Ask the Expert: Is Hudson Yards the New, New York?
How Hudson Yards’ live/work/play development is revitalizing the once-abandoned Far West Side.
A new neighborhood has emerged in New York City and it has limitless potential for the future.
Hudson Yards, located on the Far West Side of Manhattan, is well on its way to disrupting the NYC real estate market. In the process of building a considerable amount of office inventory, the project has caused companies’ relocation plans to be altered or delayed, putting pressure on midtown landlords to renovate aging buildings and negotiate with tenants. The brand new 30 Hudson Yards already has some high-profile new tenants relocating from midtown.
I myself, had a very small hand in the overall development, working for several months as Sr. Project Manager for Turner Townsend Ferzan Robbins, providing early strategic planning, professional team procurement and design development on Tower C (30 Hudson Yards) respectively. The scope of this 1.4M sq. ft project included base building core & shell, dedicated MEP infrastructure and interior fit-out program requirements for Time Warner Inc.’s Operational Department Heads including CNN, HBO, Warner Brothers, and Turner Broadcasting.
Hudson Yards got its name from the rail yards it sits on, owned & operated by the LIRR. Earlier ideas for the site included making it the new home of Madison Square Garden, a new stadium for the New York Jets, and even a site for the Olympics. Hudson Yards has fulfilled the two goals government officials hoped it would: (i) Creating capacity for the NYC economy to expand; and (ii) Bringing life to an underutilized railyard & waterfront section of Manhattan.
Conventional wisdom said building over the LIRR tracks was prohibitively expensive, but developer, The Related Cos., found a way to get it done, largely in part because of the smart engineering of its partners. DeVon Prioleau says, “They owe their success to a larger team of dedicated Professionals, Consultants, Contractors and Vendor Groups that all exhibited best practices.” It is important to note that a huge influx of resources came from the Public Sector. The City doled out over $3 billion in bonds and $650 million worth of interest, capital improvements, and property tax incentives. The extremely helpful extension of the MTA’s 7 line to the area provides the means to fuel local commerce.
So far, the Related Cos. and its partner Oxford have leased over 85% of the retail and office space to tenants ranging from luxury boutiques and high-end restaurants to advertising agencies and media giants. In similar fashion, Hudson Yards’ new residential tower is over 90% leased.
Not too long ago, the Far West Side was occupied by warehouses, transportation holding areas, night crawlers, and a few hundred residents. The future is far more promising today, with the development’s brightly lit public square featuring a new urban landmark called The Vessel — a series of interconnected staircases leading to a 150-foot vantage on the Hudson River. There are already dozens of restaurants and high-end stores open to the public at Hudson Yards.
“The story of Hudson Yards is quite compelling because it was once one of the more unpleasant and most inaccessible parts of Manhattan, and now it has been reclaimed as a billionaire’s fantasy city,” Prioleau shares. The impact on the surrounding neighborhood — and of course, the economic success of the public-private partnership — will serve as a guide for future decisions regarding potentially city-changing developments.
I’d love to hear about your thoughts and experiences on the Hudson Yards project. Reach out to me via social media, email (devon@prioleaudevgroup.com) or call me at 347.510.7113 and let me know your thoughts.
Click here to read other articles on related topics.
DeVon Prioleau
PRI-O-LEAU Development Group LLC
244 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2607
New York, NY 10001
Office: (212) 561-6707