(rshsdepot) Fight looms over High Line section

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From Crain's New York Business.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Fight looms over High Line  section

By: _Julie  Satow_ 
(http://www.newyorkbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/personalia?ID=21&category=contact) 
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.




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