Renderings courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts
A $12 billion proposal to bring a casino complex to Hudson Yards just cleared a key step in the approval process. On Wednesday, the City Planning Commission (CPC) voted 9-2 to advance Related Companies and Wynn Resorts’ “Hudson Yards West” plan, which calls for a resort and casino, a 5.6-acre public park, a public school, office space, and hundreds of new affordable homes atop the site’s undeveloped western rail yards. The proposal seeks to amend a 2009 plan that envisioned a primarily residential neighborhood with more than 5,000 new homes—a figure that has since been reduced to just over 1,500.
Related filed plans for the ambitious project in February 2024. The proposal calls for three new skyscrapers, including an 80-story residential building with 1,500 apartments, an office tower with roughly 2.2 million square feet of office space, and a gaming facility and 1,750-key hotel run by Wynn Resorts, as 6sqft previously reported.
The 5.6-acre public park, called “Hudson Green,” would be comparable in size to Bryant Park. Designed by Hollander Design and Sasaki, the space would offer sweeping views of the Hudson River, with open lawns, gardens, playscapes, and groves creating a seamless connection along the site’s western edge.
The project site, bounded by West 30th and West 33rd Streets and 11th and 12th Avenues, would require building a platform over two-thirds of the 13-acre rail yard below. It sits directly west of the first phase of Hudson Yards, which opened in 2019.
City Planning Chair Dan Garodnick clarified the commission’s vote is not on whether or not to allow a casino but to approve changes to the original 2009 site plan.
“While this is a significant proposal before us this morning, the scope of what we’re actually voting on is much narrower,” Garodnick told W42ST. “It is therefore our responsibility to help create the best site plan possible for this large project on a site that is limited by an active railway right below, and which has significant existing development rights for both residential and commercial activity.”
DCP has proposed several modifications to Related’s plan, including splitting a block-long building along the site’s northern edge into two shorter structures and lowering its overall height.
The agency also recommended adding a new public space at the northeast corner of the site, changes that would create nearly “30,000 new square feet of public accessible space,” Garodnick said.
The proposed development is facing criticism from local residents and elected officials, who have raised concerns about its divergence from the original 2009 rezoning plan. Issues include a reduction in both the number of affordable housing units and buildings, as well as potential impacts on views from the High Line.
Friends of the High Line have launched a campaign called “Protect the High Line at the Rail Yards,” which advocates for a plan that preserves views from the High Line and limits the size of the buildings.
In January, Manhattan Community Board 4 voted overwhelmingly to reject the proposed casino complex, with 39 against and one abstention, according to W42ST. In February, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine recommended disproval of the proposal, according to DCP records, writing the plan “does not achieve its full housing potential.”
“While I applaud the Applicant for including desperately needed rental units, I am asking for the share of housing on the site be increased by restoring the square footage of housing removed or substantially increasing the supply of affordable housing,” Levine wrote.
With the CPC’s approval, the City Council now has 60 days to make a final decision. Much of the outcome hinges on Council Member Erik Bottcher, who represents the district.
Both sides have intensified their campaigns to sway Bottcher’s decision. According to Alan van Capelle, executive director of Friends of the High Line, more than 8,000 local residents have signed a petition opposing the plan.
Meanwhile, Related told W42ST that supporters of the proposal have sent 1,960 postcards and made 875 calls to Bottcher’s office since February, urging him to back the plan.
If both Bottcher and the City Council approve the proposal, a six-person Community Advisory Committee—comprised of Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Bottcher, Assembly Member Tony Simone, and Borough President Mark Levine—will then decide whether to support the casino license.
Related’s proposal is in the running for one of three downstate gaming licenses approved by the New York State Legislature in April 2022. To secure a license, it must compete with several other high-profile casino proposals backed by prominent developers.
Among the contenders are New York Mets owner Steve Cohen’s $8 billion “Metropolian Park” next to Citi Field, the Bjarke Ingels-designed Freedom Plaza near the U.N., “The Avenir” complex across from the Javits Center, a Jay-Z-backed Caesars Palace casino in Times Square, and a proposal in Coney Island.
Last week, Saks Fifth Avenue officially dropped its Midtown casino bid, which would have brought a luxury gaming venue atop its flagship store. As first reported by Crain’s, a Saks spokesperson said the company was now “focused on other strategic priorities.”
Related is unlikely to move forward with the project if it does not secure a gaming license, spokesperson Jon Weinstein previously told Crain’s. If approved, the project is expected to take roughly five years to complete.
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