New future for World’s Fair site

It was known as the Tent of Tomorrow. But for the last several decades, it’s been a decaying symbol of the past.

Now, officials want to know what’s next for the New York State Pavilion. Earlier Wednesday, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz unveiled an “international ideas competition” to determine how to make the pavilion a community centerpiece.

Located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the New York Pavilion is the well-recognized but deteriorating circular-columned structure built for the 1964 World’s Fair. Accompanied by three towers and recognized by fans of “Men in Black,” the pavilion has recently been the subject of new attention, with a fresh coat of bright yellow paint along its “crown,” and open-house events that allowed the public to walk through it again.

But the new competition seeks a far bigger transformation. And officials want input from more than architects and engineers. They’ll be crowdsourcing, too, with events in the next several months to solicit ideas from the public.

Anything goes, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is running the competition along with the non-profit People for the Pavilion advocacy organization. The question is whether anything will happen.

This was first featured in The Point, the editorial board’s daily newsletter for insiders. To subscribe, click here.