Now, go for 10th Avenue
THE EXTENSION of the 7 subway line opens Sunday at the new Hudson Yards station at 34th St. and 11th Ave. on the far West Side of Manhattan. It is the key to one of the most significant economic development efforts in city history.
Rather than rest on its laurels, New York City should move to build a second station at 42nd St. and 10th Ave., using the model that proved so successful for Hudson Yards.
The extension of the 7 line was the linchpin of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to turn the Hudson Yards district into a vibrant extension of Midtown.
In the 10 years before our plan was approved, only four buildings were built in the area, and tax revenues generated to the city actually went down. In the 20 blocks west of 10th Ave. in Midtown, there were a total of 11 residences!
We knew the potential of 24 million square feet of office space, 3.5 million square feet of hotel and retail space, more than 40 acres of parkland, and 14,000 units of housing could be unlocked by an investment of $3 billion to extend the 7 line and other infrastructure to make the area accessible and attractive.
But the city was in the midst of a financial crisis, and for both good reasons and bad, Albany wouldn’t help.
So we developed a novel plan: issue bonds, but ask bondholders to accept repayment only out of revenue generated above what we collected before the project began. The city would guarantee interest, but that was it: Bondholders would have to risk their money and bet on the city’s future.
The plan was so novel that we couldn’t raise money for a second station at 42nd St. and 10th Ave. and parks to serve the northern section of the district.
To date, while the city has paid only $353 million in interest, Hudson Yards is set to generate a huge profit to the city. Some 58 buildings have been built or started construction, with dozens more planned.
Based on our calculations, Hudson Yards will throw off $30 billion on the city’s investment over the next 10 years! The city should build on this success and borrow $1 billion to pay for the 10th Ave. station, which could be completed in about five years.
The new station would serve about 100,000 trips a day and reduce congestion. With targeted rezoning, economic activity would likely help pay much of the city’s cost.
To be a more progressive city, we have to be a prosperous one.
And Hudson Yards showed us that investing in transportation infrastructure does in fact reap great rewards for the city’s economy.
A new station at 10th Ave. is just the kind of smart infrastructure investment that will help keep us prosperous for generations to come.