Was Centre Pompidou x Jersey City Doomed to Fail?

New York Follow +

Jersey City’s bid to revamp the old downtown with Centre Pompidou’s first North American outpost is in doubt after State lawmakers voted to rescind U.S. $24 million in funding, citing estimates that the project would lose U.S. $19 million annually.

New Jersey Mayor Steve Fulop, who is running for governor next year, claimed state officials always knew the museum would operate at a loss.

Fulop told The New York Times that the state’s governor, Phil Murphy, only opposed the project after Fulop pledged support for Andy Kim, who is running against Murphy’s wife Tammy, in a U.S. Senate campaign.

In 2018, the city, a short train ride from Manhattan, borrowed $10 million to acquire the Pathside Building in Journal Square, intending to transform the 5,400 square-foot-unit into a cultural centre.

They hired consultants OMA New York to discuss partnerships, agreeing to Centre Pompidou x Jersey City in June 2021, which provided access to the Parisian museum’s 140,000 piece collection of modern and contemporary art, as well as its brand and expertise.

The city obtained $58 million for the project, including $34 million from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEC) and $24 million from the Department of State.

In March 2024, reports revealed the museum would operate at a loss of $19 million, with $4 million in revenue against $23 million in expenses.

Head of the Economic Development Authority Tim Sullivan expressed concerns about releasing funds for the project, warning Jersey City officials the NJEC would retract funding if the city does not address the deficit and provide an adequate operating plan.

In a July 2023 letter from State budget director Tom Neff to Senator Michael Testa, who later related findings to Governor Murphy, Neff reported ‘gross excess and waste’ in the city’s use of funds, attributed to the absence of oversight and accountability, and a redevelopment project that exceeded its scope.

No cost-benefit analysis was done at the time, Neff wrote, noting Centre Pompidou is envisioned to be ‘an extraordinarily expensive, world-class museum’. He estimated annual operation costs to exceed $200 million, with an annual $5 million subsidy required from the state in opening years.

‘With the knowledge that such easy money is in the pipeline, the circus has become a circuit of excess and waste,’ Neff wrote. Among costs cited are $33 million to Centre Pompidou, including $10 million to use the name for five years, and $40 million paid to consultants, some hired to find other consultants.

Reports detailing the museum’s economic impact on New Jersey show that while its offerings are projected to bring in an annual $5.5 million to $14.1 million from tourism, it will eventually become a burden for local property owners who face tax increases.

‘There’s a point to which our fiscal appetite goes,’ said governor Murphy. ‘If it were a modest amount of support on an ongoing operating basis, that’s something to be open-minded to.’

The Department of State cancelled the remaining $18 million allocated to the project and asked the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority to return the remaining $6 million that was distributed but not spent.

Centre Pompidou will itself spend $283 million on renovations and expansions of its Paris location starting next year, which will see the museum close for five years.

A Centre Pompidou satellite location is to open in Brussels this year, joining its existing spaces in Shanghai and Malaga, with plans to extend the brand to South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil. —[O]

Main image: A rendering of Centre Pompidou x Jersey City.