Frank Gehry Will Design Bernard Arnault’s Towering New Art Museum in Paris

Bernard Arnault, overseer of the LVMH empire, has once again retained the services of architect Frank Gehry , this time to realize the transformation of a disused public institution into a world-class art museum. The existing structure, known as the Musée National des Arts et Traditions Populaires, was built in 1972 and has remained vacant since 2005. The top-down overhaul of the building, located near the campus of Arnault’s Foundation Louis Vuitton , which was also designed by Gehry and opened in the outskirts of Paris in 2014, is expected to cost some $166 million.

At a briefing in the French capital, Arnault, whose estimated net worth is north of $42 billion, addressed members of the media alongside Gehry, President François Hollande, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, saying that he sees the new project as a “cultural start-up.”

Foundation Louis Vuitton, designed by Gehry.

The 11-story edifice, to be christened "Maison LVMH/Arts, Talents, Patrimonie," belongs to the city and will be leased by Arnault for $158,000 annually. Further, the 163,000-square-foot space will reportedly include a 2,000-seat event hall, several galleries on multiple floors, and a rooftop restaurant.

If all goes according to plan, the deal will be finalized on March 10—subject to approval by various councils—and the renovation will take at least five years, with an opening date slated for 2022.