The developer of an ambitious cultural district in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday outlined a new timetable for the stalled project, with its first attraction — a branch of the Louvre — now slated to open in 2015.
A division of the Guggenheim will follow in 2017, which like the outpost of the French art institution will make its debut in the Emirati capital years later than originally planned.
The landmark projects on the emirate's multi-billion dollar Saadiyat Island development have been hit by a series of delays since being unveiled five years ago, including an announcement last year that the government-backed developer was dropping plans to award a major construction contract.
That renewed questions about Abu Dhabi's commitment to the project, which aims to turn the fast-growing city into a major cultural and tourism hub.
The museums had been scheduled to start opening this year, but officials had already said that was no longer possible.
Wednesday's statement by the Tourism Development and Investment Co. gave no further details into the delays. A national museum named after the United Arab Emirates' first president is also expected to open in 2016 nearby.
TDIC said "substantial work" has already been completed on the Saadiyat museums, though actual construction appears largely limited to work on the buildings' foundations on the arid island.
The revised opening dates are designed to give "each museum sufficient time to establish its own identity on the local and international cultural stage," the company said. All three museums were previously supposed to open in quick succession.
David Dudley, regional director at real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle, said the new timetable provides a welcome measure of certainty.
"It's a sensible decision ... and it makes sense to stagger them" over several years rather than try to open all the museums at around the same time, he said.
The new timeline adds further clarity to an update the company gave in October, when TDIC said it was committed to the project but was pushing back its completion dates. That disclosure helped put to rest rumors that the project had been put on hold indefinitely or was being scrapped altogether.
Photo: Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Photo courtesy Gehry Partners, LLP.
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