The staunchest elected critic of Related Companies’ Hudson Yards finally admitted that the complex makes money for the city.
Comptroller Brad Lander long griped that the city was getting stiffed by the deal that let Related make payments-in-lieu of taxes, which he said wouldn’t cover the debt and shortchange the city.
In a jaw-dropping admission on Errol Louis’s NY1 show last week, Lander said: “Hudson Yards is giving about $200 million more a year than we expected, and that’s going to grow to $300 million.”
He added: “As it played out, Hudson Yards is financing that debt and now returning again a couple hundred million dollars more to the city than we expected. So this is one place I gotta say I got it wrong.”
Maybe Lander’s turnaround will shush the New York Times and others who claimed that “subsidies” to Hudson Yards were a mistake – but don’t count on it.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
