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NEW YORK, Oct 31, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- New York's Whitney Museum of American Art is planning to expand at a new downtown site rather than on Madison Avenue.
Increasing construction costs, and late approval from area officials, delayed the museum's expansion to a planned Madison Avenue site, and Whitney execs now are eying a downtown New York locale that would better facilitate the expansion, the New York Times reported.
Museum spokeswoman Jan Rothschild said no expansion plans have been confirmed and that the organization is looking at all options to determine what's best for the museum.
"Our responsibility is to ensure the long term programmatic and financial health of the Whitney," Rothschild said. "It would be easy to forge ahead with the expansion on Madison Avenue. We have received the necessary approvals from the city, and our fund-raising is going extremely well, but we want to make sure it is the best option for the program and collection of the museum before moving forward."
The Times said by building at a downtown location, the Whitney would be able to continue operating at its current location and avoid a two-year closure it would have endured if it expanded at the previous site.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
