Indefinitely withheld the 2nd stage project for unsold apartments of hundreds of apartments… Investor Litigation Figure
The New York Hudson Yard Project, which is said to be the largest private real estate development project in the history of the United States, is staggering due to a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) pandemic, the New York Times (NYT) reported on the 6th (local time).
A total of 25 billion dollars (approximately 28 trillion won) for this project to transform 28 acres (approximately 113,000 square meters) of land, including the railroad base between the Hudson River and Pennsylvania Station in the west of Manhattan in New York City, into large offices, shopping malls, apartments, and hotels. ) Is injected.
The honeycomb-shaped building, Vessel, created through the first phase of the project, completed in 2019, soon became a new tourist attraction representing New York.
Companies such as Facebook, HBO, CNN, L’Oreal, Black Rock, Tapestry, and Kate Spade all seemed to be walking on a solid road by signing a tenancy contract.
However, the newspaper reported that the Corona 19 crisis caused a sudden drop in demand for luxury housing in Manhattan, and as most companies switched to telecommuting, a sudden crisis came, the newspaper reported.
NYT reported that the second-stage project to build eight more new buildings, including high-end condos (apartments), offices, and schools, appears to have been put on hold indefinitely.
The Related Company, which promotes this project, has announced that it will complete the entire project by 2024, but has not been able to present a specific expected completion date.
Reportedly, Related is in discussions with the Federal Ministry of Transportation for financing plans through low-interest loans for the construction of the railroad base for the second phase project.
It is also a big concern that funds are not flowing as expected from new buildings already completed through the first phase of the project.
The newspaper reported that hundreds of high-end condos in Hudson Yard are still unsold.
According to NYT analysis, 157 households were sold in 2019, but only 30 households were sold last year, when the corona19 pandemic began.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Eui-sun Eui-seon also bought one of them for $4974,000,190 (about 5.59 billion won) in October 2019.
Related said earlier this year that several contracts were under way as demand recovered, but it is widely observed that Manhattan’s luxury housing market will take years to fully recover.
Renting commercial facilities is also a headache.
As a key tenant, a high-end department store, Neiman Marcus, filed for bankruptcy protection in the aftermath of Corona 19, the Related side plans to convert the space into an office.
In addition to Neiman Marcus, four stores and multiple restaurants, including luxury clothing Forty Five Ten, have also decided to close.
Prior to the Corona 19 crisis, the Related side had been confident that it could generate profits mainly through the sale of luxury condos and rental of shopping malls.
But now, there are fewer customers than mall store employees, and Blue Bottle Coffee Shop is the only store in line, NYT pointed out.
The number of people at Hudson Yard Station on Subway Line 7, which was extended through the development project, was 6,500 people a day on weekdays in December last year, which was only one-third of the average of 20,000 people last year.
In the meantime, 35 Chinese investors filed a class lawsuit against Related, demanding transparent accounting disclosures, and other Chinese investor groups are preparing a similar lawsuit, the newspaper said.
/yunhap news