New York City put off voting on a $100 million property tax break for a new Hudson Yards skyscraper proposed by developer Tishman Speyer, in what would be the largest economic subsidy since Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office.
The city's
"We look forward to presenting the project at a future meeting," the EDC spokesperson said in an email. The agency's next
A spokesperson for Mamdani didn't respond to a request for comment. A Tishman spokesperson declined to comment.
If approved, the subsidy could put Mamdani at odds with his progressive base, who argue tax giveaways benefit the wealthy at the expense of essential services and housing.
Construction of the $2.7 billion project, known as 99 Hudson Boulevard, is slated to begin in January, according to Tishman Speyer's application for financial assistance filed with the IDA. The planned 48-story tower would be the developer's second skyscraper in Hudson Yards, a neighborhood of offices, luxury apartments, and parks on Manhattan's far west side.
The break for 99 Hudson would cost the city $92.2 million in tax benefits, while generating almost $860 million in direct and indirect tax revenue, according to an analysis by the IDA. Construction of the tower would generate about 2,385 full-time construction jobs and more than 1,780 office and building service jobs, according to Tishman.
Under the deal, real estate taxes on the planned 1.3 million-square-foot (121,000-square-meter) tower would be abated and Tishman instead would pay a lesser "payment in lieu of taxes," or PILOT, to the city.
Related Cos, the primary developer of Hudson Yards' first phase, struck a deal with former Mayor Eric Adams and the City Council to build a $2 billion taxpayer-funded platform over the western rail yards to spur more residential and commercial development, including affordable housing.
Bonds issued for the platform would be backed by payments in lieu of taxes and other revenue from developers, the same structure the city used to finance a $3 billion extension of the No. 7 subway line from Times Square to 34th Street and 11th Avenue.
"The public deserves to know whether these two transactions are financially connected before either connection becomes irreversible," Law-Gisiko wrote in public comments to the IDA dated Sept. 10. "A public hearing cannot provide meaningful transparency if the public is shown the tax benefit on one side of the transaction but not told where the resulting PILOT revenue may ultimately go."
The IDA's tax-exemption policy says the agency has discretion over whether to provide assistance. Staff and the board can consider factors such as expected job creation, public support or whether the project would be completed without the subsidy.
In the past decade, the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp, created by the city to issue bonds for the redevelopment, has transferred about $2 billion in surplus revenue collected from developers of the eastern rail yards to the city after paying debt service, according to HYIC financial reports.
