In light of a seminar presented by my business school’s namesake, Stephen M. Ross, I was inundated with paranoia upon hearing about Mr.Ross’ Hudson Yards Development, a new real estate venture along Manhattan’s west side from 28th to 43rd street west of 8th avenue.  With the growing popularity of the Highline, rumors of retail giants moving in, and the Hudson Yards Development, there will undoubtedly be a much needed surge to the consumer economy as tourists move in and spending increases. But what does this mean for the residents, cultural integrity, and artistic haven that these neighborhoods once hosted? Is this an inevitable change that must take place in order to progress and improve the economy? Or is there an alternative that can dually increase spending while maintain cultural integrity?
Mr. Ross is the founder and Chairman of The Related Companies, a real estate investment firm. Â He has developed a portfolio of real estate ventures in metropolitan cities nationwide, such as New York City, Las Vegas, and several others in California. He has grown his company by investing in transformative properties, such as the Time Warner Center on the Upper West Side of New York City, as well as affordable living housing throughout the city.
In 2005 the city rezoned the area from west Chelsea to herald square to convert current manufacturing space to residential and commercial developments and named it the Hudson Yards Development. The Hudson Yards area will have the capacity for approximately 26 million square feet of new office development, 20,000 units of housing, 2 million square feet of retail, and 3 million square feet of hotel space, says the Hudson Yards Development Corporation.  With the luxury brand Coach leading the pack and incepting construction of the first building in the Hudson Yards Project, retail giants such as Sephora plan to move in and draw in shoppers, tourists, and new residents alike. Local boutiques will have to compete with mass producing low mark up companies that move in.  Even now, the art spaces are strained to compete with restaurants, retailers, and luxury brand boutiques.
Even since 2009 the commercial effects of the Highline have challenged  West Chelsea’s establishments and integrity.  The restaurants became increasingly trendy and decreasingly delicious; the people migrate from uptown to counterfeit “bohemian†lofts; and slowly, the art increasingly high profile, decreasingly raw and native.  And while Mr. Ross explained in his presentation to the students of the Ross School of Business that he and his partners keep cultural integrity in mind, such as making the “Jazz at Lincoln Center” the highlight of the Time Warner Development, phrases such as “New York’s Next Great Neighborhood” on the company’s web page indicate a more transformational pursuit.
What I fear most is that the Hudson Yards  turns the area into an amusement park of sorts, as Jeremiah Moss discusses in the New York Times article “Disney World on the Hudson,†losing all integrity for the raw gritty New York feeling that tourists hate, and New Yorkers love. Native artists have noticeably begun to flee the West Side for lower-profile neighborhoods tucked away from media hounds and tourists. And while Chelsea can already be deemed a commercialized, yuppie area, any remnants of authenticity that I know it to possess may be stripped away even further. What will become of the neighbors that envelope the Hudson Yards Development? More importantly, what will happen to the art that spawned there?
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