Hudson Yards (development)
Hudson Yards is a 28-acre (11 ha) real estate development in the Hudson Yards neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City, between the Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen neighborhoods. It is located on the waterfront of the Hudson River. Upon completion, 13 of the 16 planned structures on the West Side of Midtown South would sit on a platform built over the West Side Yard, a storage yard for Long Island Rail Road trains (hence the development’s name). The first of its two phases, opened in 2019, comprises a public green space and eight structures that contain residences, a hotel, office buildings, a mall, and a cultural facility. The second phase, on which construction had not started as of 2023, will include residential space, an office building, and a school.
This article is about the development. For the neighborhood of Manhattan, see Hudson Yards, Manhattan. For other uses, see Hudson Yards (disambiguation).Location
Above West Side Yard, Manhattan, New York City
Under construction
December 4, 2012[1]
2027
- General site plan: Kohn Pedersen Fox, Thomas Heatherwick
- 50 Hudson Yards only: Foster + Partners[2]
- 55 Hudson Yards only: Roche-Dinkeloo[3]
US$25 billion
28 acres (11 ha)
Related Companies and Oxford Properties are the primary developers and major equity partners in the project. Related, Oxford, and other large investors have funded Hudson Yards' construction from several capital sources, including from foreign investors through the EB-5 investment program. Mitsui Fudosan owns a 92.09 percent stake in 55 Hudson Yards, and a 90 percent stake in 50 Hudson Yards. The architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox designed the master plan for the site, and architects including Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, Thomas Heatherwick, Foster + Partners, Roche-Dinkeloo, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro contributed designs for individual structures. Major office tenants include or will include fashion company Tapestry, consulting firm BCG, the new New York bureau for CNN, and urban planning organization Sidewalk Labs.
The Hudson Yards site was initially intended for other developments, most notably in the early 2000s as the site of the West Side Stadium, during the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Public officials and private investors began developing the new Hudson Yards plan after the failure of the West Side Stadium. Construction began in 2012 with the groundbreaking for 10 Hudson Yards, and the first phase opened on March 15, 2019. Agreements between various entities including the local government, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and the state of New York made the development possible.
The special zoning for Hudson Yards (an area roughly bound by 30th Street in the south, 41st Street in the north, 11th Avenue in the west, and Eighth Avenue in the east) further incentivized the building of other large-scale projects. Hudson Yards is adjacent but unrelated to Manhattan West, 3 Hudson Boulevard, and The Spiral.
Wynn New York City
History[edit]
Older site proposals[edit]
Several developers and other entities proposed uses for the rail yard during the 20th century. In 1956, William Zeckendorf suggested the construction of the "Freedom Tower," which would have risen 1,750 feet (530 m),[88] making it the tallest building in the world at the time.[89] Transportation to the new complex would have been via a "passenger conveyor belt" from further east in Midtown. Zeckendorf never purchased the rights, as he was unable to secure financing for the deal, given that large-scale speculative real estate projects were not an asset class that institutional investors and lenders took an interest in at the time.[90] The administration of Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. released a $670 million development plan in 1963, which was ultimately never realized.[91]
In the 1980s, both the Jets and the Yankees proposed new stadiums above the rails, though none of these projects succeeded. Another ultimately unsuccessful plan for a new stadium for the Yankees was proposed above the West Side Yard in 1993.[92] A similar plan for a Yankee stadium above the West Side Yard was proposed in 1996,[93] and was endorsed by mayor Rudy Giuliani.[94] However, the plan also received opposition from many other public figures,[94] and was also not built.[92]
By the early 2000s, plans for the rail yard long included a new Olympic stadium,[95] to become the home of the Jets after the games ended.[96] Proposers dubbed the structure the "New York Sports and Convention Center". In addition to the stadium, rezoning the adjacent area would have incentivized the construction of some 13,000 new residential units and 28 million square feet (2,600,000 m2) of office space.[97][98] This effort, led by Daniel Doctoroff, was unpopular with the public and politicians.[99]
In January 2005, the New York City Council approved the 60-block rezoning, including the eastern portion of the West Side Yard.[100] Michael Bloomberg, then the city's mayor, subsequently separated the city's broader rezoning plans from the rail yard stadium.[101][102] In conjunction with the city, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a 12.7-million-square-foot (1,180,000 m2) mixed-use development to be built on platforms over the rail yard, which would remain in use throughout.[103]
The MTA received three bids to cap and lease the rail yard. Cablevision (the owner of the nearby Madison Square Garden), the New York Jets organization, and TransGas Energy all submitted proposals.[104] The Jets won the development rights, but several lawsuits filed after the bidding process alleged they won without paying a fair price.[105] In June 2005, New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver voted against the stadium, definitively eliminating the possibility of support at the state level and the possibility of the stadium's construction.[106] Although Bloomberg and others expressed doubts about interest in the area from real estate companies after the stadium fell through, development nevertheless continued.[107] The former mayor later expressed that the loss of the stadium may have been a "blessing" for New York.[108]
The MTA received proceeds from the development's 2006 bond offering to pay for an extension of the New York City Subway's 7 and <7> trains to 34th Street–Hudson Yards station.[109] With funding assured, the MTA proceeded quickly to construct the extension.[110] The first construction contracts were awarded in October 2007,[111][112] and the subway extension opened on September 13, 2015.[113][114]
Projected to cost $25 billion upon its completion, Hudson Yards is one of the most expensive real estate developments ever built in the United States,[216][217] and the largest private development in the country's history.[218] Under the terms of their agreement with Oxford, Related retains a 60 percent stake in the complex.[219] Related is unusual among real estate firms in that it develops and subsequently retains ownership of rental buildings it constructs, meaning it has a large portfolio of affordable rental properties that provide consistent income.[220] Initial funding came exclusively from Related and partner Goldman Sachs. After Goldman exited this arrangement, Related and its new partner, Oxford, secured a number of capital sources.[221][222] These include conventional lenders, such as Wells Fargo, foreign investors through the EB-5 program, and a debt raise on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.[221] $600 million of the project's financing has come from EB-5, making it the project to receive the most funding from the program. Other lenders include The Children's Investment Fund Foundation, Deutsche Bank, and Allianz. As of September 2017, Related had raised about $18 billion in funds.[223]
Related has also received or otherwise benefited from $6 billion in investments and tax breaks from the city in conjunction with Hudson Yards' construction.[224] While The New York Times described the $6 billion as comprising numerous "tax breaks", a columnist for Crain's New York Business disputed this statement, saying, "There are two significant tax breaks which the New School totals at a little more than $1.36 billion", and that the rest of the investment was in infrastructure such as parks and the 7 Subway Extension.[225] The $6 billion sum includes:
An additional $1 billion was given to other developers who were building nearby projects.[224]
Tenants[edit]
10 Hudson Yards is occupied by Coach,[6] the Boston Consulting Group,[227] and Sidewalk Labs.[228] 30 Hudson Yards would be occupied by Time Warner,[229] DNB Bank,[230] Wells Fargo Securities,[231] and Facebook once it opens. 50 Hudson Yards, which opened in 2022,[232] hosts the corporate headquarters of BlackRock, and part of it also being occupied by Facebook.[40][41] 55 Hudson Yards would be occupied by at least three law firms (Boies, Schiller & Flexner;[233] Cooley LLP;[45] and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy[46]), as well as by Facebook,[40][41] electronic trading platform MarketAxess,[234] and pharmaceutical company Intercept Pharmaceuticals.[235] The city has enticed large tenants to Hudson Yards by making them eligible for discretionary tax credits once they add a certain number of jobs there.[224]
Joe Patrice, writing for Above the Law, noted that with the move of Cooley LLP to 55 Hudson Yards from the Grace Building there was an "official trend" of law firms moving to the new office buildings on the far West Side.[236] This move westward follows a trend from earlier in the 21st century, when firms began moving from parts of Midtown such as the Plaza District to Times Square and other areas with new office towers.[237]
A number of financial firms have left offices in Midtown or the Financial District for the development.[238] Following speculation that private equity company KKR might move to Hudson Yards, other finance-focused companies became more interested in the possibility of relocating there. KKR's long-time occupancy at the Solow Building in Midtown produced a similar effect, as Apollo Global Management, Och-Ziff Capital Management, and Silver Lake Partners had also taken space in the Midtown building.[239] KKR ultimately decided to move to 30 Hudson Yards; Silver Lake announced it would leave the Solow Building for 55 Hudson Yards in 2017 after speculation it would do so.[239][240] BlackRock, another major financial company, signed on as an anchor tenant at 50 Hudson Yards, where it is to occupy 850,000 square feet (79,000 m2).[39] Financial Times wrote that Hudson Yards "is the boldest expression of a new fashion in corporate real estate that buildings and 'space' should be potent weapons in a fight to recruit and retain talented young workers."[241]
Equinox Fitness also operates the world's largest Equinox-branded gym at 35 Hudson Yards.[238]
Design and reception[edit]
Architectural critiques[edit]
Kohn Pedersen Fox designed the site's master plan, as well as four individual buildings: 10, 30, and 55 Hudson Yards and the shopping center. Firms and individual architects working on distinct buildings did not meet to produce a uniform aesthetic or review the plans for individual buildings together. Two architects involved in the project, Thomas Woltz and Bill Pedersen, have respectively compared the relationship between the buildings to "mastodons, pineapples, sheds, swizzlesticks and bubble mats" and "elephants dancing".[242]
Justin Davidson, writing for New York in 2018, referred to 10 Hudson Yards as "taller, fatter, and greener" than historical New York City skyscrapers, despite more staid interiors with typical open floor plans and corresponding curtain wall.[243] Davidson later compared Hudson Yards unfavorably to Manhattan West, writing that the Brookfield development "[...] feels like a corner of New York conceived with actual human beings in mind" while Hudson Yards "[...] has aged from a shiny new space station to a disconsolate one".[244]
New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman called Hudson Yards a "gated community" catering to the upper-class, writing: "A relic of dated 2000s thinking, nearly devoid of urban design, it declines to blend into the city grid."[245] The Guardian's architecture and design critic, Oliver Wainwright, said that "the real shock is that it's quite so bad", and that the new buildings represented "ungainly lumps", with the logic of design "presenting a mostly blank frontage of service hatches and lift lobbies to the city".[246]
Restaurants and amenities[edit]
In a review of the restaurant offerings at Hudson Yards written in anticipation of the complex opening to the public, Ryan Sutton criticized Related and Oxford for including only two establishments run by women.[247] Further, Sutton criticized Related and Oxford for failing to provide opportunities for small, local operators to open in Hudson Yards, instead leasing to restaurateurs and organizations which had already experienced "great success".[247] Sutton also criticized the lack of "vibrancy" at Hudson Yards, caused by a lack of street-level restaurants.[247] Sutton noted the presence of several chain establishments, such as Sweetgreen and Think Coffee, at street-level in and near the complex, but wrote that "Fast casual isn't known for fostering communal dinnertime bonhomie".[247] In his review, Sutton did express positive anticipation of Mercado Little Spain, a restaurant and food court which had not yet opened in 10 Hudson Yards at the time the piece was published by Eater.[247]
When Mercado Little Spain ultimately opened in 2019, Eater published a mixed review of its offerings written by Robert Sietsema.[248] In a separate review by Sutton of the opened complex, published in 2019, the critic referred to Hudson Yards as "the worst place to eat fancy food in New York".[249] In the 2019 review, which served as an introduction to Eater's individual reviews of restaurants in Hudson Yards, Sutton panned TAK Room, a restaurant by Thomas Keller, but offered praise for Kawi and Milos Wine Bar.[249] In his full review of TAK Room, Sutton criticized its prices and the discrepancy between the cost of eating at the restaurant and his perception of the quality of the food and service.[250] Pete Wells, in his review of the restaurant, echoed Sutton's criticisms.[251] TAK Room closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[252]
The Equinox Hotel received a positive review from Vanity Fair.[253] Samantha Lewis praised the hotel for its emphasis on providing guests with "blissful slumber".[253] The hotel's restaurant, Electric Lemon, has received an "underwhelming" review from Pete Wells.[254]
Public perception[edit]
The Hudson Yards development has had mixed public approval. The New York Times questioned if New York City needed another "gated community," which alludes to the premium nature of the development, shops and condominium offerings.[255] Bridget Read wrote for Curbed in 2022 that "the broad public benefit from the largest real-estate development in American history has not yet materialized".[256] A study by The New School found that Hudson Yards had cost city residents an additional $2.2 billion in taxes, even though the project was supposed to have been self-financed.[256][257]
Comedian Conner O'Malley released a video titled "Hudson Yards Video Game" which was perceived as critical of the project.[258][259]
Resilience[edit]
Hudson Yards sits within Manhattan's 100-year floodplain, and the rail lines have previously been flooded despite preventive measures. Given that the bulk of the new structures would rise from an already elevated platform, the development is above the floodplain, and most mechanical systems are similarly raised. In addition, new elevator pits would be made waterproof.[260]
Klaus Jacob, a professor at Columbia University, has stated approval of the project stems from the "shortsightedness of decision-making" by its developers and the city in the face of impending climate change.[261] In his 2017 novel New York 2140, author Kim Stanley Robinson mentions the inundation of the neighborhood by rising waters.[262]
New York University's Center for Urban Science and Progress designed the infrastructure with the developers of Hudson Yards. Fiber loops connected to satellite dishes on rooftops, to transponders, and to two-way radios would create a network covering the 14 acres (6 ha) of open space as well as 17 million square feet (1,600,000 m2) of commercial space.[263] The technology was designed to be adaptable: updates to infrastructure would be performed as new technological advances are made.[188]