Hong Kong Government Retreats From Plans To Build One Of The World's Largest Cultural Centers

"The Hong Kong government retreated on Tuesday from plans to build one of the world's largest cultural centers after real estate developers refused to participate, complaining that the financial terms had become too onerous.

The decision is a setback for several major museums. The Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art in New York had been vying for the right to run museums at the cultural center, which was to be several times the size of Lincoln Center.

The Pompidou Center had persuaded President Jacques Chirac of France to visit here in October 2004 to make its case, while Thomas Krens, the director of the Guggenheim Foundation, had publicly described the initiative as "the most exciting opportunity in the world because of the scale and the location." ...

Nearly two years ago, the government put forward a plan calling for a single developer to build four large museums and several indoor and outdoor "performance venues" for everything from pop concerts to operas, in exchange for being allowed to erect commercial and residential buildings elsewhere on the government-owned peninsula." ...

Keith Bradsher "Hong Kong Halts Plans for Arts Center" New York Times February 22, 2006 via nytimes.com














Computer image of canopy of a new Hong Kong Museum and Performing Arts Center now on hold.

Image credit: Foster & Partners (Architects) via nytimes.com