515 Ninth Avenue, aka Galerie 515, has taken shape since last fall’s update, and the development is now four months away from its January 2014 opening date. The 12-story building will be occupied by a hotel on lower floors, with residences above. 515 Ninth is just the latest new building to open in the Hudson Yards vicinity, and is a marked change for a neighborhood dominated by butcher shops and access tunnels. Galerie 515 will have 165 total units, and current availabilities range from studios to two bedrooms.
The character of Hell’s Kitchen continues to change dramatically, but 515 Ninth Avenue’s vicinity is definitely one of the crucial points that need to be addressed, and the atmosphere will probably change as the community continues to grow. Tenements interspersed with parking garages, auto shops, and warehouses are to the building’s west, while eastern blocks comprise the bowels of Midtown, especially surrounding Port Authority.
Port Authority’s bus terminal – which sits between 8th/9th Avenues and 40th/42nd Street, and where 190,000 pass through each day – casts an unfortunate shadow over much of Hell’s Kitchen. The station itself is ugly, and security outside is lax. The eastern entrance is dynamic, with The New York Times Building and Eleven Times Square sitting adjacent, though it remains far from ideal, having retained a significant panhandler presence. The Ninth Avenue side is completely derelict, and covered by access ramps – there is also a seemingly permanent stench that is particularly potent in the summer, enhanced by the neighborhood fish market.
‘Redesigning Hell: Preventing Crime and Disorder at the Port Authority Bus Terminal‘ is an excellent read on the station’s extremely turbulent past, which has an external legacy that remains strong along Ninth Avenue. If the present pace of neighborhood improvement continues, the influx of new pedestrians and residents will likely scrub the last relics of the neighborhood’s troubled past.
Though the current picture is bleak, the vicinity will see an enormous influx of new residential construction as Related’s Hudson Yards megaproject begins ascending into the skyline. For the moment, the vibe is decidedly low-key.
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