NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document
THEArts
Che New Hork Cimes
The Drawing Center Finds Its Perch
After Exile From Ground Zero, Hope Centers on a Fulton Fish Market Site
Glass factory
®MANHATTAN
85 W Broedway
New
Market
Quilding
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Fiferman Halt
Leaving ground zero last summer in a furor
over its mission and content, the Drawing Center
considered more than 150 alternative sites down-
Sclame/Calatrave
Tower
town before making its choice before the holidays: a
site occupied by part of the old Pulton Fish Market
alongside the South Street Seaport
Drinterviews, offictals at the center currently
based ia Sottor described thetsearch as something of
a roller coaster ride from dejection to giddy hope. Scouring abandoned
buildings, vacant parking lots and high-rises, they fell in love with some
locations and flatly rejected others, while learning the perils of what its
president calls a "lack of nimbleness" by losing out to quick bidders.
The site they ultimately chose, known as New Market, is by no
means a done deal: the building currently there, which would be razed
to make way for new construction, is owned by the city, which has not
yet entered negotiations with the Drawing Center. But city cultural offl-
clals have so far voiced support, signaling that the Drawing Center, an
institation devoted to historical and contemporary works on paper, may
The Drawing Center considered
several places, left, before choosing
an East River site, above.
soon be able to declare victory.
"The ultimate desire of the city is that they be
relocated and contribute to the revitalization of Low-.
er Manhattan," said Kate D. Levin, the city's com-
BROCKAN
missioner of cultural alfairs. The city and the Draw-
The New York Times
ing Center have yet to start formal discussions.
To some extent, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation,
which is overseeing the downtown rebuilding effort with the city,
seemed to feel an obligation to help the Drawing Center alter its de
parture from the former World Trade Center site.
"We have always belleved that the Drawing Center would make a
posítive contribution to Lower Manhattan's revitalization," said Stefan
Pryor, president of the development corporation. After a seemingly aus-
picious start in June 2004, when it was selected as one of four cultural in-
stitutions to be based at ground zero, the Drawing
Center suddenly
found itself vilitied last summer by familles of some 9/1l victims as un-
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