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Chelsea Art Gallery Closes, Another Loses Business Amid '24/7' Construction

By Maya Rajamani | November 11, 2016 4:07pm | Updated on November 14, 2016 8:57am
 The owners of the David Nolan Galler on West 29th Street approached Community Board 4 for help after construction on the street reached “extreme” levels, board member Inge Ivchenko said
David Nolan Gallery Construction
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CHELSEA — Ongoing construction has forced one art gallery to close and cut into another’s foot traffic in a district that was once a “quiet place” to peruse artwork, local officials said.

The Mike Weiss Gallery on West 24th Street recently shuttered after construction at a luxury condominium site next door damaged the gallery building and kept patrons from visiting, ArtNews first reported.

The owners of the David Nolan Gallery on West 29th Street, meanwhile, approached Community Board 4 for help after construction on the street reached “extreme” levels, board member Inge Ivchenko said at a meeting earlier this month.

The gallery between 10th and 11th avenues neighbors 522 W. 29th St. and 515 W. 29th St., where two condo projects are currently under construction, according to YIMBY.

“People don’t feel comfortable coming down 29th Street to visit the gallery,” Ivchenko said, blaming “chronic littering problems,” obstructed sidewalks and debris from the construction sites.

The board’s district manager, Jesse Bodine, reached out to the city’s Department of TransportationDepartment of Buildings and other agencies about the problems, which he said have since “persisted and in some cases… gotten worse.”

The David Nolan Gallery's owners did not respond to requests for comment.

At a CB4 committee meeting Monday, Bodine said that there is “no law or policy around how many construction sites there can be on one block.”

“What used to be sort of a quiet place where people would go to galleries on the weekends, now it’s construction sort of 24/7,” he said.

The committee plans to survey art galleries in the district to find out if others are being adversely affected by construction.

A DOB spokesman on Friday said that developers must get approval from the DOT to close streets and sidewalks.

The DOT did not respond to request for comment about the issue.

“When construction.... starts, DOT and DOB should be cognizant of the small businesses,” Bodine added on Monday.

“How are they going to survive when they’re closing down the streets all the time and [the galleries are] not getting foot traffic?”