Weeks after the Finnish government vetoed funding the museum, Helsinki is proposing a new arrangement to get the arts center built Nearly two months after the Finnish government scrapped plans to fund the $140 million Guggenheim Helsinki, Finland?s capital may step in to foot the bill. The city?s government worked with the museum?s Support Foundation over these past weeks to create a new funding proposal in which Helsinki would cover roughly $86 million, the foundation would contribute about $16 million, and the rest would come from private sources.

This proposal will soon be presented to the city for a final vote. If it passes, the museum would be primarily owned by Helsinki, and the city would also have to pay the majority of the museum?s annual operating costs. The museum plan has been the topic of hot debate in Finland, with some saying the Moreau Kusunoki Architects-designed building would become a major tourist draw, while others are calling it a multi-million-dollar boondoggle.
In September, the nationalist Finns Party cut off $45 million in state funding for the project alongside other austerity measures in an effort to curb the Finnish debt. This decision left the pro-museum team scrambling for a new arrangement to get the project started before the museum?s reservation on its 18,520-square-meter (about 4.5 acres) harborfront site expires at the end of the year.
Via: Archinect

...