Students from the nearby UDG art school blockaded the Dr. Atl Park in November, protesting plans that would have seen dozens of trees uprooted to construct the 30-million-dollar museum.
The idea for the Museo de la Barranca, as it is to be known, emerged from the failed attempt to build a Guggenhiem Museum franchise in Guadalajara. The New York-based art organization pulled the plug on the project after cutting back its international obligations in the wake of an organizational shake up in 2010. More than three million dollars had been invested in the project in various studies, but Lopez Rocha – who also heads the private group behind the project – says the money was not wasted because the expensive surveys have been crucial in planning the more austere Barranca Museum. A Guggenhiem franchise would have cost some 300 million dollars, according to some estimates.