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Dear Reader,
We take this opportunity to present
a final report of the proposed Air and Space Museum project at
the New York State Pavilion, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Borough
of Queens, New York.
Thank you
to the many people who gave us encouragement and support in Queens
Borough government and the New York City Department of Parks
& Recreation in our effort to stabilize and develop an adaptive
reuse for the pavilion. In particular we would like to thank
New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Assistant Parks
Commissioner for Queens Estelle Cooper, former New York City
Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, Deputy Commissioner of
Capital Projects for the New York City
Parks Department Amy Freitag, Queens Borough President Helen
Marshall, former Queens Borough President Claire Schulman and
their staffs for graciously allowing us to present our proposal
and for their consideration of our project. Many hours were spent
by them attending meetings, reviewing proposals, researching
documents, and a vast variety of other work that needed to be
done to honestly evaluate a monumental proposal of turning a
derelict, decaying structure into a glittering Air & Space
Museum.
Thank you
to the many people who have followed our project since 2001 --
who have given us a pat on the back when it they felt it was
deserved, a gentle prod when they felt it was needed and a shoulder
to cry on when we needed it as well. Thank you for your
interest, support, encouragement and kindness over the years.
It was appreciated more than we can say.
In June of 2004, the New York City Department
of Parks & Recreation issued a Request for Expressions
of Interest (RFEI) to allow parties to submit ideas, concepts
and plans for the stabilization, restoration and adaptive reuse
of the New York State Pavilion. The Air & Space Museum proposal
was one of only two RFEIs submitted. Six weeks after the deadline,
New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe announced that
none of the submissions had addressed funding concerns and, therefore,
the RFEI was canceled. At that point, further efforts to continue
with the project were halted since it seemed fruitless to continue
working with a Parks Department who were obviously no longer
interested in our efforts toward stabilization and reuse of the
pavilion.
This final update of the project will
present:
- A reprint of the Concept Page of the
original website to preserve the original concept of the Air
& Space Museum, online.
- A Timeline of Events dating back to
1992 when the first engineering report was commissioned by the
Department of Parks & Recreation of the City of New York
to determine the structural stability of the NY State Pavilion.
The majority of the timeline focuses on our efforts to stabilize
and restore the NY State Pavilion into a world-class Air &
Space Museum.
- Publication of documents (in PDF format)
pertinent to the project. These include the copies of the engineering
reports we obtained from the Parks Department detailing the deterioration
of the structure, the RFEI put out by the Parks Department and
our response, among others.
- Parting comments about the project
by key members of the team.
- Perhaps, with the facts presented,
those interested in this project -- or future projects regarding
the NY State Pavilion -- can draw their own conclusions as to
why it could not move forward.
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- Respectfully,
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- SAVE NEW YORK STATE PAVILION ORGANIZATION
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- Charles A. Aybar, PhD, Scottsdale,
AZ
Frankie Campione, AIA, Principal, CREATE Architecture Planning
& Design, New York, NY
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- July, 2006
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