Followers of the Downtown Brooklyn saga will no doubt recall the drama surrounding the Underground Railroad Houses and the city's plan to take them via eminent domain and demolish them for an underground parking garage and park. Then came news that one of the homes would be saved and that air rights would be sold for a hotel and a museum of some sort would be built. Er. Maybe not. Today's Daily News brings us up to date with a report that the museum might be sunk by the tanking real estate situation and an owner that is not signing documents:
A multimillion-dollar offer by developer V3 Hotels to buy the Duffield St. rowhouse and build a museum and educational center at the site could be scaled back because of delays and a worsening economy, company officials said. The 2,000-square-foot museum would have been tied to a hotel planned for the site, one of four expected to be built along Duffield St. over the next several years.
No word on when the owner of the historic building might sign or whether the project will even happen as the Brooklyn hotel situation gets more grim in terms of new construction.
· Underground Railroad Museum in Brooklyn Delayed [NYDN]
· Meanwhile, at the Underground Railroad House in Brooklyn [Curbed]For more stories from Curbed, go to curbed.com.
