Neighbors Begin Process to Found Hudson Yards BID

BY WINNIE McCROY | With construction on the new Hudson Yards neighborhood well underway, local residents and business owners have set their sights on forming a Business Improvement District (BID). In a series of meetings last month, organizers solicited input from the community before submitting their proposal to the Department of City Planning.

“For about a year, we’ve met monthly, and in that period of time, this is as far as we’ve got. Now we’re taking this show on the road to see what our neighbors say,” said BID Planning Committee Co-Chair Kevin Singleton.

There are more than 25 members on the BID Committee — among them, commercial property owners and tenants, residential owners, neighborhood association leaders, Community Board 4 (CB4) members and government representatives.

The city of New York currently has 67 BIDS. A BID helps a community by having the city collect revenue from residential property and commercial business owners, and bringing 100 percent of those funds right back to the community to address traffic/pedestrian issues, sidewalk plantings, streetscaping, benches, trash cans, lighting, public art, buy-local programs, storefront improvements and additional sanitation officers, “to enhance existing sanitation services that are sometimes wanting.”

According to a Planning Committee public online survey conducted December 2012–January 2013 and a mass mailing of 3,800 postcards, neighbors have indicated that advocating for pedestrian safety is the number one concern as this neighborhood develops.

“We’re moving toward a mixed-use district, and the idea of having an advocate organization for this district is really important,” said BID Planning Committee Consultant Barbara Cohen.

Among those involved on the Hudson Yards BID planning committee were Cohen, Singleton and BID co-chair Joshua Bernstein. Also in attendance at an April 23 meeting at The Orion Condo were Hudson Yards Development Corporation President Anne Weisbrod and Vice President for Development and Finance Peter Wertheim.

BID TO AffECT MORE THAN JUST NEW BUILDINGS
The boundaries of a neighborhood are different from those of a BID, and the Hudson Yards BID would go well beyond just Oxford and Related Companies’ property, to raise the profile of the entire neighborhood. Well before Related opens its 1.7 million square foot South Tower commercial office building in mid-2015, the area will experience changes.

By June 2014, the extension of the number 7 train will be complete, with the line extended to 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue — making Hudson Yards the nation’s largest transit-oriented project. According to reports, 89 percent of the construction is already completed. When the station opens, it will see a daily average of 30,000 riders during peak hours.

“In many ways this area has been a drain on the neighborhood, dividing Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea. But upon completion, this project will tie the West side together as one continuous neighborhood,” said Related’s Hudson Yards Planner, Michael Samuelian, during a phone interview with Chelsea Now. He noted that cosmetics company L’Oreal recently signed on as their second anchor tenant, with German enterprise software applications company SAP following suit.

“The Hudson Yards area is well on its way to becoming a top-tier destination to live, work and visit,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a press release. “World-class office space like the towers Related and Oxford are building will help keep New York City competitive in the global economy, and these commitments from leading corporations L’Oréal USA, SAP and Coach represent an important vote of confidence in our city’s future.”

Work will also begin on the Hudson Park and Boulevard, the two-acre park running under the High Line, connecting Chelsea with Hudson Yards over the course of three blocks. The BID is communicating with Parks officials to make sure that the materials selected for benches and other public amenities are durable and weatherproof, eliminating the need for regular replacement.

“Starting at 33rd Street, the two entrances to the new subway station will be within the park itself,” said Bernstein. “As far as programmatic elements, the first park is largely green spaces and benches, the second park is more benches and a water feature, and the third park will feature a children’s playground, to have an amenity for all of the various constituencies in the area. It will be opened in phases during 2014.”

Although the Parks Department will be responsible for taking care of this new thoroughfare and green space, the BID will also have a hand in making sure that it remains a safe and welcoming area as the neighborhood experiences its initial growth spurt.

“The first influx will be at least 5,000 office workers, many of whom already live in the neighborhood, since Coach is already there,” said Samuelian. “Ultimately we are looking for completion by 2018–19, and with it a huge number of amenities for both food and shopping.”

The Hudson Yards public plaza will tie together the Hudson Park and Boulevard and the High Line. This six-acre plaza will be open from 6am–8pm and will form a “new town square for the West Side.”

The 170,000-square-foot Culture Shed project will front this plaza. Its features include a dynamic exhibition space to host a diverse lineup of visual and performing arts, and a retractable roof that can deploy in 15 minutes to provide protection from a sudden storm or winter cold.

“The Culture Shed fronts onto the plaza, and we are a big supporter of it,” said Samuelian. “The same architect who is working on that project is also working on our first residential building, Tower D, which will be connected to the Culture Shed in the base of the building.”

But because deploying this roof would cut 20,000 square foot of public park from the plaza, CB4 members are adamant that the City of New York provide an equal amount of unencumbered publicly-accessible park space, as agreed upon as part of the 2005 Hudson Yards rezoning. They also recommended no more than 34 days of Culture Shed closure for private events.

Those interested in learning more about how these buildings and public spaces will look can enjoy 3-D renderings at the two-month exhibition “Design(in) The New Heart of New York” through June 30 at the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter/Center for Architecture. An eight-week speaker series (currently underway) will complement the exhibit, enabling guests to hear from celebrated architects and designers working on the project.

“I think it’s important for people to know how we’re working with the community to tie Hudson Yards to this neighborhood that is very underserved in terms of open space,” said Samuelian. “All of the new parks and open space are a huge benefit to the community, and an important connection to the High Line, as the plaza will connect it with the new number 7 train.”

HOW A BID BECOMES A LAW
Bringing the idea of a BID into fruition takes more than just talk. It involves a complicated process of filing paperwork and sitting through hearings in front of Community Board 4, the City Council, the Comptroller’s office, the Borough President and the Department of City Planning. The Committee is at the end of their planning process, but just beginning to prepare to dive into the maelstrom of city agency approvals that can create a BID.

“We expect to get more feedback at these meetings, and as we move toward drafting an actual plan, we will make some modifications,” said Cohen. “The committee needs to figure out what we think is important, and then submit our application.”

Later this year — once the committee has prepared their final plan and demonstrated local support for the BID — they will set up an Interagency Meeting to submit the application to the City Planning Commission. They will provide CB4 with the opportunity to hold a public hearing about the BID. (The Department of Small Business Services oversees this BID formation process, providing guidance to the Planning Committee, submitting the BID legislation and securing a management contract with the BID once it is approved.)

The Commission will then hold its own public hearing and issue a report to the City Council, who will review the BID legislation. Upon City Council approval, the legislation will move to the Mayor’s office to be signed, and the BID (represented by a non-profit District Management Association) can begin to implement projects. The Committee hopes that by the summer of 2014, the BID will be able to elect a Board of Directors and start this work.

WHO WILL PAY FOR THESE NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENTS?
Chances are if you’re a local resident, you won’t pay a dime for all of the improvements the BID will bring to your neighborhood. Commercial property owners will be responsible for contributions, depending on their size and use.

“The BID is paid for through assessments on all properties, and for existing residents, there will be a $1-per-year symbolic payment,” said Bernstein. “If you own your own condo, non-profit or pre-dated apartment, tenants won’t have to pay anything at all — the landlord will pay this symbolic contribution.”

The Hudson Yards BID has currently identified 1,100 tax lots, 226 of which will be paying to support the BID. Most are commercial buildings, although some apartment buildings (not condominiums) will also pay.

According to Bernstein, office buildings will pay at 100 percent of the rate, while apartments will pay at 60 percent. For example, a commercial building at Tenth Avenue and 36th Street will pay the full rate assessed per square foot, to a total annual BID payment of $7,243. A mixed-use commercial/residential building at 531 Ninth Avenue will pay for only the commercial property, to the tune of $518 a year.

And although the commercial/residential property at 431 W. 37th Street will pay $10,489, the residential condo owners will only be responsible for a symbolic payment of $1-per-year. Best of all, as the neighborhood grows and more properties are built, this assessment will get lower and lower.

SLOWLY RAISING BUDGET WILL HELP CURRENT RESIDENTS
The BID has set its initial two-year budget at $1.2 million. As the area develops and more vacant land is built upon, those buildings can contribute to the budget, eventually raising it to a maximum of $3 million over the first five years.

“We cannot go a penny more without City Council approval,” said Cohen. “What the Planning Committee has done is realize that we don’t need $3 million on day one, and that when you allocate the assessments to various properties, you have to be able to balance what you want to do and what people are comfortable in paying toward it.”

This graduating budget and cap will benefit current residents, because as more new buildings buy in to the BID, the cost for existing residents will go down.

“The thinking was that the new apartment buildings are going to be market rate, and the developers are on notice and can factor the BID into their cost structure,” said Bernstein. “Many of the residential buildings in the neighborhood now have been here a very long time, and may not have that flexibility.”

For the first year, the $1.2 million budget will be broken down in the following way: Park maintenance will comprise 37 percent of the budget, for a total of $445,000. District-wide services will comprise another 36 percent, or $430,000. And finally, advocacy and administration will take up 27 percent of the budget, or $325,000.

“With a BID and the budget that is there every year to apply to the various issues that are important, this organization will have regular funding to apply to the District about those issues,” said Cohen.

Ideas about what to do with these funds can be brought forward by speaking to the BID representative on the board of CB4 — at a recent meeting, CB4 members present included Christine Berthet, Betty Mackintosh, Robert Benfatto and Joe Restuccia. Cohen welcomes all prospective BID constituents who have the time for these lengthy monthly meetings to inquire about joining the Hudson Yards BID Planning Committee. She also promises the organization will maintain an interactive, updated website and hold regular meetings to determine what issues are most important to the residents of the new Hudson Yards BID.

For more information, visit hudsonyardsnyc.org.