NEW YORK—Thanks to the steady devaluation of the U.S. dollar, New York can seem like a fire sale to visiting Europeans interested in everything from real estate investment to high-end tourism to searching for bargains at the Armory Show later this month (where top items may be priced in euros). But the lure of a cosmopolitan city with a diminishing currency has attracted more than just condominium buyers. In just over a year, two prominent British galleries have announced that they are establishing outposts in the Big Apple. Haunch of Venison, founded in 2002 and owned by Christie’s since 2007, revealed in February of last year that New York would join London, Berlin, and Zurich as the newest link in its gallery chain, and just last week, the nearly four-year-old London gallery Albion made public its own plans for a Manhattan space.

Both galleries have also tapped the former directors of top U.S. museums to run their stateside operations. Haunch of Venison has brought in Robert Fitzpatrick, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago for the last decade, as its international managing director. Fitzpatrick’s primary responsibility in his new post will be orchestrating the opening of a 20,000-square-foot gallery at Rockefeller Center (home also to Christie’s New York headquarters) slated for completion this fall. Albion announced that David Ross, the former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art and SFMOMA who co-founded the Artist Pension Trust in 2004, would bring his decades of experience at museums to the London gallery and establish an American outpost.

Ross has already curated several exhibitions for Albion in London, including the gallery’s current show of early Peter Campus videos, and he has known founder Michael Hue-Williams for over a decade. The two began planning for a New York space roughly a year ago, when Ross was organizing an exhibition of Vito Acconci works at the gallery.

For now, Ross is searching for a location for a Manhattan branch. Albion has secured London-based architect David Adjaye to design the new space, and for the moment, Ross says, the economic conditions are working in the gallery’s favor. “Of course, one of the reasons that a lot of European collectors and galleries are active in the U.S. is that their currency goes a lot further on American soil,” he says, but adds that New York was not chosen solely because it’s a bargain compared with other art capitals. “Where do you want us to go? Milwaukee? I’m a New Yorker, and New York is still the center.”

For Ross, the transition from 30 years in the museum world to a new position in a commercial gallery means an opportunity to work closely with artists in an environment that promises “no politics.” He will trade a board of directors for a hands-on role that he says he missed once he ascended the museum ranks. But he also has no illusions about getting involved in a commercial enterprise at a point when the U.S. economy may be on the brink of even worse times. Faced with the possibility that the very factors that make New York an attractive place for a U.K. gallery to set up shop could also make it a risky investment, Ross says: “You’ve got to sustain yourself through a difficult moment and to flourish when the going is easier. I’ve been around long enough to know that’s the reality of the world.”

At Haunch of Venison, Fitzpatrick also takes the long view when it comes to New York's economic prospects. The former director believes that his experience working with acquisitions committees at American institutions and with American collectors will help him promote the gallery's artists regardless of the local economy, and that establishing the gallery at a time when costs are lower will ultimately work to its benefit."This is not a real estate transaction in which you expect to flip the property in 12 to 24 months," he says. "You could make the argument that this is a particularly opportune time if you're building for the long term."