Work is ramping up on the office conversion of a section of The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards shopping mall in Hudson Yards, Manhattan. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and developed by Related Companies, the project involves the replacement of 20 Hudson Yards’ façade and the repurposing of the top three stories of the former Nieman Marcus department store into 445,000 square feet of office space for Wells Fargo. The company plans to consolidate most of its New York workforce into the building, which will accommodate 2,300 employees and provide an easier link with its other employees spread across nine stories at 30 Hudson Yards.
Recent photographs show scaffolding standing across the eastern elevation facing Tenth Avenue as crews begin to dismantle the perforated metal façade screen. The disassembly process should progress throughout the spring months, followed by the installation of the new glass curtain wall seen in the rendering above.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
The horizontal structural supports seen on the metal wall formerly held the Neiman Marcus signage.
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Photo by Michael Young
Renderings of the new façade show a primarily glass enclosure with the Wells Fargo logo over dark metal louvers. The entrance will be located by the corner of Tenth Avenue and West 31st Street.
Rendering courtesy of Wells Fargo.
The following rendering is an aerial perspective of the structure and Thomas Heatherwick‘s adjacent 150-foot-tall Vessel sculpture from the perspective of the podium floors of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill‘s 35 Hudson Yards. This rendering shows the Wells Fargo signage in the center of the new façade.
Rendering courtesy of Wells Fargo.
The new office space will feature abundant natural light and convenient access to landscaped terraces overlooking the Hudson Yards public plaza and the Vessel. Amenities are planned to include a food hall with a rotating local restaurant program and an all-day coffee bar.
Rendering courtesy of Wells Fargo.
The mall interiors were originally designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects and first opened in March 2019. Neiman Marcus permanently closed its doors in the summer of 2020 and removed all of its retail signage from the exterior. Much of the fifth floor has been temporarily walled off by the fourth-floor escalators, which once led up to the department store’s main entrance.
Wells Fargo’s new work space is anticipated to take three years to finish. This would likely put the completion sometime in late 2026, the same time the company expects to start relocating all 2,300 employees from its current offices at 150 East 42nd Street.
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I thought the mall was quite nice inside, but wonder if it was too upscale for that area even with the luxury apartments nearby. Of course, department stores have been in trouble for some time.
The old facade was more interesting than the future glass. With so much glass in the area, I suppose a little more does not matter. I wonder if the Vessel can be turned into affordable housing.
The mall is still open and will continue to be open, with high end retail and dining options. This project only affects the floor previously occupied by NM.
As for the Vessel, hopefully they re-open it with taller glass barriers.
It would be terribly ironic if Wynn gets the Hudson Yards casino making this the perfect spot for a high-end department store.
Whoever is standing inside maybe a doctor or a lawyer, but removing the sign on it only reminds me of change: Thanks to Michael Young.
Hudson Yards fails again. The Blue glass blob with no district neighborhood, no small businesses just a bunch of corporate soulless bots lol
So you’ve never been there? I’m in the area often and it always appears to be busy with people shopping, dining or just walking around the plaza under the Vessel. The dining options are great, I highly recommend Estiatorio Milos and Queens Yard.
I agree. Every time I’ve been there (my wife’s niece lives there and loves it) it’s been jammed everywhere. I have no idea what that original poster is referring to…
The neighborhood has a bigger soul than you. The area used to be shady before the development. It’s not an neighborhood everyone can afford but that doesn’t warrant your clueless criticism
Almost every vertical mall in Manhattan has failed, this being no exception. And the Vessel too is marred by tragic circumstances. Hopefully there will be a turnaround with more equiable housing that reflects the needs of the many and not the few as Hudson Yards has mistakely done.
The mall is still there, and they are apparently raising rents, booting out middle market tenants. I suspect that is to bring it more luxury tenants, of which appear to be going strong.
It is interesting that malls fail miserably in New York. I guess people prefer individual stores and walking streets.
Watch the Dead Mall Series… Malls across America are all dying they peaked in the ’80s and early 90s
Hudson Yards needs much more housing to keep malls and stores, and restaurants alive. Otherwise, will be a ghost town after 5 pm.
the area is actually thriving on the wknd. But yea after 5 pm it gets very quiet but if you want some busy scenes you can always walk several blocks to Hell’s kitchen
Those 2,300 employees, currently one block from Grand Central, won’t be happy about moving way out to the Yards. For sure the new office will have open plan, face-to-face seating guaranteeing demands for work from home forever. Privileged CEOs have no clue…
If the workers live anywhere on the Westside they will be happy about the location change. Moynihan is one block from Hudson Yards. Grand Central isn’t convenient for everyone. Depends on where you live.
The mall is doing very well, and has high rents, strong traffic and low vacancies. Neiman Marcus declared bankruptcy during the pandemic, and offloaded its most expensive leases, including Hudson Yards. The issue was Neiman Marcus, not the mall.
Nobody can afford to buy $10,000 pleated merino wool pants and if one can they need to start helping other people first lol
So true, we dine in the mall often. Queens Yard is one of our favorites. Seems the people commenting here have never actually been to Hudson Yards.
There appears to be a lot of comments here from people who have never been to Hudson Yards, or possibly came once and never returned. The mall is open and full for high end shops and some really great restaurants.
So this retail to office conversion is limited to the 3 floors that were occupied by Neiman Marcus.
Since the beginning of the mall’s opening, it was always weird why such a prominent luxury department store brand was placed so high above the ground floor and far from immediate foot traffic. Having Wells Fargo take over the space shouldn’t make such a dramatic effect since the public wouldn’t find a reason to go up that high in the mall anyways
I think Manhattan (and much of the world) are likely to find that structural changes over the next few decades change our need for office and retail space. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be YIMBY, just that reality is going to help us adjust our cities. It doesn’t mean there isn’t a need for good malls either; but Manhattan is already a retail mecca in other areas. I’d rather go to Saks or Nordstrom that the NM at HY. NM, Saks and Bergdorf (part of NM) are on a similar level, Nordstrom isn’t, but I would still rather go to Nordstrom or Saks. Manhattan didn’t need two Saks locations and it apparently didn’t need Bergdorf and NM. It certainly didn’t help that the store opened just before the pandemic, but NM was basically bankrupt at the time. It’s again strikingly close to needing a cash infusion and while egos are getting in the way, HBC is still trying to purchase NM. Time will tell. But department stores are not what they used to be.
Anyone alive in the 80s saw the massive real estate development (Olympia & York, LJ Hooker) and the notion that developers owning stores would make malls a success. Leverage speaks otherwise. Time will tell what happens, but Macy’s has acquired most competitors and it’s a fraction of the size it was, sales are a tiny fraction (with nominal dollars!!!!) compared with decades ago. I love department stores, but people are spending the money they have in different ways, maybe more at restaurants than at stores. So malls with lots of restaurants.
Also, it took decades to fill the Empire State Building, it took a long time to fill the first World Trade Center and the new one isn’t even finished after decades. HY will take time too. For those of you who are young enough, you should be able to see it flourish if you stay in NYC. For an old many such as myself, maybe not. (It’s the same in China. Each major city has at least a few massive developments like HY and it’s going to take time to fully utilize them.)
I watched the crazy 80s with
So sorry for the typos. I have had a bad headache for days.
I would agree with many of your statements. The disappearance of many department stores was a disappointment in my lifetime. My favorite was the palatial Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, which was worth a visit merely to see the building. The B. Altman Store seemed the closest NY thing to this.
I have read that Macy’s real estate could earn more cash than selling stuff. There was talk of building a tower over the Herald Square store, but not recently.
Ditto
I found the screen wall quite attractive, but if the office conversion is a more viable use of the space, this of course make sense. I do love Hudson Yards.
The perforated metal screen was nice. I too am sorry to see that part go just because the design was quite good.
This is a busy mall and not just with tourists, but this particular store is a bit isolated for a large store to be so many floors up and not near any other department stores. Plus, the timing of COVID put Nieman Marcus in a tough position for it’s first NYC store. I’d bet they would have done better if on 5th Avenue or Bloomingdales. I’m sure they went after other stores to locate there but probably could only entice someone like Target, which would cheapen the mall (or Target couldn’t afford the rent).