Lower East Side's New Museum Wants To Add A 7-Story Building

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — The New Museum of Contemporary Art is moving ahead on its plans to build an additional building next door to its current location at 235 Bowery.

The museum is proposing a 7-story addition next to its existing 8-story building, according to Department of Buildings filings dated April 12, which The Real Deal first reported.

The New Museum's addition would replace an existing 6-story loft building on the Bowery.

Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu of the firm OMA were tapped to design the second wing of the New Museum in 2017. The building is a part of an $85 million capital campaign, which will add some 50,000 square feet to the New Museum, Patch previously reported. DOB filings show the estimated cost of the new building itself would be $37.9 million.

Other museums in Manhattan are also expanding.

The Museum of Modern Art is expected to shut down the entire summer for a renovation to add some 40,000 square feet of gallery space in Midtown.

The American Museum of Natural History is planning a $383 million expansion for the planned 5-story Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. Most recently, the museum was permitted to resume construction on the plans amid legal battles with a community group that opposes the museum's expansion over a contested portion of an Upper Wast Side park.