The importance of communicating with neighborhood groups and potential opponents was one of the lessons that Whitney officials learned from Diller Island’s cautionary tale. Opponents of the Diller project — chiefly, a civic group backed by Douglas Durst of the New York real estate family — had criticized the secrecy surrounding the island and its potential danger to a protected Hudson estuary.

Mr. Diller, the chairman of IAC/InterActive Corporation, and his wife, the fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, had agreed to underwrite the undulating island park and cultural hub at the foot of West 13th Street. The cost had mushroomed to more than $250 million from $35 million over six years because of the complexity of the plans — by the British designer Thomas Heatherwick — and the delays caused by legal battles over issues like Pier 55’s placement.

The Diller and Whitney projects might seem unrelated at first. But in fact, both were being overseen by the Hudson River Park Trust, and both were located in waters that became the subject of environmental concerns in lawsuits. Richard Emery, a lawyer for the opponents of the Diller project, said his clients would have had to sign off on the Whitney project as part of a larger legal settlement over the island park. Specifically, the opponents of the park were negotiating with the Hudson River Park Trust on protections for the estuary area that would have included both the island and the art installation.

Mr. Diller said in an interview that he had only just learned about the extent of the Whitney project, but that neither the art installation itself nor the lack of information about it affected his decision to pull the plug on his island.

Mr. Hammons, the famously elusive African-American artist whose work is coveted by institutions the world over, had some time ago proposed to the Whitney a sculpture that would recall Pier 52’s shipping history.