By James DeWeese
By fall, the museum's exhibition space — one of the world's premier centers for modern art — will make its way back across the river and into its renovated permanent home on Manhattan's West 53rd Street, leaving behind its two-year temporary exhibit location in Long Island City.
And state Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette (D-Jackson Heights) is already working to keep a piece of the art museum, which many have seen as a boon to Long Island City's artistic and economic revival, right here in Queens.
Lafayette said he is working with Queens members of the state Legislature to craft a plan.
“I think that the MoMA would be making a mistake by not leaving something that's identified (with it),” Lafayette said. 'Right now, we're in conversations with our group (of legislators) from Queens, and then I'll do what has to be done.”
Lafayette said he does not expect the museum to maintain the 25,000 square feet of exhibition space it has in the Queens facility. “That might be very costly, but it could be a gallery type thing, smaller in space but at least with a respectable exposition of modern art,” he said.
He added that he had sent a letter to MoMA outlining his ideas about three weeks ago, but has not received a response.
MoMA spokeswoman Ruth Kaplan said MoMA QNS will close Sept. 27 its exhibit space, which will become a storage and study facility as intended when the property was originally purchased.
“We really need to focus all our energies right now on reopening the museum on 53rd Street, and once we've done that, we'll assess the needs and opportunities,” Kaplan said.
Since the museum temporarily relocated its operations to the 160,000-square-foot facility at 33rd Street and Queens Boulevard in Long Island City n July 2002, many local businesses have seen a boost in profits.
Nick Malonukus, owner of the Van Dam Diner, which sits around the corner from the museum, said business spiked more than 10 percent when MoMA QNS hosted a wildly popular joint exhibit of work by Matisse and Picasso in 2003.
“The best time I've had is these years,” Malonukus said, pointing over his shoulder in the direction of the museum. He said that when the museum moves, he may reduce his hours of operation from seven days a week to 5 1/2 after expanding it two years ago.
Nevertheless, he said, the museum's effect has been nominal when less popular exhibits have been displayed.
Malonukus, who has owned the Van Dam Diner for 15 years, said the museum's departure will not make or break him.
“We have a lot of good customers,” he said, singling out La Guardia Community College, the DeVry Institute, the National Design Center and a host of jewelry factories that had moved over to Long Island City from Manhattan.
Margie Seaman, president of Seaman Realty and Management, agreed, saying the notion that Long Island City is headed for an economic nosedive with the museum's departure is nonsense.
The company operates a 400,000-square-foot office building at 32nd Place and Queens Boulevard, and Seaman said a Seattle Coffee Roasters and a variety store will be moving into some ground-level retail space for a record-breaking per-square-foot rent.
“Why are people paying $46 to $50 (per square foot)?” Seaman said. “It's not because of MoMa. It's because of the students.”
La Guardia Community College sits next door, and tens of thousands of students make their way from the busy 33rd Street subway stop to the school's buildings everyday, Seaman said.
She said it has taken time for retailers to become aware of the market offered by La Guardia's expanding presence and DeVry's recent arrival, but that there's no turning back now.
“They are not branding Long Island City,” Seaman said of MoMA. “They are coming because of the branding of other culturals in the area,” pointing to the Museum for African Art and the Museum of the Moving Image among others.
Lafayette said the museum's presence has served as a gateway to modern art for the borough's residents.
“A lot of people who wouldn't go into Manhattan normally got their curiosity piqued by having something nearby,” Lafayette said.
About 400,000 people have visited MoMA QNS yearly since it opened. While the numbers are good, Kaplan said, they are well below MoMA Manhattan's yearly average of 1.5 million to 1.8 million visitors.
Kaplan said MoMA will continue to have a Queens presence through its affiliation with the nearby PS 1 Contemporary Art Center. In addition, the museum will continue to organize cultural programs in conjunction with La Guardia and the Queens Public Library, she said.
“MoMA is not leaving Queens,” Kaplan said.
Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
