[NYguy]

https://www.chelseanewsny.com/home/h...ject-YN3825625

Hudson Yards Casino Picks Up Big Union Support, Friends of High Line Object





MICHAEL ORESKES
01 NOV 2024

It looks like such a lovely stroll. The sun glints off the apartment tower as you walk along the High Line from the shadow of the massive office building into the sunlight, first heading west toward the Hudson River and then north as the old railroad trestle loops around the sparkling new development of Hudson Yards West.This imagined meander comes courtesy of the developer, Related Companies, in a video that is the modern version of what used to be called an architect’s rendering.

But whether you see this rendering as a reasonable representation of what the hotel with casino could be or a rank piece of propaganda has a lot to do with which side you have taken in one of the nastiest fights yet triggered by the state’s decision to offer three new casino licenses in the New York City area.

The city approved a plan in 2009 to deck over the western portion of the rail yard and build offices, 5,000 units of luxury and affordable housing, a school and a park. But Related never built it, and now says this is a better idea and, importantly, “economically viable.”

But Friends of the High Line, that wildly successful linear park on the reclaimed railroad trestle, say the plan would crowd the park, thrust it into shadows and “threaten the High Line experience.”

While the High Line has been a huge boon to local business, a group of local merchants joined the construction workers in defending the casino development project.

“It is our firm belief that our city can’t afford to turn down opportunities for new business and economic growth,” wrote the ten small business owners, who ranged from Roman Mosher’s Manhattan Barber Shop to Sam Joseph’s Joe’s Pizza shop.

“The proposed development at Hudson Yards West would be vitally important for our community, creating the economic opportunities many of us need.”

All of the 11 casino proposals would, presumably, generate construction and permanent jobs.

But few are quite on the scale of Hudson Yards (although perhaps close is the Soloviev group’s plan to partner with Mohegan Sun to build on its vast open property just south of the United Nations).

The heart of the criticism from the Friends of the High Line is that Related already had an approved plan for the (western) part of Hudson Yards.

“The 2009 plan allowed for up to 5,700 much-needed housing units,” Van Capelle said in comments repeated by Related so it could attack them. “The new plan has only about 1,500. That’s right—in the middle of a housing crisis, the developers are asking to slash the amount of housing they would build.”

Related called this “extremely disingenuous” because the abandoned housing units “were all ultra luxury condo units, which are no longer an economically viable option to pay for the $2 billion required platform over the railyard.”

The new plan, with 1500 units of housing, “still maintains our affordable housing commitment” as well as “the basic test of economic viability,” Related said.

Notably, while the new plan is centered on pursuit of one of the three new gaming licenses, Related soft-pedals the casino. “Gaming is only 3.6% of the total development,” the company said.