5 Remarkable Facts About Pace Gallery’s New 8-Story Chelsea Headquarters

At the highest ends of the contemporary art market, bigger is better, as the richest galleries in the world continue to expand at a dizzying pace.

Last year alone, David Zwirner announced a new $50 million Chelsea gallery, Lévy Gorvy added a Hong Kong location, and Los Angeles dealer David Kordansky set out to take over an entire city block.

According to artnet News’s recent survey measuring galleries by their footprints, Pace gallery is already in second place in the global space race, with 115,886 sq. ft. of room across 10 locations in seven cities.

Not content to rest on its laurels, the gallery is raising the stakes in New York by moving into a new, 75,000 square foot, purpose-built headquarters in September. Here are five things to know about the gallery’s expansion.

Architectural rendering of the southeast façade of 540 West 25th Street. Photo courtesy of Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture.

It Will Be Eight Stories Tall

That’s right: the gallery will occupy eight floors of prime New York real estate in the heart of the Chelsea gallery district at 540 West 25th Street. The building more than doubles Pace’s current New York size (and replaces its current 537 West 24th Street location).

The Gallery Has No Columns

The gallery’s new global headquarters is being developed by Weinberg Properties and is designed by Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture, the same firm that designed the ritzy lobby of New York’s Public Hotel. Translation: expect it to be uber trendy. The column-free space is designed to accommodate a wide range of media, and the building will even boast a sixth-floor, outdoor terrace gallery with panoramic views of the city.

It Has Room for Open Storage

What’s the point of having a bunch of art and keeping it tucked away in some faraway storage facility? Pace’s new building will include onsite storage on the second floor (which is an important cost-saving measure) and some “off-view” works will be on display for visitors to see.

Architectural rendering of the southeast façade of 540 West 25th Street. Photo courtesy of Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture.

Researchers Are Welcome

Pace is even thinking about the bookworms and building a 10,000-volume research library that will be open to historians and the public by appointment. The stacks will feature gallery publications covering its stable of artists, plus displays of historical materials related to Pace gallery shows.

There’s Room for New Media

Among the galleries, there will be a 2,200 square foot space earmarked specifically for new media works, performance, and public events. Located on the seventh floor and featuring north-facing, 17 foot-high, floor-to-ceiling windows, the gallery can be flexibly configured. It will also be also optimized for acoustics, which is appropriate for multidisciplinary programming.