The Queens Museum will be closed for 11 days starting Saturday, Sept. 3, due to an uptick in security for the U.S. Open.
In a message to visitors on its website, officials said, “due to the heightened security for the tennis tournament, access to the museum is affected.”
The museum is located a few hundred feet from the new 8,125-seat Grandstand Stadium, which was opened as part of USTA’s $550 million makeover. The NYPD has been using museum lots as staging areas for vans and trucks, according to DNAInfo.
The U.S. Open takes place at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The park is home to the Queens Museum, New York Hall of Science and Queens Botanical Garden, and it was home to the 1939-1940 and 1964-65 World’s Fairs.
According to Grace Munns, spokesperson for the Queens Museum, no city agency forced officials to close the facility. The heightened security made it difficult for visitors to enter and exit the museum, so officials made the decision to close it until after Sept. 11, when the tournament ends.
Since it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, the museum will officially reopen to the public on Sept. 14.
The museum has always stayed open during the U.S. Open but the addition of the Grandstand Stadium – the USTA pushed its property line 30 feet on the south to make room for it – has brought it closer to the action.
