The planned park near Hudson Yards would be the city’s costliest.
The city plans to spend $374 million on the project, Crain’s reported. That’s more than $124 million per acre.
“That is an astounding price tag,” Adrian Benepe, a senior vice president at the Trust for Public Land and a former city parks commissioner, told Crain’s. “It blows out of the water by far the previous most-expensive park that I had ever heard of, which is the High Line.”
The redevelopment of the above-ground rail line cost about $36 million per acre, the report said.
Last month, the mayor gave the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp. approval to to float $500 million worth of bonds backed by property tax revenue. The corporation would use majority of that to pay for the second phase of the park — running between 10th and 11th Avenues.
A sizable portion of the planned park is a hole that sits above an active Amtrak line, while another chunk of the land is privately owned. Both factors attribute to the high cost, according to City Hall.
Tishman Speyer agreed to help pay for the park in exchange for development rights at a planned tower, Crain’s said. The city needs to negotiate a price with the other owners or seize the land via eminent domain.
City Hall said additional details about how much will be spent on acquisitions and infrastructure work are still being determined. [Crain’s] — Meenal Vamburkar