New York’s power couple, Barry Diller (IAC) and Diane von Furstenberg (DVF) recently donated another $20 million to Friends of the High Line, to support the continuation of the park up to Hudson Yards. Opened in 2009, the park has become a huge attraction for New Yorkers and tourists alike attracting as many as 2 Million visitors a year. Recently I took a walk on the newly extended portion of the High Line – it is hard to convey the serenity one feels walking 40 feet above the street level past all these amazingly modern and old loft buildings without experiencing it first-hand. Sum it up to say that between the plantings, the tourists ‘on holidays’ taking pictures and the lack of street noise or grit, it’s a bit of like floating over Manhattan.

What’s next on the West Side? As reported by Bloomberg recently, Related Cos., Stephen Ross’ development company will begin Hudson Yards construction on a new 51 Story commercial building at the corner of 30th Street and Tenth Avenue by mid-2012, designed by Bill Pedersen of the firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. The design of the building will feature an angled top. Giving a hint of what is to come, Coach, Inc. has signed on as the first tenant for 600,000 square feet of the 1.7 million square foot building according to a statement made by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who compares the Hudson Yards project where decking over the 26-acre train yards will create the opportunity to create about 12 million square feet of new property.

As reported in my recently published print version of The Sargent Report (contact me for your personal copy), I believe that this upper west corner of Chelsea will create a new front for luxury real estate development, extending what started in the Meat Packing District and has rapidly moved north to the Chelsea Art District.