Scheduled to open in Manhattan in July of this year, Arcis Fine Art + Collection Arcis will be a 110,000 sq. ft, purpose-built art storage facility within a federally designated Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) that is insured to hold up to $3 billion in art.

“The foundation of Arcis is providing real, museum-level sustainable storage to the private sector” to serve the needs of international collectors in Manhattan.

A key factor in obtaining authorizations for the FTZ was a proprietary business model. The West 146th Street site, in contrast to locations in Chelsea, was seen as presenting no “accumulation risk. ” Hence insurance broker Willis Towers Watson allowed the highest possible insurance rating.

Executive director Tom Sapienza and the director of operations, Kevin Lay, partnered with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and Vidaris, the firm that advised the Whitney Museum regarding the envelope of its new building, to create a sustainable microclimate system. The system filters the air three to six times per hour. LEED and BREEAM environmental assessment certifications are in the works.

See:

“Collectors reserve space as New York’s first art freeport prepares for summer launch” | Sarah P. Hanson, The Art Newspaper, 5 April 2017.

“Protecting Priceless Art from Natural Disasters” | How Renzo Piano’s New Whitney Museum Protects Its Art from Climate Change, John Whitaker, The Atlantic, 27 May 2015

#art #collecting #collections #collectionsmanagement #luxury #urbanluxury #smartluxury #realestate #resilience #Manhattan #FTZ #climatechange