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Olympic loss could become a US victory
Source: Agencies |
August 7, 2012, Tuesday
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Print Edition
NEW York lost the 2012 Olympics, but the city's bid spurred another visionary venture - building up the largest undeveloped parcel in Manhattan.
While London got the games, New York was left with the best opportunity for development remaining in town.
On Manhattan's West Side, the old Hudson rail storage yards are surrounded by potholed roads, warehouses, low-rent brownstones, cheap delis and strip clubs. Crowds waiting for discount buses line 10th Avenue. Homeless New Yorkers camp out in desolate lots strewn with garbage.
But the area, also home to the global headquarters of The Associated Press, has seen progress in the seven years since New York lost its bid to host the Olympics.
On a hot summer day, passers-by catch a glimpse of a deep man-made hole in the ground - the core of a subway line extension to the area from Times Square. More than a dozen residential towers have been built near the Hudson River, along with several hotels. And both residents and tourists are flocking to the popular High Line, an elevated rail line transformed into a grassy walkway.
Breaking ground
This October, developers of the ambitious Hudson Yards project expect to break ground on a skyscraper where the Olympic stadium could have been.
It's the first step in a US$15 billion small city within a city planned for 26 acres of land by the river.
Hudson Yards "is not just another development - it's part of a larger effort to create a physical infrastructure for a multi-decade expansion of New York City," says Lynne Sagalyn, professor of real estate at Columbia Business School.
Turning the isolated waterfront into Manhattan's next big business district has been a dream of city leaders for years. The city rezoned a 60-block stretch of the West Side to accommodate 2.32 million square meters of office space expected to rise as midtown Manhattan runs out of room. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it is "a historic project that will create jobs for generations to come."
At 1.11 million square meters, Hudson Yards is billed as New York's most ambitious private construction since the 1930s.
Hudson Yards' first building, set to open in 2015, is a US$1.3 billion, 46-floor tower, nearly half of it to be occupied by the Coach leather goods manufacturer.
A second tower is to be up by 2017 along with nine residential buildings, a retail complex, a five-star hotel and culinary offerings including private dining services, open-air cafes and new eateries.
Plans also include a riverfront park and a cultural center.
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