Balloon Museum to take over Jean-Georges’ Tin Building

The Tin Building, the historic former Fulton Fish Market structure restored and reopened as a food hall by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten in 2022, is poised for another reinvention — this time as the new flagship of the Balloon Museum.

The Balloon Museum, a traveling immersive art attraction, will open in the Tin Building this summer, Seaport Entertainment Group said in a news release.

“After three proud years serving the community, Tin Building closed its doors on February 23, 2026,” Vongerichten wrote in a statement on the Tin Building’s website.

“We are incredibly grateful to our guests, team, and partners who made this chapter so meaningful. From day one to our final service, your support allowed us to build something we're truly proud of. Thank you for being part of our story.”

The Tin Building was constructed in 1907 as part of the sprawling Fulton Fish Market, which for nearly 200 years anchored New York’s wholesale seafood trade along the East River. Fishmongers worked overnight shifts inside the steel-framed structure until the market relocated to Hunts Point in 2005, ending the Seaport’s era as a working waterfront.

The building sits within the South Street Seaport Historic District, designated in 1977. While the building is not individually landmarked, its exterior falls under city preservation rules, limiting how dramatically it can be altered. The interior, however, has been repeatedly rebuilt — most significantly after Hurricane Sandy flooded the structure in 2012.

Vongerichten reopened the Tin Building in 2022 following an extensive redevelopment backed by Seaport landlord Howard Hughes Holdings. The overhaul reportedly cost roughly $200 million, transforming the former fish market into a 50,000-plus-square-foot culinary complex with multiple restaurant concepts, retail counters and private event space.

Seaport Entertainment Group, spun off from Howard Hughes Holdings in 2024, said additional details about potential relocations of existing Tin Building restaurants and retail operations will be announced in the coming months.

Roberto Fantauzzi, the founder and chief executive of Lux Entertainment, the Italian company behind the Balloon Museum, said that opening in New York represents “an even greater cultural responsibility for our team.”

“For this new location, we will present a completely original exhibition featuring newly commissioned works by internationally renowned artists,” he said.

“The Balloon Museum at the Tin Building is a natural evolution and significant leap in scale, not simply a new chapter, but the beginning of a stable and ambitious new dimension for our company.”

Stories like this take time, documents and a commitment to public transparency. Please support independent arts journalism by subscribing to Urgent Matter and supporting our work directly.“