State senator wants to audit plans for museum
Cites ‘excess,’ with $58M from taxpayers provided
State Sen. Michael Testa is calling for an audit of the plans for a satellite location of a French modern art museum in Jersey City that has cost New Jersey taxpayers more than $58 million.
In a letter Monday to Gov. Phil Murphy, Testa, a Cumberland County Republican, labeled the project a symbol of “unconscionable excess and waste.” The museum, known as Pompidou X Jersey City, is slated to open in 2026. The Legislature has been appropriating funding for the project for years, and as of May none had been spent.
The project has received funding in New Jersey’s 2022, 2023 and 2024 fiscal year budgets — including federal pandemic relief money. Citing a lack of information about the full scope of work, Testa said he sought to see the plans and then directed Republican staffers to complete a review. It was prepared by “reviewing hundreds of relevant documents” that were obtained through the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, public records requests, and local financial and operating postings required by federal and state law.
Testa’s review found that more than $33 million will be paid to the Centre Pompidou French arts museum in Paris and about $11 million of that is for the right to use the Pompidou name on the museum for five years.
The review also found that at least 30 no-bid consultants are expected to receive more than $40 million for the project’s soft costs, Testa said.
According to his letter, responsibilities for these consultants would include finding other consultants, reviewing each other’s work product, duplicating the functions of project managers, engineers and architects, and “consultants of dubious need or with extravagant costs, including a food consultant, a ‘vertical transportation’ consultant, a French legal consultant, and consultants for lighting, sound, and signage.”
Testa is also calling for state oversight to control the costs.
The senator said he remains “opposed to forcing state taxpayers to fund the project — especially considering your Department of State has estimated the museum boondoggle costs could climb to approximately $200 million.”
Bailey Lawrence, a spokesperson for Murphy, said the “partnership between the Centre Pompidou and Jersey City will create a unique and iconic anchor for Journal Square and the city.”
“We are proud to welcome the Centre Pompidou to our state after Jersey City successfully competed against cities across the continent to host this world-renowned organization,” Lawrence said.
“As we continue to work toward the completion of this pivotal project, we look forward to the opening of what is destined to become one of the premier cultural attractions in North America.”