The most ambitious unbuilt piece of Manhattan’s far West Side cleared a critical hurdle in mid-2025. On June 30, 2025, the City Council approved the financing that allows Related Companies to develop the Western Railyards — the second half of Hudson Yards — with about 4,000 new apartments, 625 of them permanently affordable.

The site that was never built

When Hudson Yards opened its first phase in 2019, it was the eastern half of the project: the towers, the mall and the Vessel, all built on a platform over the eastern rail yard. The western yard — the active Long Island Rail Road storage tracks west of Eleventh Avenue — was always meant to be the second act, but it sat undeveloped as financing, design and political conditions shifted over the following years.

Related’s revised plan for the Western Railyards centers on housing. The developer has proposed roughly 4,000 apartments, a new office tower, a roughly 6.6-acre public green, a K–8 school and a daycare. Of the apartments, 625 are designated permanently affordable.

Why financing, not just zoning, was the hurdle

The defining engineering problem at Hudson Yards is the rail yard itself. To build anything, the developer must first construct a platform — a deck strong enough to carry towers while LIRR trains keep running underneath. That platform for the western yard carries an estimated price tag of about $2 billion, and its cost is the reason the project hinged on a financing vote rather than a routine rezoning.

The mechanism the council approved is a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, structure. Rather than paying conventional property taxes, the future development makes tax-equivalent payments that can be pledged to finance the deck and infrastructure up front. The council’s June 30, 2025 vote approved that PILOT model, the step that makes the platform — and everything on it — financeable.

What the deal includes

Beyond the platform and housing, the agreement attaches public benefits to the private development: the affordable units, the public park, and the school and daycare seats. Related and the Adams administration framed the package as unlocking thousands of homes on one of the largest remaining development sites in Manhattan.

The financing structure drew scrutiny. By 2026, some West Side political candidates were calling for a fresh review of the roughly $2 billion arrangement, arguing the public should re-examine the terms before the deck is built. That debate plays out against a backdrop of separate Hudson Yards activity: 70 Hudson Yards, a roughly 717-foot, 1.4-million-square-foot tower on Hudson Boulevard, broke ground in June 2025.

The Western Railyards deck remains the larger and slower undertaking. The 2025 vote cleared the financing path; turning approval into a finished platform and 4,000 occupied apartments is a multi-year build.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Western Railyards?
The western half of Hudson Yards — the rail yard west of Eleventh Avenue, between roughly 30th and 33rd Streets — that was never built on during the project's first phase. Related Companies plans to deck it over and develop housing, office space and open space.
What did the City Council actually approve in 2025?
On June 30, 2025 the council approved a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) financing structure that funds the roughly $2 billion platform needed to build over the active Long Island Rail Road tracks. The PILOT lets future tax-equivalent payments help finance the deck and infrastructure.
How much housing, and how affordable?
The next phase is planned for about 4,000 apartments, of which 625 are to be permanently affordable, alongside a new office tower, a roughly 6.6-acre public park, a K–8 school and a daycare.
Has anything started?
A separate Hudson Yards tower, 70 Hudson Yards on Hudson Boulevard, broke ground in June 2025. The Western Railyards deck itself is the larger, longer-horizon undertaking the 2025 financing vote unlocked.