Whitney MePa Already Off and Running

Global economic collapse be damned, the Meatpacking District will gets its fancy new starchitect-designed art museum. The Villager reports that the new branch of the Whitney Museum won City Council approval, which was never really in doubt. So confident were the Whitney folks, in fact, that demolition has already begun on the former meatpacking plant at 820 Washington Street (right) that currently stands in the way of Renzo Piano's art bunker at the southern foot of the High Line. Here's what the building looked like from the High Line. The 170-foot-tall museum, which will also have space for High Line maintenance and operations facilities, is expected to open in 2012, as long as you remember to tip your curator.
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