$450m Hudson Yards venture okayed.

A joint venture between real estate developers, The Dermot Company and Equity Residential, will build two 18-story residential buildings above the Lincoln Tunnel's entrance and exit ramps from 36th Street to 38th Street.

The deal, which was approved by the Port Authority at its board meeting last week, will cost $450 million and will begin construction in mid-2007 according to a statement issued by The Dermot Company. FxFowle Architects is the project architect and Bovis Lend Lease will be the construction manager. As part of the deal, the Port Authority will bear the cost of constructing a platform over the ramps that will support the two buildings while allowing traffic to pass underneath. Similar such structures exist elsewhere in the city, including over the access ramps to the George Washington Bridge.

To be called Hudson Mews, the two buildings will have 800-rental units 20% of which are designated as affordable housing units that will qualify it as an 80/20 development, a designation that will allow the project significant real estate tax breaks and cheaper financing.

The development, whose entrances will be on 37th Street west of Ninth Avenue, will also include 25,000 s/f of public open space.

In a statement, The Port Authority described the development site as one of a number in the city for which it is seeking to garner attention from private developers by investing in significant site preparation such as the construction of platforms.

A Port Authority spokesman was unable to comment on what other parcels would be developed.