Fight over High Line Disputes Costs of Preservation
This is an odd one; trying to prove the High Line gives enough value to retain it. Thus the slippery slope of economic justification for preservation lies.
From Crain’s
Fight looms over High Line section
By: Julie Satow
Published: May 8, 2007 – 3:36 pm
Developers and preservationists are about to face off over whether to preserve the northern most portion of the High Line, which runs through the Hudson Yards area where the city is pinning its hopes for development of the far West Side.
Preservationists are lobbying hard to keep the structure, which runs from West 30th Street to West 34th Street. The advocacy group Friends of the High Line recently hired John Alschuler, president of the consulting firm Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler to conduct a study of the issue.
He says that the High Line would add 7% to the value of residential development at the Hudson Yards; that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the land, would enjoy as much as $100 million in additional value if the High Line is preserved; and the city would see another $115 million in tax revenue and payments-in-lieu-of-taxes.
“For anybody who looks at what is happening in West Chelsea, it is clear that the High Line creates value for properties around it,” says Josh David, co-founder of Friends of the High Line.
But developers say that keeping the High Line would add tens of millions of dollars to project that are already costly. Developers who want to build at the site-the five front runners include the Durst Organization, The Related Cos., Vornado Realty Trust, Brookfield Properties and Tishman Speyer- will have to build a platform over the rail yards, contend with environmental problems at some areas of the site and face construction obstacles given the varied soil conditions.
“The cost of renovating and maintaining the High Line will all be born by the developer, and that cost will determine what developers are willing to bid for the land,” says Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York.
The city declared the portion of the High Line that run through the Meatpacking District and West Chelsea, a city park in 2005. It did not preserve the northern third of the raised rail line. In the coming weeks, the Hudson Yards Development Corp. will issue a request-for-proposal to develop the Eastern and Western Rail Yards, including the High Line. Tonight it is holding its first public meeting to reveal details of the RFP.
According to sources familiar with the plan, the HYDC will allow developers to bid two prices for the site: one price if the High Line is preserved and another if it is demolished.