New Guggenheim museum subject of Realty Club talk.

At the monthly meeting of the National Realty Club, which took place on Monday, Sept. 10, Laurie Beckelman, deputy director of special projects for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, discussed plans for the creation of a new Guggenheim center in downtown Manhattan.

The project was expected to make use of the area between Piers 9 and 14, south of the South Street Seaport, revitilizing the neighborhood and contributing another spectacular structure to New York City's skyline.

In view of the recent World Trade Center bombing, however, it is unclear whether the new Guggenheim will go up any time soon.

"We were invited by many cities around the world, but we felt that we really wanted to be in New York City," Beckelman said at the time. "It is our home, it is the financial center of the word."

The project was supposed to be a second Bilbao, the extremely successful division of the Guggenheim in Spain, which according to Beckelman is visited by millions of people a year.

The Guggenheim administration had plans for at least two theaters, a large auditorium, a glass tower, and an ice skating rink. Frank Gehry was to design the building.

"There would be a new theater, a center for architecture, an exhibit tower," Beckelman said. "The idea is that you would come by boat in the morning and would spend the whole day. There would be tours, restaurants, entertainment."

Unfortunately, in planning the project, the Guggenheim administration was hoping for City and Federal grants, as well as help from private contributors. The new museum had an estimated cost of $900 million and called for the City to institute additional ferry and train services. Since the original Guggenheim museum is running short on space, the new building would house all art dating after 1945.

"It would be more of a cultural center than just a museum," Beckelman said in closing. "But we to undergo City, State, and federal environment reviews. We need to deal with the zoning changes and bulk issues. So we are at least three years away from approvals."