High Line and Allies Trying to Halt Related’s Hudson Yards $12 Billion Casino Bid

Related Co.’s $12 billion bid to put a casino in Hudson Yards has attracted fresh opposition from Friends of the High Line–the nonprofit that jointly administers the famous elevated promenade, along with the city.

The campaign, dubbed Protect the High Line, is oriented around convincing New Yorkers that a casino would disrupt the sweeping views available to park visitors.

The political back-and-forth is likely to intensify in the year ahead, as three downstate casino licenses won’t be awarded until June 2025.

The High Line, which extends between Gansevoort St. and W. 34th St., has at least seven million annual visitors. Instead of merely taking issue with blocked vistas, Friends of the High Line is drawing attention to a controversial zoning overhaul favored by Related, which Community Board 4 similarly slammed back in April. Specifically, Hudson Yard’s special zoning district has a “West Rail Yard” agreement inked in 2009, which has governed much of its development parameters. Related signed onto that agreement.

As Protect the High Line points out, that agreement “included a commitment to 3,454 units of housing (and the possibility of up to 5,700 units), and 4.3 acres of open space with multiple public access points on the Western Rail Yards.” Conversely, the High Line campaign says that Related’s overhaul would reduce that residential figure by 2,000 units and increase building height limits, the better to accommodate two proposed commercial towers that would comprise part of the gambling complex.

Related’s general counterargument has been that its casino project will create thousands of unionized construction jobs, and that it still contains provisions for green space, housing–albeit less than originally promised in the zoning agreement–and other amenities.

In an interview with Straus News, Friends of the High Line Executive Director Alan van Capelle said that it was important to tell the public about how “dramatically different” Related’s new zoning proposal is.

“We believe that any change to the 2009 [zoning] plan needs to be substantively better for the community,” van Capelle said.

Under the agreement, van Capelle continued, “the Eastern Rail Yards–which today is known as Hudson Yards–was supposed to be more dense, more commercial...more ‘concretescape.’” However, he said, “the buildings were supposed to become less tall, less dense, and more residential as you worked your way down to the river.” He believes that Related’s hoped-for zoning overhaul would compromise that promise of reduced density, and that instead they should propose something that allows for “more light, more air, more views, and more public accessible green space.”

As far as achieving the level of public pressure that could cause Related Co. to switch gears goes, van Capelle says Protect the High Line will focus on counteracting Related’s own outreach efforts. The development corporation has shown “pretty pictures” to community boards, van Capelle said, which clearly didn’t deter CB4 from condemning Related’s overall bid on similar grounds.

“We have built deep and broad support in our community, because we have done it in a genuine and non-transactional way. We are a public park, first and foremost, we are one of the jewels of the NYC park system. You can see botanical gardens and world-class art entirely for free. We feel a great responsibility, on the 15th anniversary on the opening of the first section of the High Line, to say when we believe that a project is going to threaten the High Line experience,” van Capelle concluded.

When reached for comment, Related claimed that they had met ten times with Friends of the High Line over the course of the past year. They also believed that they didn’t have any outstanding issues with the nonprofit before the launch of the Protect the High Line campaign.

“Our paramount focus is that the fact that this is a $12B investment in Manhattan’s future that includes a massive new green park that will be open to all, hundreds of units of affordable housing, 5,000 permanent union careers, 35,000 construction jobs, and billions in new taxes and community investments,” a spokesperson for Related Companies said.

The High Line’s campaign has also engendered political support from local politicians. In a statement posted on X.com, which referenced the campaign, State Assemblymember Tony Simone said that “I’m philosophically opposed to a casino on the west side of Manhattan. The community has been against it, and unless that changes, I’m a no.”

Similarly, State Assemblymember Deborah Glick told the Commercial Observer that “Hudson Yards has made promises that they haven’t delivered on yet in terms of affordable housing, so I think that we’re desperate for affordable housing. We don’t need a casino. The High Line is a crucial amenity for New Yorkers and visitors alike, and overbuilding, especially luxury towers, is not in the public interest.”