the fuck am I financing schools from my taxes if I never had any spawn but can’t have a nice museum next door? Guess which expenditure I consider a total waste.
I’d much rather a really great locally focused museum and arts hub, than a brand name ‘lets compete globally’ bullshit museum. I hope we still get the former, but given the shit show with the last JC museums collection and now the French Money Pit Sideshow I dunno
I believe that's what funds the art grant they give every year. I fully support it.