Citing rising costs and different financial priorities, mayoral candidate James E. McGreevey wants to cancel plans to open the Jersey City branch of a famous Paris art museum because the city can’t afford it.
“The Pompidou satellite location is an unnecessary cost to Jersey City and will worsen the potentially vulnerable financial position in which the City currently is. The significant funds required for the Pompidou Museum in Jersey City will be better used to address financial liabilities, which the City must urgently address,” said McGreevey, a former governor running for mayor in the 2025 election. “We must live within our means.”
Instead, McGreevey wants to focus on “property tax and rent stabilization, the reconstruction of the Charlie Heger Ice Rink at Pershing Field, recreational facilities for our youth, as well as grappling with the need to repair our schools.”
Centre Pompidou x Jersey City is one of the crown jewels of Mayor Steve Fulop’s revival of the city’s Journal Square neighborhood, which includes the restoration of the historic Loew’s Theater. The museum was initially slated to open in 2024, but delays have pushed it to 2026.
McGreevey said that Jersey City and the city’s redevelopment authority must pay Pompidou roughly $31.76 million, including an annual fee to use the Centre Pompidou name. He estimated the site’s cost to be between $5 million and $15 million annually. He also claims the Pathside Building, purchased for almost $10 million in 2017, needs between $10 million and $30 million for repairs and renovations.
The state has appropriated $58 million for the project; McGrevey said the money hasn’t been spent yet.
McGreevey points to property tax increases and rising housing costs as justification for a call to cancel the Pompidou project.