Anyone have $440M to spare? Hudson Yards desperately needs it

Hudson Yards will require another $440 million to prevent a partially finished tunnel from becoming a useless component of the massive project.

The $750 million plan by Related Companies to deck over the western half of their megaproject in 2018 has ratcheted up the pressure on state politicians to raise the extra millions needed to complete a concrete box tunnel under the construction site linking the Gateway tunnel underneath the Hudson River to Penn Station, according to Crain’s.

The Gateway project would collapse without this link, which would go under the West Side Rail Yards. Not completing the link would also make the tunnel’s first two segments unusable, wasting the $250 million investment in them.

Most of the tunnel’s first two sections were funded with federal funds from Amtrak and Hurricane Sandy, and the final section is meant to be largely funded by New York and New Jersey, according to an earlier agreement.

John Porcari, interim head of the government entity Gateway Development Corp. which is responsible for coordinating the project, told Crain’s they would secure the funding soon.

“All of us realize that the entire Gateway project is dependent on this last piece being constructed before the Hudson Yards development overtakes it,” he said. “There are no easy ways to fund it, but there are ongoing discussions right now.” [Crain’s] – Eddie Small