Quote:
Originally Posted by jackster99
It's interesting, I think, that Hudson Yards was built before this. It seems like it would have been a hell of a lot easier to knock down all these low-rises and build new office towers to meet demand, than it was to build over the exposed train tracks for Hudson Yards.
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Not so much. The Hudson Yards rezoning covered a much broader scope than just the railyards. But they were able to build basically that entire area over the railyards from scratch. This is a reworking
into a neighborhood that is already there, and the only reason they are doing it now is because of the demo needed for the station expansion. The low rise buildings in the area are active, the streets are lively, even though it's not near it's full potential. The Hudson Yards area meanwhile was (and still is) full of parking lots and desolate spaces. It can be said that with better transportation, the Empire District should have been an easier sell. But the Hudson Yards covers a much larger area, while this is only a few blocks.
The Hudson Yards rezoning initially extended to 2 Penn Plaza and MSG itself, which would have seen the same potential for unlimited zoning that the four corners towers would have received (had it not been for the city council medling). From that point of view, you can say this area could have been enveloped into the Hudson Yards with greater density. Moynihan is still considered Hudson Yards. But one battle at a time.
Here is the original Hudson Yards rezoning with that 2 Penn potential...
And more modest zoning for the surrounding areas, places which are now part of the Empire Station rezoning...