Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said “we still love” the Centre Pompidou x Jersey City project, but the state can’t commit to “an unending, significant loss that is forever and always” during a media scrum this afternoon.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“I don’t have much to say on the Pompidou. First of all, from the state standpoint, it was an unending loss position, that in the projections we were working with, never got better. And it would’ve been multiples, many multiples of what we put every year to say Liberty Science Center or NJPAC in Newark,” Murphy said at after an unrelated presser.
“From a standing start, that isn’t justifiable. Having said that, we still love the project. And would just say for the folks in Jersey City … it’s gotta work for the locals. That to me is the test: Does it work for the local folks there and God bless ’em. Again, we love the project, but we’re not gonna sign up for an unending, significant loss that is forever and always.”
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governor, First Lady Tammy Murphy, and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop unveiled the first iteration of the Centre Pompidou project during a virtual press conference in June 2021.
At the time, the cultural institution was set to open at the Pathside building, located at 25 Journal Square, at a to be determined date in 2024.
Less than three weeks later, the New Jersey Legislature approved a $46.4 billion budget that came with a $24 million allocation for the Pompidou, about a week after the city council approved a memorandum of understanding for the endeavor.
Few updates came about in the next few years, outside of eight city officials traveling to Paris to meet with the French partners about the details of the initiative in February 2023.
However, this past April, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority warned the city that they may revoke funding if the plan did not come with a better financial approach before pulling the plug in June.
Remaining steadfast that this only happened because he endorsed U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-3) for U.S. Senate over Tammy Murphy, Fulop rolled out a second iteration of the plan at 808 Pavonia Ave. via an editorial to HCV a month ago.
The Jersey City Council approved a 30-year tax abatement to the KRE Group at Wednesday’s six-hour meeting by a tally of 6-3, with Councilmen Rich Boggiano, James Solomon, and Frank “Educational” Gilmore voting no.
Fulop, who is running as a Democrat in the June 2025 primary to succeed Murphy (who is term limited), wrote on X that he felt the project would be well worth it when it is all said and done.
“I fight hard and I have the scars/enemies to show for it like few in NJ…. I know when all is said and done this project will be a huge asset to NJ and JC[.]”
Today, Murphy did not address the accusations made by Fulop, nor did he touch on what he thought about the new location and/or the abatement for the plan.
