Workers pouring foundation at Sperone's future site

A concrete foundation is rising at the site of the future Sperone Westwater gallery on the Bowery.

British architect Sir Norman Foster has designed a 10-story translucent building to house the gallery, with five floors of exhibition space, according to a gallery press release.

The site at 257 Bowery is one block north of the shimmering silver New Museum.

The gallery is relocating from an out-of-the way spot in the meat packing district.  A tenement with a restaurant supply store formerly occupied Sperone’s Bowery land.

When the move was announced in Nov. 2008, the projected completion date was Dec. 2009. The revised date is now spring 2010.

At a time when many galleries are cost cutting, Sperone is constructing one of the most stunning–and pricey–exhibition spaces in the city.

The tear-down tenement and land alone cost $8.5 million, according to the website Property Shark.

Sperone’s artists include Bruce Nauman and Wim Delvoye.

Rendering of completed building