TESTIMONY
PARTNERSHIP FOR NEW YORK CITY
by Kathryn Wylde
PRESIDENT & CEO
New York, New York
July 22, 2009
press release (PDF 68K)Testimony Submitted to the NYC Department of City Planning on the Proposal for 53 West 53rd Street and the Museum of Modern Art
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony today in support of the proposed Hines tower at 53 West 53rd Street, adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
The Partnership for New York City was established in the wake of New York City’s near bankruptcy in the 1970’s – a time when America’s cities were largely written off. MoMA’s Chairman Emeritus, David Rockefeller, along with other business leaders believed that cities would be more essential than ever as international centers of commerce and finance in an increasingly global economy. They organized the Partnership to help ensure that New York would emerge from the urban crisis as a great world city, which it certainly did.
Today, New York faces a challenge that is at least equal to that of forty years ago, but from an entirely different direction. The financial crisis and the ensuing global recession have had a devastating impact on our local economy. The unemployment rate of 9.5% is the highest in over 12 years. Some 117,000 New Yorkers have lost their jobs in the last nine months, and the City Comptroller’s office recently said that this number could hit 400,000 in 2010.
The problems of Wall Street and the economic downturn have created serious collateral damage to other sectors of the New York economy, including the nonprofit sector and tourism. Wall Street has been the dominant force in New York philanthropy for decades, but as it has tightened its belt; contributions to important nonprofit institutions like MoMA have slowed considerably. Most nonprofit institutions are reporting a 25-35% drop in donations. This is on top of revenues lost due to the decline in tourist visits, which have fallen by 6% since last summer. These conditions make it particularly necessary for the City to encourage private initiatives that create jobs and provide relief to cultural institutions. This is why the Hines tower and MoMA expansion project is so important.
The new tower itself promises to become a major tourist destination, just as the Empire State and Chrysler buildings did. It will also provide much needed space for MoMA’s continued growth. Even with MoMA’s recent expansion, the museum is severely restricted in what it can display from its extensive permanent collection. With the new tower, the museum will gain 70,000 square feet of new space, over half of which will consist of new galleries -- representing a 30% increase. This space will also help the museum better accommodate its 2.5 million annual visitors, as well as provide new areas for mechanical, administrative and storage uses.
There are also significant direct economic benefits of the project. During the construction phase, it is estimated that the tower will generate approximately 6,000 jobs and over $600 million in employee wages and compensation annually. Of those, 3,865 are direct construction jobs. Once completed, the project will result in 256 permanent jobs and $11.75 million in employee compensation statewide. These permanent jobs include 144 jobs within the planned hotel, retail store, restaurant and residential space, and another 112 ancillary jobs.
Finally, the new Hines tower and MoMA expansion are one example of the type of investment that is essential to combat the effects of the recession and reinforce New York’s position as an international global center. New York is in a competition with cities all over the world to determine where the global center of commerce will be in the next century. While we often consider the cost of doing business as the only indicator firms use when thinking about where to expand, lifestyle assets, like cultural amenities, are actually a key piece of the formula. The economy of the future is knowledge based, and success will rely on the ability to attract intellectual capital. Cultural venues and activities are critical to this effort. The new Hines tower and MoMA expansion will aid in the attraction of employers to New York because it will bolster the cultural assets that their employees want.
Thank you.
About the Partnership for New York City
The Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org) is a network of business leaders dedicated to enhancing the economy of the five boroughs of New York City and maintaining the city’s position as the center of world commerce, finance and innovation. Partnership companies account for nearly 7 million American jobs and contribute over $740 billion to the national GDP.