The program would also extend the Inclusionary Zoning Program within the rezoning area to include the neighboring Hells Kitchen community. The third element is to enhance the current preservation option to ensure that more existing units would be preserved in exchange for increased density.

The 40-year redevelopment plan calls for the creation of 13,600 new residential units with a total of 2,600 affordable units. This is an increase of 500 affordable housing units over the number that would have been generated by the Hudson Yards proposal certified in June. The plan involves the area from West 30th Street to West 43rd Street, and Seventh and Eighth avenues to 12th Avenue. It is bordered by Clinton to the north, Chelsea to the south, the Hudson River to the west and the Garment Center and Midtown to the east.

"The comprehensive Hudson Yards plan for a vibrant new neighborhood will secure New York City's economic future," says city planning director Amanda M. Burden.

"We want to expand options for safe, decent and affordable housing to New Yorkers of all income levels," adds HPD commissioner Shaun Donovan.

Current residents of the community would be given preference in the lottery to rent or buy at least half of the affordable homes and apartments and affordability provisions for all units, produced or preserved by inclusionary zoning would last in perpetuity. The proposal is currently in the public review process and the City Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the proposal Nov. 22.

Already adding to housing in the area is the Fashion Institute of Technology's acquisition this past summer of a 320,000-sf former flex property at 406 W. 31st St. The college will convert the site into 493 student apartments. In addition to affordable housing, the plan also calls for the creation of 28 million sf of office space, 3,000 hotel rooms, 700,000 sf of retail space, and more than 20 acres of new parkland.

Earlier this year, the city created the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp., a nonprofit that will help in the financing of the massive West Side project. City estimates peg the total costs of the infrastructure to be financed between 2005 and 2012 to be $2.8 billion and a continued build-out is expected to follow through 2040.