How do I feel about Hudson Yards?

Well, let’s see. It’s a $25 billion office-and-apartment mega project that was financed, in part, through an investor visa program (EB-5) that grants visas in exchange for real estate investments (as in if you put up >$500K in real estate projects, we give you a visa to stay in the States). This visa is supposed to help fuel development of distressed urban or remote rural areas, places that could really use the financial boost, basically.

$1.2 billion of the $25 billion for developing Hudson Yards came from the EB-5 visa program, but, as anyone with half an eye can see, this project is far from “distressed.” How did the project get the $1.2 billion then? Easy, through a workaround that basically gerrymandered the map of Manhattan and bundled several parts of Harlem with Hudson Yards, allowing it to qualify for the EB-5 visa program.

So yeah. This ultra-luxurious new neighborhood stole the funds from other parts of the city that could really use the $. And also, the neighborhood is absolutely devoid of any character. When I walked through the mall, I felt like I could’ve been in any other high-end department store around the world.