When developer KRE hands over the keys to the 100,000 sq. ft. space that will, if Mayor Steven Fulop has his way, become an outpost of Paris’s Centre Pompidou, Jersey City will have a very big check to cut. According to estimates from consultants, the cost to turn the bare bones space into an actual museum will likely exceed $80 million.In a presentation on the museum plan on Saturday, Mayor Steven Fulop did not discuss the cost of finishing the raw space that KRE would sign over to the city in exchange for a 30-year tax abatement. An administration spokesperson estimated that the abatement would cost taxpayers approximately $150 million.Said consultant David R. Harvey in an email today, “if a museum wants to have new exhibition galleries a square foot cost of $800 is not an unreasonable placeholder.” “Fit-out costs for a 100,000 square foot allocation for the arts, we estimate would be $80,000,000 construction cost…added to that should be an allowance of 20 to 23% of construction cost for design fees.”Harvey added “it is important to understand other base building cost and requirements for a fine arts tenant such as loading dock, a dedicated freight elevator, support for mechanical system needed for art display and storage that have humidity control, backup systems and emergency generator, are not included in that $800 cost.”In a separate email received today by the Jersey City Times, another consultant, Mark Walhimer, of Museum Planning LLC, echoed Harvey’s estimate. “Including all interior finishes, lighting, FFE [Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment], and opening costs, and assuming an opening in 2-5 years, I imagine $1,000 per square foot or $90M.” Between the tax abatement and museum “fit-out” costs, construction of the Pompidou is likely to cost taxpayers at least $250 million.The high cost of building and operating a major art museum has created an obstacle for the administration. The mayor’s first plan for a Pompidou museum located at the Pathside building was abandoned when the state pulled funding, citing a $19 million yearly operating budget deficit. Today, the Jersey City Times reported that tax credits the mayor said would go to fund the museum’s operation did not, in fact, exist, leaving a $67.5 million operating deficit over ten years. The Jersey City Municipal Council is set to vote on the Pompidou abatement on Wednesday.The post Build-Out of Pompidou Will Cost the City Over $80 Million More appeared first on Jersey City Times.