Douglas Durst no longer backing Hudson River Park tax

Douglas Durst and Hudson River Park
Douglas Durst and Hudson River Park

Douglas Durst, chairman of landlord and developer the Durst Organization, has withdrawn his support for a push to create a Hudson River Park tax, Capital New York reported.

Durst was previously the highest-profile proponent of the plan to create a neighborhood improvement district, which unlike most business improvement districts, would rely primarily on residential property assessments for funding. All proceeds were to go to the cash-strapped park.

The proposed district encompassed Manhattan’s West Side, from roughly Chambers to West 59th streets, 10th Avenue to Hudson Street.

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Durst’s change of heart was due to a recent piece of legislation that would help the Hudson River Park Trust sell its air rights to secure funding, he told Capital New York.

“We’ve been working on the NID for five years,” Durst told the website. “We got very close. And as we got closer, we ran into more opposition. We think we were going to be able to overcome it, but having this out there is just gonna make the opposition so much stronger.” [Capital New York]  – Hiten Samtani