MANHATTAN — A $200 million sculpture coming to a plaza in the Hudson Yards could become the Big Apple's answer to the Eiffel Tower, a developer said on Monday.
Speaking at a Crain’s real estate conference, Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross said he believes the yet-to-be-revealed sculpture designed by British artist Thomas Heatherwick will “become to New York what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris,” Crain’s New York reported.
Back in 2013, Ross — whose firm, along with Oxford Properties Group, is developing part of the Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s West Side — estimated the sculpture would cost about $75 million.
Heatherwick’s studio has designed a number of high-profile projects, including the Olympic Cauldron at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the Shanghai World Expo 2010’s “UK Pavilion,” according to his website.
“It will be very iconic… very bold statements, I know that,” Ross reportedly said.
He added that the sculpture’s design will “hopefully” remain under wraps until September or later, Politico New York reported.
The plaza where it will reside will be “bigger than Trafalgar Square” in London, Ross said.
The developer's statement came on the same day Related Companies and Oxford released a report estimating that their 28-acre development will contribute nearly $19 billion to the city’s gross domestic product each year, or approximately 2.5 percent of the city’s GDP.
The project is expected to bring 55,752 jobs to the neighborhood, in addition to contributing $1.784 billion in revenue to the MTA during its construction and development, the release added.
The MTA could also be tasked with bringing back formerly discarded plans for a 7 train stop at West 41st Street and 10th Avenue, if Sen. Chuck Schumer and former deputy mayor of economic development Dan Doctoroff have a say.
During the Crain’s conference, the two voiced their support for a station at the site, with Schumer calling for the estimated $30 billion in revenue from the 7 train’s Hudson Yards station to go toward the West 41st Street stop, The Real Deal reported.
“One of the best uses of that money would be to now start to build that station,” Schumer said. “This will create huge benefits, far more than the cost of building that extra station.”
“It’s absolutely the right thing to do,” Doctoroff added.
An MTA study is currently examining where the station could be built and the amount of space it would occupy.
