The High Line—the railroad-track park running through Manhattan's meatpacking district—will soon be more than a place for rich people fundraisers and ill-placed weddings. The Whitney museum is coming! As soon as they can raise half a billion bucks.

The city's giving the Whitney the site, at Washington and Gansevoort streets, for $18 million. The NYT reports that they're not obligated to actually start building the new satellite museum ("a six-floor museum more than twice the size of its Madison Avenue home") for nine years. In the meantime:

But in this economy, paying for the High Line site will be a challenge. In May the museum announced a fund-raising campaign of $680 million: $435 million for the new building and about $245 million for the endowment.

Pay up, Lisa Falcone and Ed Norton! The neighbors are not paying another cent. That's for sure.
[Pic: Edenpictures' Flickr.]