Public Costs Balloon As Starchitect Projects See Major Delays
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.
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.
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]
