Following the initial 2009 project, the update introduced plans to displace the West Side Yard with a gaming facility among other features that would provide thousands of jobs and benefits for all sectors.
Related companies and Wynn Resorts — the companies behind the $12 billion casino complex development on Hudson Yards — released renderings showing updates on the project’s infrastructure on Aug. 28. The ‘Hudson Yards West’ would replace the current MTA west side rail yards if approved.
The Hudson Yards West project includes a world-class resort that will create 5,000 permanent union careers, a 5.6-acre public park, a new public K-8 school and more than $2 billion in revenue for the MTA.
Wynn Resorts, the corporation behind the architectural planning and design, also intends to build a 1,800-foot apartment tower, a 1,376-foot office building hosting the casino and a skyscraper with 1,750 hotel rooms.
Although the companies say that the mixed-use development would create 35,000 union construction jobs, a local community and college partnership for job training, neighborhood-focused traffic and safety and sanitation plans, some residents disapprove.
Manhattan Community Board 4, which encompasses Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea and Hudson Yards, addressed concerns about the effects of this project on small businesses in the neighborhoods and the obstruction of the view of the High Line and Empire State Building.
“MCB4 remains mystified how the Department and Commission of City Planning could review and consider such a plan, which erases years of sound city planning and community efforts, to replace it with such an anti-urban and anti-New York vision,” the Community Board said in a letter.
“Friends of the High Line,” a non-profit organization on Manhattan’s West Side, launched a campaign to engage New Yorkers in protecting the High Line’s nature, experience and its benefits to the community.
“We will band together to get the Rail Yards plan back on track and ensure the experience of the High Line and its benefits to our communities are protected,” Friends of the High Line said in a statement.
This is only one of 10 proposed gambling facilities in New York. Yet for every application, a local commissioner advisory committee—which consists of the governor, the mayor, the local senator and others—must approve the project first.
At least two-thirds of the committee must agree before state regulators evaluate the application. As different opinions from residents arise, the decision to give the luxury casino the green light is expected to be delivered in June 2025.
In the meantime, the communities surrounding the area will be able to continue sharing their voices about the project.
“Any plans that block views from this distinctive vantage point or allow for building closer to the High Line run counter to the High Line Special District,” said District 66 State Assemblymember Deborah Glick in a statement. “[This] would significantly alter the experience,” Deborah continued. “Preserving the integrity, intent and enjoyment of cherished New York attractions like the High Line must be prioritized.”
The decision lies in the support of the surrounding neighborhood, which is essential in determining which bidders will be receiving casino licenses and where, according to the New York Post.
