Related Companies isn’t the only developer planning new gallery space in West Chelsea. Developer Sherwood Equities has announced that it will be bringing a small museum and four art galleries to the base of its condo development at 500 West 21st Street. The building, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, will become home to the New York outpost of Japan’s Sato Sakura Museum as well as to The Washburn Gallery, relocating from 20 West 57th Street; Galleria Ca’d’Oro; Praxis International Art Gallery; and YSP Gallery.
The Sato Sakura Museum, which has two locations in Japan, will occupy 2,250 square feet on the ground floor of 500 West 21st Street, along Tenth Avenue. The four galleries will be divided between an additional 5,320 square feet. The building’s southeast corner is still in search of a tenant. All the building’s retail space has previously gone unoccupied, a rep for the building confirms.
Sherwood Equities honcho Jeffrey Katz says the company’s decision to bring gallery space to the neighborhood “highlights our commitment to contribute to the neighborhood’s creative culture and vibrancy.” But Sherwood isn’t the only developer doing so.
Related Companies announced this month the creation of the High Line Nine, a European-style galleria featuring multiple vendors, that will be located along West 27th Street. Related is also bringing new gallery space to the in-development condo designed by Zaha Hadid at 520 West 28th Street. The Moinian Group has also expressed interest in bringing a cultural institution to its Hadid-designed project coming to 220 Eleventh Avenue.
As the high-end condo market has flourished around the High Line, many of the galleries and institutions that birthed West Chelsea’s reputation as a hub for the arts have been forced out citing unsustainable rents or other new construction-related snafus.
In late 2014, luxury condo developer DDG purchased the small building formerly home to Anton Kern Gallery at 532 West 20th Street and announced its intention in April 2016 to bring a high-end 11-story condo to the site. Similarly, Mike Weiss Gallery on West 24th Street shuttered in October 2016 citing dangerous conditions caused by the construction of the Roman & Williams-designed condo The Fitzroy next door.