Foes of Barnes Move Request to Reopen Case

NORRISTOWN, Penn.—Opponents of the Barnes Foundation's plan to move its world-renowned art collection from a Philadelphia suburb to a site in downtown Philadelphia have asked the judge on the case to reconsider his 2004 decision allowing the relocation, reports the New York Times. Lawyers for the community group Friends of the Barnes Foundation and for the government of Montgomery County, where the Barnes is currently located, appeared before judge Stanley R. Ott of the Montgomery County Orphans' Court in Norristown to request he reopen the case.

In 2004 Ott ruled that the move — which would violated explicit terms laid down in founder Albert C. Barnes's will — was the only viable solution to the foundation's ongoing financial problems. Opponents argue that the financial problems are overstated and that other alternatives have been found; Montgomery County has offered to buy the buildings and land for $50 million in order to keep the foundation in place. Lawyers for the Barnes and for the Pennsylvania attorney general's office argued that the new plan had come too late and would expose the foundation to "extraordinary financial risk." Ott has not yet issued a ruling.