CHELSEA — The announcement on Monday that the Hudson Yards project will begin construction next year was good news for the final section of the High Line: all the players involved with both projects are in agreement to push the park's final segment forward.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Monday that CSX Transportation, the private rail company that owns the section north of West 30th Street, has agreed in principle to donate it to the city.
The park currently runs from Gansevoort Street to West 30th Street, where it abruptly comes to an end at a chain-link fence, through which visitors can see the remaining section of abandoned tracks.
Related Companies, the developer behind the 26-acre Hudson Yards project, has also agreed in principle to preserve the structure of the park's final section, which curves around the development site, currently an MTA-owned rail yard.
Related does not have to agree to the deal, but at a press conference announcing that handbag designer Coach would anchor Hudson Yards' first building, the company's chairman Stephen Ross praised the park.
"We at Related look forward to continuing to work with the city, and the Friends of the High Line to transform segment three, and make it a very special place," Ross said.
The news that Coach would anchor Hudson Yards comes less than a week after Friends of the High Line announced a record $20 million donation from media executive Barry Diller and his wife, fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg’s Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. The money will be used to help design and build the final section of the park.
“We are thrilled that Coach plans to stay in the community and, by doing so, has catalyzed the construction of the final section of the High Line and the Hudson Yards,” said Robert Hammond, Co-Founder of Friends of the High Line, in a statement.
While there's no immediate timeline on when work on the third section can begin, Friends of the High Line said they're working to have it open to the public as soon as possible.
