Luhring Augustine Joins the Influx of Galleries Opening in Tribeca With a New Space Launching Next Year

Chelsea veteran Luhring Augustine is the latest—and, perhaps,
highest-profile—gallery to establish a presence in Tribeca, the
downtown New York neighborhood that is quickly luring smaller and
midsize dealers with its relatively reasonable rents, landmark
buildings, and collegial feel. The gallery, which represents
artists including Christopher Wool, Simone Leigh, and Ragnar
Kjartansson, plans to open a new space on White Street early
next year.

Luhring Augustine already has two other spaces in New York City:
one in West Chelsea and another in Bushwick, Brooklyn. But in
recent years, Tribeca has emerged as a tempting new choice for many
dealers as Chelsea becomes home to increasingly massive condo
buildings and ballooning, museum-like
spaces for just a few mega-galleries.

“We have long been looking for a space in Tribeca where we could
join the growing community of notable galleries, both older and
younger, in providing a fresh and exciting new context that is
rejuvenating the contemporary art scene in New York City,” the
gallery’s founders, Lawrence Luhring and Roland Augustine,
said in a statement. “Operating three New York galleries in
Chelsea, Bushwick, and Tribeca will allow us to present a diverse
sweep of exhibitions, and encourage artists to show their work in
distinct environments and areas of the city.”

The new 3,500-square-foot space will feature architectural
elements characteristic of the neighborhood, including a tin
ceiling and wooden floors. It is being renovated by architect
(and perennial art-world favorite) Markus Dochantschi and his team
at studioMDA.

The inaugural program in Tribeca will include a survey of
prints by Georg Baselitz followed by the first major US solo show
of the late Brazilian-born, London-based artist Lucia Nogueira,
known for the poignant sculptures and drawings he produced in his
relatively short career. Next summer, filmmaker Charles Atlas will
present his first exhibition in New York since his 2017
presentation “The Illusion of Democracy” at the Museum of Modern
Art.

The expansion to Tribeca comes after a change in ownership of
the gallery’s longtime Chelsea space. In 2018, Luhring Augustine,
which shared the commercial space at 531 West 24th Street with the
adjacent Andrea Rosen Gallery, sold the building to real estate
developers for a combined $28 million (just over $14 million each
for each unit), according to PropertyShark.com. This marked a 1,650
percent return on their investment in the roughly
10,000-square-foot former garage, which they bought in 1997 for
$1.6 million, according to Bloomberg. Since then,
the gallery has rented back the space from its new owners.

Unlike other major dealers, such as James Cohan Gallery, Andrew
Kreps and more recently, P.P.O.W., who have cleared out of Chelsea
entirely, a representative for Luhring Augustine says the gallery
will keep one foot in the neighborhood. It is planning to stay in
Chelsea and maintain its gallery there.

The post Luhring Augustine Joins the Influx of Galleries
Opening in Tribeca With a New Space Launching Next Year
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