Construction is progressing rapidly on the first phase of Hudson Park and Hudson Boulevard, ahead of their scheduled opening, concurrent with the 7 train extension, and YIMBY recently toured the site to check in on the progress.
Park Landscaping
Entrances to the new 7 train station flank 34th Street, though the southern stretch is visibly farther along, with greenery now entrenched atop the man-made mounds that dot the site’s landscaping. In the center, work appears to be just about complete on the canopy, and fountains are now in testing mode, spritzing life into a formerly derelict area.
Hudson Yards Platform
The first phase of the park overlooks its next section over Related’s Hudson Yards, and the platform for the mega-development has risen very rapidly over the past few months. Once structural work is complete, the open space will extend a pedestrian passageway through New York’s first “supertall” corridor, which will be littered with 1,000-foot-plus towers.
Fountains in front of the future 3 Hudson Boulevard
Recent headlines suggested a possible move by Chase to the neighborhood, but those hopes were dashed following the denial of subsidies required to lure the marquee financial tenant. Nevertheless, major companies like Time Warner and L’Oréal are set to call Hudson Yards home, and with news that Brookfield has secured Skadden Arps as an anchor for the first Manhattan West office tower, momentum appears to be building.
Besides Related’s Hudson Yards towers, the new park will also split the gap between 3 Hudson Boulevard, developed by Moinian, and the future Tishman Speyer tower on the site of the old McDonald’s, at 34th and 10th Avenue. Permits were recently filed for Moinian’s building, and it has a tentative completion date of 2018. Tishman’s site, on the other hand, was only recently acquired, but could host a skyscraper of nearly 3 million square feet.
Landscaping in progress & playground equipment
As for Hudson Boulevard, the park will extend through to the High Line at 30th Street by 2018, and by the 2020s, it will run its full length all the way to 42nd Street. Plans for future landscaping diverge from the current conservative program into wild and likely cost-prohibitive illustrations, but regardless of what’s planted, the key green space of the future Hudson Yards is already a major positive addition to a place where (almost) nothing used to exist.
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