Business Need

The Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc. is dedicated to maintaining and promoting the artistic legacy of 20th-century modernist sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988). It operates the museum garden and manages the extensive collection of works by Noguchi. The Foundation’s facility is housed in an eighty-year-old 15,000-square-foot structure that was rapidly deteriorating.

Noguchi needed funding assistance to renovation of the Long Island City facility. The renovation was needed to expand its usable space, enhancing the presentation of the artwork and make the facility accessible to the physically impaired.

Solution

NYCIDA issued $9 million in bonds to assist Noguchi in the refinancing and renovation of its new space. The total project cost was approximately $12 million, including renovation costs of $9 million, design and other fees of $2.7 million, and contingency of $500,000. The remaining costs were paid for with a grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. NYCIDA also waived the 2.75 percent mortgage recording tax, saving Noguchi approximately $247,500. Today the museum is truly a tribute to the art and the artist it is dedicated to.