Paris's Musée Pinault has already made numerous waves in contentious headlines, and it hasn't even opened yet. The planned museum, named for the French billionaire businessman François Pinault whose collection of modern and contemporary art will be housed in the space bearing his name, is scheduled to open its doors in 2019 in the Bourse de commerce, one of Paris's most historically-significant, yet lesser known, buildings. The city owned the Bourse until 1949, when it sold the former stock exchange to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) for a symbolic one franc, or 15 cents. When the CCI sold the building back to the city in 2016, Pinault's foundation footed the bill, but now the French news media is accusing Paris of overpaying by 86 million euros—when the deal could have been done for just 15 cents.

François Pinault, left, pictured with artist-businessman Jeff Koons. Photo by Stephane Cardinale. Courtesy of Getty Images.

The controversy was first brought to light last week by Le Canard enchaîné, a French weekly newspaper known for leaking insider information on national topics ranging from politics to economics. The paper published a harsh accusation of the city vastly overpaying for the Bourse, and criticized Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo for mismanaging the deal. Le Canard enchaîné went on to claim that Hidalgo should have enforced a clause that would have allowed them to pay just a few cents, but instead irresponsibly wasted 86 million euros, because when the city initially sold the building to the CCI for the symbolic one franc, a section was added to the contract stating that the amount could be reciprocated when the city bought it back.

In light of the controversy, Paris's city hall has spoken out to say that the paper misinterpreted the 1949 contract. The document prohibited the CCI from selling the building to a third party, but in the event it sold it back to the city of Paris, the CCI would be entitled to fair compensation. Pinault's Foundation also rebutted the claim, and released the following statement to ArtNet that laid out a breakdown of the funding:

The financing of the Museum, both for its development and for its functioning, comes exclusively from the Pinault family through its family holding company, Financière Pinault. Today, the cost of the renovation works is estimated at around 115 million euros. The restoration of the historic monument will consume 25 percent of this budget. It should be noted that no grant was requested from the Ministry of Culture for the restoration of the monument, although the entire building is listed in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments, and the dome and the Medici column benefit from an enhanced protection since they are classified as “Historical Monuments.” The transformation of the Bourse de commerce into a museum will impose, therefore, no financial charge on the City of Paris.

Pinault, who is a mega-collector, tried for years to build a museum of his own to house his vast collection, and even eyed the site of a former Renault factory in the middle of the Seine. He brought Japanese architect Tadao Ando on board for an ambitious redesign that hopes to make amends for the notoriously poor renovation of Les Halles a few years back.

When the museum opens in 2019, it will feature Pinault's lauded collection. The pieces, which in sum are worth over $1.4 billion, include works by Cy Twombly, Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Agnes Martin, and Gerhard Richter, among others.