The mayor of Jersey City in New Jersey, USA has reportedly confirmed the metro’s decision to abandon the anticipated Centre Pompidou x Jersey City expansion after years of starts and stops and negotiations between the two parties.
The scrapped plans were confirmed by mayor James Solomon earlier this week. Rumours of the change in direction had been swirling during Solomon’s electoral campaign in the autumn of 2024.
“It’s dead”
“We will not be doing Pompidou, to be clear,” Solomon said at a press conference. “It’s dead.”
A spokesperson with the Centre Pompidou later verified the cancellation to the American magazine ARTnews
“On September 15, the newly elected mayor Mr James Solomon decided not to pursue this project,” said the spokesperson.
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The New York-based arm of Dutch studio OMA had been tasked with leading the scheme, which would have landed as the French institution’s first North American outpost.
The project had faced challenges, especially after the pandemic slowdowns.
Original plans to stage the museum in a disused former commercial building in historic Journal Square were previously scrapped, and the project was defunded in 2024. Later that year, it was restarted with a proposal to put the arts hub in a 100,000-square-foot (9290 square metre) space within a proposed skyscraper.
Years of back and forth
In 2024, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority cited economic concerns as a primary cause for the stops and starts in the planning process
Some viewed the plans as a placemaking anchor for the state, while anti-gentrification campaigners criticised the move.
The original Centre Pompidou closed in September in preparation for its Moreau Kusunoki Architectes and Frida Escobedo Studio-led renovation, set to complete in 2030.
Centre Pompidou in Paris faces four-year closure for repair works
Elsewhere, KANAL – Centre Pompidou in Brussels is moving towards an November opening. Another offshoot, the Centre Pompidou Hanwha in Seoul, will open this year as the first Asian satellite, while another museum planned for Brazil was announced last summer.
The original Centre Pompidou in Paris was designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers in 1977
Rendering via Jersey City government.