The Centre Pompidou is cancelling its planned New York branch because it is considered “no longer feasible”

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France’s iconic Centre Pompidou in Paris has abandoned plans to open its first US branch in 2027 in Jersey City – strictly speaking in the state of New Jersey, but considered a suburb of New York.

The museum said the project was “suspended until further notice,” confirming reports in US media.

The project’s financing was controversial from the start and its future was seriously jeopardized when local authorities in New Jersey cut public funding on Saturday.

“While we are honored that Jersey City has been selected as the first North American site for a Centre Pompidou, we have decided to put this project on hold indefinitely,” wrote Tim Sullivan, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, in a letter obtained and published by the New Jersey Monitor.

In the letter, Sullivan wrote that the project was “no longer feasible,” citing “an insurmountable operational gap” and the “financial burden it will impose on New Jersey taxpayers” as reasons.

A further financial blow was the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency, which was to finance the project with $18 million (€16.7 million), asked the Paris Art Museum to repay the $6 million (€5.6 million) in state subsidies it had already received.

This setback comes as the Centre Pompidou in Paris prepares to close for lengthy renovations – a project that could take up to five years to complete and has an estimated cost of 262 million euros.

Although the French state is financing the asbestos removal and renovation, the Centre Pompidou plans to spend an additional 186 million euros to redesign its art spaces. For this initiative, the museum must find other sources of funding.

Centre Pompidou x Jersey City was to be the fifth foreign centre of the Centre Pompidou, which has already opened or helped to create branches in Malaga, Shanghai and Brussels and is also working with the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Additional sources • AFP