“We are still giving tax breaks to a development that enriches billionaire developers and high-rise commercial and residential development that is not benefiting ordinary people in New York,” said James Parrott, director of economic and fiscal policies at the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School.
There are other incentives as well.
BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, which ended 2018 with $5.98 trillion under management, can obtain $25 million in state tax credits if it adds 700 jobs at Hudson Yards. L’Oreal USA is in line for $5.5 million for the same discretionary tax credit, while WarnerMedia can get $14 million.
Even Mayor Bill de Blasio, a supporter of the Hudson Yards project, is now expressing some misgivings about the property tax breaks. Mr. de Blasio had been a backer of the Amazon deal, but since the company pulled out, he has abruptly shifted tone, just as he has been seeking to solidify his credentials with progressives.
Mr. de Blasio said in a statement that the subway and park spending had broad benefits, but added: “We’ve moved away from providing discretionary incentives like the prior administration. I believe state and local economic development programs need to be re-evaluated and updated.”
Hudson Yards sprouted during a moment of post-September 11 pride and economic uncertainty, with the mayor at the time, Michael R. Bloomberg, vowing to reclaim a neighborhood that included a stubby collection of brick warehouses, factories and tenements built when the Hudson River docks were busy. In the middle was an unsightly rail yard.
On Friday, when Hudson Yards officially opens, a city within a city will rise as the centerpiece of an area bounded by Eighth and 12th Avenues from 30th to 42nd Streets. The main site, developed by Related Companies and Oxford Properties, was built over the rail yard, and it is by some estimates the largest real estate project in New York since Rockefeller Center in the 1930s.
