The Related Companies’ West Side Rail Yards complex is going to need more affordable housing units if its $15 billion plan is to gain City Council approval, Speaker Christine Quinn said at a hearing on zoning changes for the site yesterday. Related has proposed 5,000 housing units, in addition to office towers, hotels, shops and parks on the 13-acre, Metropolitan Transportation Authority-owned land that lies between 10th and 12th avenues and 30th and 33rd streets. The company has said 8 percent of the housing units it builds there would be affordable. [Post]

From left: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and a West Side Rail Yards rendering

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has given his conditional support to the West Side Rail Yards rezoning, according to a press release from his office. Stringer said his approval of the project — a $15 billion redevelopment stretching from 30th to 33rd streets and 10th to 12th avenues — is conditional on the developer’s promise to meet LEED silver standards, consult with the community to mitigate the effect of construction on noise and traffic and create public open space at the site. Developer RG WRY, a joint venture between Related Companies and Goldman Sachs, plans to build eight new towers, a school and at least five acres of public open space at the site. TRD [more]

The $15 billion redevelopment of the West Side rail yards is no longer
on track to happen as quickly as was expected before the recession, but
developer Related Companies is still working on plans for the site.
Related is currently going through the city’s public review process and
reportedly expects to sign a development contract in January with the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the owner of the site stretching
from 30th to 33rd streets and 10th to 12th avenues. Construction would
begin with a $1 billion platform on top of the rail yards. [more]

The first section of the High Line opened yesterday, and advocates for
the project are turning their attention to a section of the old rail
yards, hoping it can be turned into park space. Friends of the High
Line is calling for about a half-mile — 30th Street, between 10th and
12th avenues, and 12th Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets — to be
set aside for park space. The Related Companies was chosen by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to develop a combination of commercial and residential
buildings, along with parks, a school and cultural facility on the
26-acre West Side rail yards. And while Related officials said they
would include the High Line in their development plan, Friends of the
High Line said they want the city to officially set it aside for
preservation as part of a rezoning. [more]