Speculations for the topping out of the 73-story 30 Hudson Yards have been swirling for the last couple months, and now the fateful day has finally arrived. Yesterday morning, YIMBY received confirmation that the tallest building of the Hudson Yards mega-development has finally reached its pinnacle, with an American flag rising above the building’s parapet. While some steel remains to be installed before the crown is fully complete, the significance of this is akin to the topping of the spire of a cathedral. In this case, it is a monument to the capitalistic ideals that fuel the contemporary American economy.
Hudson Yards Observation Deck, rendering courtesy of Related and Oxford
Five and a half years after groundbreaking, the building is now officially 1,296 feet tall. 2.6 million square feet of office space will be contained within. The tower’s distinctive cantilevered terrace will become the highest public outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere. It will be accompanied by a 10,000 square foot restaurant, bar, and event space, which will be managed by the Rhubarb hospitality group.
30 Hudson Yards from 11th Avenue, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
Kohn Pedersen Fox is responsible for the design.
30 Hudson Yards, as viewed from 33rd Street and 10th Avenue, via Related
Now that 30 Hudson Yards is complete, the only tower from phase one remaining to be finished is 50 Hudson Yards. Phase two will see the construction of several new retail, residential, and office buildings to the west of the current development, none of which will rise higher than the current batch.
Hudson Yards’ Master Plan
The full Hudson Yards development will create a total of 18 million square feet for mixed uses. Along with offices, there will be over 4,000 apartments and condominiums, 100 different retail venues, and fourteen acres of public space. The total cost of construction is currently estimated at $25 billion. The office campus is expected to contribute nearly $19 billion annually to the country’s GDP.
30 Hudson Yards, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
The Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group are responsible for the development.
The area’s event center, named The Deck, is projected to open in late 2019. The retail space, Public Square, gardens, and Vessel are all expected to open in March of 2019.
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A crazy amount of development for an area basically served by only ONE subway line!!
It’s really something. Underground moving sidewalks to Penn Station would have been a good idea.
Please pardon me for using your space: Rise on its way with bigness and one of the best design. (Thanks to Andrew Nelson)
Wow that will be an amazing view !
Pardon my using your space: amazing day in Yimby history! Can’t wait to go there in person! 2019 can’t come soon enough.
It actually looks better than the rendering.
Please pardon me for using your space. It couldn’t be more appropiate than topping out just before the 4th of July. Glad to see this baby topped out!
‘In this case, it is a monument to the capitalistic ideals that fuel the contemporary American economy.’….
Hey! I’m all for tall buildings…but your proselytizing on these pages makes me nauseous. Do you really believe the crap that comes out of your mouth? And when are you going to do something about “David” and his nonsense comments?….it’s been years that he posts literal nonsense on every article.
I feel like your comment is nonsense.
you disagree……… so you want to ban David? Think of how ridiculous that is.
Congrats to 30 Hudson Yards – soon to be known as the Fugliest Supertall ever built in NYC, the western hemisphere – and perhaps the entire world!
This is one of the Fugliest skyscrapers, let alone a “Supertall” at that, to have been built in quite some time.
It’s a cold, hulking mass of nothing more than profits for its developer, and possibly the “Starchitect” that designed it – both of whom should hang their heads in shame for marring NYC’s iconic skyline with something so appallingly ugly, it (figuratively speaking) practically makes one’s eyes hurt.
But worse, from everywhere one sees it, be it down the street as I do every day, or from afar on the BQE, Long Island Expressway, or approaching NYC from New Jersey, all one sees is a big, hulking, overpowering mass of full-on FUGLY.
Whether it’s riding with friends who live in NJ in their car as I did last month who without any prompting pointed towards the building who also said it’s one of the ugliest buildings they’ve seen in quite some time – or just last week at birthday party in the heart of hipster Brooklyn where a friend and I were discussing the great architecture seen in Chicago, who then also bemoaned the collection of mostly exceptionally ugly buildings now seen rising in Hudson Yards, or other friends at cocktail parties, I have yet to meet anyone who has described any of the buildings seen yet in Hudson Yards with a sense of awe and admiration.
Not one person.
And for sure – all agree 30 Hudson Yards is the Fugliest of them all.
Such a shame that we’re stuck with a building that few will admire – and most will only be drawn to for its tourist attraction observation deck.
How can this be – that the city that has such a rich tradition and history of so many architectural wonders in the past, now finds itself unable to build a 21st century Supertall that carries forward the grace, brilliance, beauty and wonder that the Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Lever House (and the many other 20th century masterpieces that used to be built in NYC) from the past into the present and future?
Why is what is supposed to be among the greatest cities in the world now drowning in a sea of incredibly ugly, banal, unimiaginative, insipid looking Supertalls?
Where’s the artistry that makes for great and enduring architecture? Where’s the grace, beauty and brilliance that makes for masterpieces like those noted above, and the many others too many to name here that were built last century?
Where’s the “Wow!”?
Surely, we can do better than this monstrosity – 30 Hudson Yards. Can’t we?
If we can’t – then maybe it’s time to completely rethink further development of Hudson Yards.
NYC surely deserves better than this unappealing, unimaginative, dreck – that much is for sure.
These massive, imposing, Supertall (Fugly) buildings emerging in Hudson Yards are too ugly to continue unchecked and unabated.
“Hashtag – BIG disappointment”