All thanks to the help of taxpayers.
New York was riveted by a debate over whether Amazon should receive $3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives in return for setting up a headquarters in Queens and creating 25,000 jobs. But with far less public attention, the city government has for more than a decade been funneling even more aid to Hudson Yards, a 28-acre complex of office buildings and luxury residential towers.
In all, the tax breaks and other government assistance for Hudson Yards have reached nearly $6 billion, according to public records and a recent analysis by the New School.
The city spent about $2.4 billion to extend the No. 7 subway line to Hudson Yards and set aside $1.2 billion for about 4 acres of parks and open spaces called Hudson Park and Boulevard. The City Council stepped up to pay $359 million in interest payments on bonds when revenue from the development, which was supposed to cover the tab, fell short of projections.
As a result, Hudson Yards is perhaps an even more resonant symbol of the role of government in giving tax breaks and other incentives to spur development. In this case, two of the world’s largest real estate developers, Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group, which together built Hudson Yards, have significantly benefited.
Supporters of the Hudson Yards project say the government incentives will pay vast dividends by creating an entirely new business district, generating thousands of new jobs and retaining many thousands more.
But the project’s detractors voice the kind of criticism that reverberated during the Amazon deal: Wealthy businesses should pay their own way and not demand government incentives to undertake projects.
Even Mayor Bill de Blasio, a supporter of the Hudson Yards project, is now expressing some misgivings about the property tax breaks. De Blasio had been a backer of the Amazon deal, but since the company pulled out, he has abruptly shifted tone.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.