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J-E-T-S Equals J-O-B-S
$2.8 Billion Stadium and Convention
Center Plan Will Bring Construction Jobs
by Natalie Keith
With the construction industry eagerly watching, New York
City and State officials announced a $2.8 billion plan to
expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and build a 75,000-seat
stadium for the New York Jets football team.
The plan is part of a broader vision for the Hudson Yards
area on Manhattan's Far West Side to create a "convention
corridor." In addition to the expanded convention center
and new stadium - formally called the New York Sports and
Convention Center - the plan calls for extending the No. 7
subway line, creating acres of parkland, enhancing access
to the waterfront and rezoning the area for new housing and
commercial opportunities.
"We want to take one of the least productive and least
occupied areas of the city and turn it into one of New York's
great places," said Daniel Doctoroff, the city's deputy
mayor for economic development and rebuilding.
City officials said the plan will generate 42,000 construction
jobs and 17,500 permanent jobs but will face some daunting
hurdles on its road to completion. Officials are hoping to
break ground next spring with a final completion date of 2010.
Opponents - including the Hell's Kitchen/Hudson Yards Alliance
and several New York state assembly members - are joining
forces to oppose the plan for several reasons, including the
traffic impact to the neighborhood.
Opponents have also criticized proposed funding of the project,
which includes $600 million from the city and state, saying
the money would be better used for transportation, school
and other public initiatives. The remaining $800 million needed
for the stadium would be supplied by the Jets.
The Stadium
The first phase of the project will include the creation
of the New York Sports and Convention Center, a multipurpose
facility that will double as a stadium and a 200,000-sq.-ft.
exhibit hall. It will be home to the Jets and possibly the
2012 Olympics.
The impetus for the plan's announcement was propelled by
the Jets' need to build a new stadium before the team's lease
runs out on its current home in the New Jersey Meadowlands
Sports Complex and by the city's need to show progress on
the stadium before July 2005 when the International Olympic
Committee will select the host for the 2012 games.
The facility will function as a stadium for about 17 days
a year - 10 home games for the Jets and other sporting events
and concerts on the other days. During the rest of the year,
it will be used as a mid-sized convention center and offer
ancillary space to the Javits Center linked via an underground
concourse.
It will also house a museum, community theater and several
signature restaurants.
The last time the Jets played in Manhattan was on Dec. 14,
1963, in a game against the Buffalo Bills. The Jets - then
called the New York Titans - lost 19-10 before 6,526 fans
at the Polo Grounds in Harlem. The Jets moved to Shea Stadium
in Flushing, Queens, where they played until they left New
York altogether in 1984 for the Meadowlands.
"When I become owner of the team in 2000, I pledged
that my highest priority was to bring the Jets back to where
they belong, right here in Manhattan," said Jets owner
Woody Johnson. "Once we come back, we're not leaving."
The Convention Center
The Javits Center presently stretches from 34th to 39th streets
and from 11th to 12th avenues. Under plans, the center would
be expanded to 42nd Street in two phases, the first phase
expanding south to 33rd Street and north to 40th Street, including
a 1,500-room headquarters hotel.
Expanding the undersized Javits Center is seen as vital to
attracting more conventions and trade shows to New York. More
conventions and shows will spark more hotel, restaurant and
other economic activity.
Despite ranking first in attendance and second in number
of shows among convention centers across the country, the
Javits Center is too small to accommodate 63 of the largest
shows held annually.
"New York is a world-class city that deserves a world-class
convention center," said Charles Gargano, chairman of
the Empire State Development Corp.
The new Javits Center will be expanded from 760,000 sq. ft.
to 1 million sq. ft. of exhibit space, 256,000 sq. ft. of
meeting space and 86,000 sq. ft. in new ballroom space as
part of the phase one expansion. The expansion plans are being
designed by Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum in New York, N.Y.,
which has been working with the Javits Center since 1996.
The proposed "green" roof of the expanded Javits
Center will provide several acres of publicly accessible open
space with a riverfront esplanade. Preliminary plans call
for what would be North America's largest living roof, according
to HOK.
The existing center has a ratio of over 25 sq. ft. of exhibit
space to 1 sq. ft. of meeting room space. Major competitors
have a ratio of 5 sq. ft. of exhibit space to 1 sq. ft. of
meeting room space. Under the HOK expansion plans, the ratio
of the new center would be 4 to 1.
After the phase two expansion, which will financed separately,
total exhibit and meeting space will be 1.705 million sq.
ft.
"The expansion of the Javits Center and the New York
Sports and Convention Center will mean an end to seasonal
layoffs in New York City's hotel industry forever," said
Peter Ward, president of the New York Hotel and Motel Trades
Council and business manager of HERE Local 6.
The Financing
A variety of financing mechanisms will be used to make the
project happen.
For the $1.4 billion stadium, the city and state will each
contribute $300 million to build a deck over the railyards
and for the stadium's retractable roof, which will permit
the facility to be used around the year.
City officials have not yet revealed where the money for
the project will come from, but Gargano has said the state
plans to implement tax-increment financing to raise the money
for its share.
The Jets will contribute the remaining $800 million for construction
of the stadium and, after it's completed, pay an undetermined
amount of rent to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority,
which owns the railyards.
The phase one expansion of the Javits Center will cost $1.4
billion, funded through several sources. The city will contribute
$350 million through reserve funds made available by the Battery
Park City Authority. The state will contribute $350 million
through restructuring of existing Javits Center bonds and
utilizing special federal advanced refunding legislation,
according to city and state officials.
The hotel industry has agreed to a dedicated $1.50 per room
tax surcharge that will generate $500 million. Private financing
will help build a 1,500-room headquarters hotel at 42nd Street
and 11th Avenue, officials said.
"The city and state are protected from any construction
overruns but share in any construction savings," New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Under the project plan, the 32 acres of land owned the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority that comprise the Hudson Yards area
would be given to the city in a land swap. In exchange for
the land, the city would extend the No. 7 subway line at no
cost to the MTA.
The stadium is projected to to generate $75 million in new
tax revenues for the city and state and 6,700 permanent jobs,
while the Javits Center expansion will increase tax revenue
by an additional $53 million, from $97 million to $150 million,
and create 10,830 additional jobs.
The Process
When they announced the plans last month, city officials
gave the following timeline for the approval process:
- June - Certification of draft generic environmental
impact statement by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
and the New York City Department of Planning
- June - Empire State Development Corp. initial board
action, including adoption of the general project plan
- September - ESDC public hearing on general project
plan
- November - Adoption of final generic environmental
impact statement by the MTA and city planning
- November - Final ESDC board action
- November - MTA board action
- April 2005 - Closing of leases and other transaction
documents
- May 2005 - Closing of initial platform financing and
initial facility financing
- June 2005 - Construction start
The plan also requires the state Legislature's approval for
a new version of the Javits Center's operating laws that would
allow the facility to expand its geographic bounds, to extend
existing Javits' bonds to generate $350 million to finance
the project and to create the $1.50-per-night hotel tax.
The city's plan to use $350 million from the Battery Park
City Authority requires the approval of the authority board,
mayor and comptroller. The Jets must also obtain financing
for their $800 million commitment.
The Opposition
If the project only involved expanding the Javits Center,
the opposition would be much less. But with the plan involving
a Jets stadium - and the city's dreams of hosting the Olympic
Games - the project is facing criticism from a variety of
sources.
In a statement issued the day the plan was announced, the
Hell's Kitchen/Hudson Yards Alliance said the stadium would
"obstruct the sensible expansion of the Javits Center,
require a massive taxpayer subsidy, frustrate the MTA's ability
to fund transportation projects, create unlivable traffic
problems in Manhattan neighborhoods and tie up the city's
Olympic bid in unnecessary controversy."
The alliance is a coalition of neighborhood elected officials,
community organizations and community activists formed to
oppose the stadium.
"A sports team should not be the recipient of a public
handout of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars,"
said State Assembly member Richard Gottfried, who represents
the neighborhood. "If the MTA gives its land away to
the Jets for anything less than its true value, it will have
a hard time explaining to the public why there are insufficient
funds to build the Second Avenue Subway or provide new equipment,
or why riders' transit fares must be increased."
Critics frequently site research demonstrating that sports
stadiums do not foster widespread economic development in
a neighborhood.
"Stadiums do not lead to revitalization, even if you
call them sports and convention centers," said New York
City public advocate Betsy Gotbaum. "In this case, there's
reason to think that a stadium may cause industries to leave
the West Side.
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has also been critical
of the project, particularly the planned use of Battery Park
City Authority funds to finance it. Silver has said he opposes
the use of authority funds for anything but the revitalization
of Lower Manhattan.
The Industry
In response to the opposition, construction industry groups
are planning to launch a radio and print advertising campaign
to highlight the project's attributes and dispel misperceptions.
Representatives from groups such as the New York Building
Congress and the Building Trades Employers' Association will
also meet with elected officials to lobby in favor of the
project.
"We believe this project should move forward and move
forward quickly," said Louis Coletti, president and CEO,
Building Trades Employers' Association. "The tax benefits
and improvement in the quality of life in the areas outweighs
the concerns that have been raised."
Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress,
said the stadium is an integral part of the plan and cannot
be discarded.
"What's most impressive about the proposal is that it
is based on a thoughtful and far-reaching plan for the Far
West Side," Anderson said. "It's not just a collection
of projects." He added that a common misperception is
that the Jets stadium will be similar in design to suburban
football stadiums that are stand-alone facilities surrounded
by a sea of parking lots.
"It's quite the contrary," he said. "The Jets
stadium is a unique component of the development and would
fit in remarkably well with the urban fabric of the city."
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