Walking along the High Line, passing above West 17th Street heading north, one of the newest projects to rise in Chelsea and the Meatpacking District is becoming increasingly prominent. The XI, aka The Eleventh, a set of twisting residential units designed by Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group, has progressed quickly, with the first of two towers already close to topping out. Now, glass installation has also commenced.
With a grand and unprecedented presence in the Midtown skyline, Hudson Yards continues to stop tourists and locals alike, as steel and concrete continue rising into the sky. Several days ago, just after dusk, one aspect of the complex caught a few people’s attention by surprise. The Vessel, created by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, seems to have been illuminated for the first time since the 150-foot public sculpture topped-out last year.
On a plot of land along 48th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, excavation has begun for a 445-key Hard Rock Hotel, designed by Berg+ Moss Architects. The hotel’s Times Square outpost will be developed by Extell in a partnership with Hard Rock International, with an address at 159 West 48th Street. Extell purchased the site back in 2011 for $26 million, along with air rights that bring the project up to a potential scope of 225,000 square feet.
Since we last checked up on the Financial District site of 77 Greenwich (aka 42 Trinity Place) last October, excavation has completely wrapped, and foundation work has begun in earnest on the imminently 40-story and 500-foot-tall tower. The project is being designed by FX Collaborative and developed by Trinity Place Holdings.
The steel superstructure for 68-74 Trinity Place is now rising quickly into the Financial District’s neighborhood skyline. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, with Stephen B. Jacobs Group as the executive architect, the 26-story building is being developed by Trinity Real Estate, and will include around 310,000 square feet of rentable office space that will start from the seventh floor and continue up to the top of the nearly 500-foot-tall tower.
