Related Companies Founder and Chairman Stephen Ross said Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to increase the density of office buildings in Midtown East will have little impact on development in the area. “What is really going to happen in New York is that the growth won’t occur in that area,” Ross said. “The growth is more likely to occur on the Far West Side,” in the Hudson Yards neighborhood, where Related this month broke ground on the first part of the 26-acre development.
Ross and William Mack, chairman of Area Property Partners, were speaking on a public panel last night at 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side. Their discussion was moderated by Diane Brady, a senior editor and content chief at Bloomberg Businessweek.
Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to allow larger office towers has attracted controversy among preservationists, who worry that historic buildings will be demolished.
Others players, including Ross, think it will be very complicated to assemble the sites.
Mack, whose Area Property is an investor in the Time Warner Center, which was developed by Related, is not an investor in Hudson Yards. When Brady asked Mack why he was not an investor, Ross interjected mischievously, “I didn’t ask him!”
Mack did not give a specific reason for why he was not invested in Hudson Yards, but said, “Hudson Yards is a very ambitious project and it has taken and will take a lot of time.”
He added, “Hudson Yards is a great project and we are investors in a lot of great projects. Let’s leave it at that.”