[NYguy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/ar...l?ref=nyregion

City Allots $50 Million to Arts Project Tied to Bloomberg Allies






By ROBIN POGREBIN
July 31, 2013

When the details of Michael R. Bloomberg’s last capital budget as mayor were made final in June, one project stood out in particular: a $50 million appropriation for a nascent arts organization, the Culture Shed. It is New York City’s biggest cultural capital grant this year — and an unusually generous contribution to an arts group that has yet to hire staff members, stage a performance or set a construction budget.

But the arts institution has emerged as a favored project of the Bloomberg administration and is championed by Kate D. Levin, the city’s cultural affairs commissioner, who serves on the Culture Shed’s board.

The board’s chairman is Daniel L. Doctoroff, the former deputy mayor and chief executive of Bloomberg L.P., the mayor’s financial information company. As deputy mayor for economic development Mr. Doctoroff dealt frequently with the Related Companies, whose Far West Side development in Manhattan would be the site of the cultural institution when it is completed around 2017. Related’s chairman, Stephen M. Ross, is also on the Culture Shed’s board.

....The $50 million will probably cover only a minor portion of the Shed’s cost, which has yet to be determined but is expected to run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Plans call for a bold soaring structure designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro — the architects responsible for Lincoln Center’s renovation and the design of the High Line — in partnership with the Rockwell Group.

....The building is to include an open-air fourth-floor cafe and a retractable shell that extends outward, more than doubling the first-floor exhibition space. The project is currently moving through the public review process, which is expected to be completed by the end of September; the city would own the lease for the land and building, subleasing it to the arts group.