Moving forward at Hudson Yards

Editorial

The proposed Hudson Yards project for the far West Side has enjoyed a busy year, but after all the wrangling among its various stakeholders finally ended with the selection of a development team, now the real work begins.

In May, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority picked the Related Companies to spearhead the development of the western rail yards, beginning a lengthy process that will challenge both builders and the community to see eye to eye. Upon the recent release of Related’s scoping plan for the yards, the mega-developer started off on the right foot by holding a voluntary public hearing with the community last month to discuss the project, and even sent Related Hudson Yards president Jay Cross to address concerns. This was a significant move in itself, considering Cross received jeers as president of the New York Jets when shilling for a West Side stadium years back.

We hope that Related learned an important lesson from its failure to win the bid to develop Pier 40: You will have a much better chance of succeeding if you work closely with, not against, the community.

The community needs to mobilize effectively its various constituencies and interests if it is to obtain a respectable community benefits package from the massive Hudson Yards project. They need to stay committed to their original requirements of the development, which include the necessary inclusion of some components that if not vigorously fought for, could never see the light of day.

Chief among these prerequisites are school facilities, which will only become more of an issue with the school-overcrowding problem particularly acute on the West Side. Advocates must try to obtain as many schools seats as possible, as building and establishing schools elsewhere in such a dense community has proven challenging enough. These projects will house present and future students, and they need schools planned from the inception, not afterward. Affordable housing is another critical aspect, from lower-income residents to middle and moderate, as is the need for more family-size dwellings to encourage a diversity of tenant types. There must be a place for New Yorkers of all financial strata in future residential developments of this scope, but it will only come at the community’s insistence.

Parks and open space are two other vital elements of the plan. Such prime waterfront real estate demands as much open public space as possible, which can then be enjoyed by generations to come. Related can ensure a place for public space if the developer agrees to preserve the northern portion of the High Line and its spur at 10th Ave., a still-undetermined section of the future elevated park that advocates have sought to retain. While Related claims the spur represents a possible hurdle to its development scheme, and has remained mum on whether it will preserve the section, the developer needs to commit to letting the park bloom in full.

The community, as it has thus far, must continue to hold the developer’s feet to the fire through every step of this process. And if Related can listen and work with the community in good faith, then the developer can take credit for successfully creating one of the most ambitious projects of our time.