Guggenheim Guadalajara Project Stalled

NEW YORK—A proposed Guggenheim Guadalajara project has come to a standstill, reports the Art Newspaper. According to Jorge Vergara, a Mexican businessman and art collector not directly involved in the project, Guggenheim Foundation director Thomas Krens insisted on a $170 million construction budget and a $20 million fee to the Guggenheim. Both of these, Vergara says, are far more than the Mexican government and private backers can afford.

The project began in 2004, when a private consortium in Guadalajara, the Guadalajara Capital Cultural Consortium, hired the Guggenheim to begin a $2 million feasibility study for a branch in the Mexican city. Mexican architect Enrique Norten won a competition to design the building, a proposed 24-story tower. In 2007, the city approved donation of the land.

But Guadalajara officials have estimated that the project could cost more than $300 million, and news reports say that the consortium had lined up only $4 million in pledges by last spring. In Vergara's opinion, a project of up to $30 million might be possible, with a reduced fee.

As of this past March, the consortium's director, Fernando Fernandez, remained optimistic, but said a Guggenheim spokeswoman, "We finished the feasibility study three years ago and have had no contact with the client for more than 18 months."