Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Coach Donates $5M to Complete High Line's Third Section

By Mathew Katz | June 10, 2013 3:14pm
 A rendering of the Hudson Yards South Tower, which will straddle the High Line.
A rendering of the Hudson Yards South Tower, which will straddle the High Line.
View Full Caption
Related Companies

HUDSON YARDS — The High Line just bagged another multimillion-dollar donor.

Luxury handbag maker Coach has donated $5 million to the elevated park to help build and maintain its third section.

Coach plans to relocate its main office into a 47-story, 1.7 million-square-foot tower at Hudson Yards that will straddle the park's third section at West 30th Street. A new semi-enclosed section of the park under the building will be called the "Coach Passageway" to honor the donation.

Coach's cash will help bring the Campaign for the High Line — a fundraising effort by Friends of the High Line to finish construction and maintain the park's third section — to a total of $99 million of its $125 million goal.

“The Coach Foundation’s gift is a concrete expression of Coach’s ongoing commitment to the development of the High Line, and demonstrates our confidence in the future of the Hudson Yards community," said Lew Frankfort, the company's chairman and CEO, in a statement.

The park has received several huge donations over the years from high-profile sources, including $20 million from Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, $5 million from Tiffany & Co. and $5 million from Donald Pels and Wendy Keys. However, its donors' largesse has caused some to question why the high-profile park needs so much cash from the city.

Work on the High Line's third section kicked off in September and will cost about $90 million, with an expected opening in 2014. Tours of the undeveloped part of the park are still available to the public as part of "Caterpillar," an art exhibit on the elevated park.