Dive Brief:
- A consortium led by New York City developer The Related Companies has proposed a $700 million Harlem River Yards mixed-use plan that would feature the city's first soccer-specific stadium, a 26,000-seat venue designed by architect Rafael Vinoly, New York YIMBY reported.
- If the state selects the Related-led group, which also includes real estate investment firm Somerset Partners and the New York City Football Club, to redevelop the Bronx site, it will build a 550-unit affordable and workforce housing component, which will feature a 25,000-square-foot medical facility. The project would also see construction of offices for the soccer club, retail, children's recreation space, a youth soccer training facility, an entertainment plaza, a waterfront park and a new ferry terminal.
- The Related group would enter into a 99-year lease for the property, for which it would pay $500,000 annually. The $700 million would include $25 million to create a new waterfront and $100 million in remedial work in order to be able to build on the site. If chosen to redevelop the former rail yard, the consortium estimates it will be complete by 2022.
Dive Insight:
Related has extensive experience in redeveloping former rail yards, like the $25 billion Hudson Yards development in Manhattan. The company's Midwest division is also planning a redevelopment of the 60-plus-acre site of an abandoned rail yard in Chicago into a massive mixed-use complex that will include residential, retail and commercial space, as well as an interdisciplinary public-private research and innovation center.
Because the Bronx site is owned by the state, chances are that when it comes time to hammer out a redevelopment deal, there will be workforce requirements as part of a probable project labor agreement (PLA), which sets workforce-related elements like union involvement, pay rates and work hours. This could prove to be a delicate process for Related as it is currently at odds with some unions that performed work at Hudson Yards, leading to protests at the Hudson Yards project.
Related claims that it was bilked out of $100 million by some unions during the first phase of construction at the Manhattan development and has refused to negotiate further with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, which was integral in designing the first-phase PLA. The council has argued that Related and other New York City builders and developers are part of an effort to diminish the influence of trade unions in the city and has filed complaints of its own with the National Labor Relations Board.
Regardless of where the legal battles stand, if Related begins work at Harlem River Yards, one of the issues will be how much room the company will make – or be forced to make – for union labor.
