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Lower Manhattan’s 9/11 Tribute Museum shuts doors

Financial hardships from pandemic spiraled 30K sf tribute center at 92 Greenwich Street

9/11 Tribute Museum co-founder Jennifer Adams-Webb and 92 Greenwich Street (Getty Images, 9/11 Tribute Museum)
9/11 Tribute Museum co-founder Jennifer Adams-Webb and 92 Greenwich Street (Getty Images, 9/11 Tribute Museum)

The 9/11 Tribute Museum has closed its doors after a decade and a half.

The 30,000-square-foot tribute center at 92 Greenwich Street shuttered its physical location on Wednesday, the New York Post reported. The educational element of the facility will move online, while the artifacts will be disassembled and sent to the New York State Museum in Albany.

A museum official told the outlet financial difficulties stemming from pandemic lockdowns are being blamed for the closure. Co-founder Jennifer Adams-Webb said the center averaged 300,000 visitors annually, but only brought in 26,000 all of last year. The museum was closed for six months of 2020, a big obstacle for its operating model.

“Two-thirds of our income revenue annually comes from our earned income from admissions,” Adams-Webb, who also serves as CEO of the September 11th Families’ Association, told the outlet.

The museum has counted more than 5 million visitors since it first opened its doors five years after 9/11 attacks.

The museum opened in 2006 before moving to the Greenwich Street location in 2017. Two years later, the museum appeared to be in danger of losing its home as Thor Equities put the commercial condo for sale seeking $30 million, Crain’s reported at the time (the residential condos use the address 88 Greenwich Street).

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It’s not immediately clear if Thor remains the landlord of 92 Greenwich Street, as the address isn’t listed on its website. Thor did not immediately return a request for comment.

Adams-Webb was open to the possibility of the city or state stepping in to help save the museum, but said the center could not keep digging itself into a deeper financial hole.

“It’s a huge loss for those people who called this their second home, where they could come and share their story,” Adams-Webb told the Post.

The 9/11 Tribute Museum is different from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where the Twin Towers stood. That museum remains open.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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9/11Commercial Real EstateFinancial DistrictThor Equities