UPDATE 1-'Last bucket' hailed at NY Hudson Yards project's first building

(Updates paragraph 6 to say EB-5 money was critical in
financing platform)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Developers of a massive New York
real estate project celebrated a major milestone on Wednesday
with the pouring of a "last bucket" of cement on the first
building slated to be finished at the Hudson Yards site on
Manhattan's west side.
Plans for the 28-acre development include 17 million square
feet of commercial and residential space, shops, restaurants, a
public school and a luxury hotel, according to its website.
Retailer Coach Inc (NYSE:COH) COH.N is scheduled in March 2016 to be
the first tenant to occupy the building, 10 Hudson Yards, the
largest commercial building ever erected in New York out of
concrete, said Jeff Blau, chief executive of Related Companies,
one of the site's developers along with Canada's Oxford
Properties Group.
Blau said the Hudson Yards developers are closely monitoring
a pending vote in December on whether Congress will renew the
EB-5 jobs program, in which foreigners can lend a minimum
$500,000 to a project in exchange for gaining U.S. residency.
Hudson Yards has received $600 million mostly from Chinese
investors under the EB-5 program and expects to raise a similar
amount from a more diversified group of foreigners, he said.
A Related spokeswoman said the EB-5 money, while minor to
the project's $20 billion cost was critical in financing a key
piece of infrastructure, the so-called platform, where
traditional financing was all but non-existent.
The platform serves as the foundation for Hudson Yards,
which is being built atop tunnels under the Hudson River between
New Jersey and Manhattan's Penn Station, as well as over 30
active train tracks.
The developers consider the site to be the largest privately
funded real estate project in U.S. history.
Equity investors in the first phase of the Hudson Yards
include JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) Asset Management JPM.N and the Kuwait
Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund. Construction
financing is being provided by a syndicate led by Starwood
Property Trust Inc STWD.N .
Ten Hudson Yards, a 52-story building with 1.7 million
square feet of space, is 85 percent leased now, with other
tenants to be announced shortly, Blau said at the "topping out"
ceremony. The tower is expected to be fully occupied by the end
of 2016, he said.