Public Costs Balloon As Starchitect Projects See Major Delays
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Municipal buildings aren't exactly what you'd associate with aesthetic brilliance, but these ones in the works actually could drop a jaw or two—if they ever get built without draining public budgets along the way.
As it turns out, several public, starchitect-headed NYC projects are seeing big delays, with astronomical cost increases to boot.
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The 121st Police Precinct station on Staten Island, designed by Rafael Viñoly, was originally supposed to cost around $3M yet ended up costing over $73M, DNAInfo reports. Meanwhile, a Central Park police station renovation ended up costing $61M, more than doubling the initial $26M estimate.
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Similarly, the Hunters Point branch of the Queens Library, headed by award-winning architect Steven Holl, started with a $19M cost estimate before jumping to $30M after a few years. The library was supposed to be completed in 2009 but it still isn’t done—the most recent estimates say it will open its doors in 2017. [DNA]