The Hudson Yards neighborhood has officially opened to the public, marking a historic moment for New York City. The mega-development has already contributed more than $10 billion to New York City’s GDP through construction. Hudson Yards developers Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group were joined by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan and numerous elected officials; Gary LaBarbera, President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York; and collaborators including architects, designers, contractors, engineers, restaurateurs and chefs, retail and corporate CEOs; and notable New Yorkers to celebrate the opening of New York’s newest neighborhood. Native New Yorker and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper led the ceremonies which featured live performances by singer and songwriter Andra Day, Dancers of The Ailey School and the National Chorale, The Professional Performing Arts High School Choir, marked the extraordinary occasion. One hundred notable New Yorkers, from civic leaders to Broadway stars, sports icons to fashion designers, media personalities to artists, cultural principals to chefs, corporate heads and crowd favorite Big Bird, gathered in the Public Square and Gardens to walk Vessel’s 2,500 steps for the first time. Attendees participated in inaugural walks up Vessel, the neighborhood’s centerpiece designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studio, followed by a ribbon-cutting and photo-op at The Shops & Restaurants.

“There are three main reasons why I have long supported developing the vast underused space on Manhattan’s far West Side — and connecting it to all else via the extension of the 7 train: jobs, jobs, jobs. Jobs for New Yorkers in every borough, and at every rung of the economic ladder. New York is a bold, future-focused city. And the work done here by Steve Ross, Related, the City, the building trades unions, the MTA and others will contribute to the economic energy, optimism and vitality that will keep New York growing and creating — and at the forefront of global cities — for a long time to come,” said U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.

“Building Hudson Yards is the most humbling experience of my lifetime. It’s a rare opportunity to be able to create a neighborhood of this size and impact, let alone in New York City. Hudson Yards’ economic impact is already profound and its place on the New York skyline is meaningful. Bringing this vision to life took incredible forethought and commitment from the public sector, and a world-class team and set of partners in the private sector, many of whom signed on to bring their businesses to our budding community when it was still just an open railyard. This new neighborhood represents more than just a set of buildings, it shows what can be achieved when the public and private sectors join together to unleash passion and creativity. Our ambition for Hudson Yards was to create a great neighborhood, with experiences and opportunities for everyone. I am confident that we have achieved this with great public spaces, shopping and culinary expressions across all spectrums, cultural attractions, diverse residential opportunities and cutting-edge sustainability and resiliency. We are thrilled to now welcome every New Yorker, indeed the world, to visit New York’s newest neighborhood, Hudson Yards,” said Stephen M. Ross, Chairman of Related Companies.

On March 15, 2019, New Yorkers and visitors were finally able to visit the Public Square and Gardens, a new five-acre public space; its centerpiece, an interactive landmark temporarily known as Vessel; and The Shops & Restaurants, a one-million-square-foot retail center featuring a collection of more than 100 diverse shops and culinary experiences. Tenants have begun moving into 55 Hudson Yards and 30 Hudson Yards, two large-scale commercial towers, and residential occupancy is underway at 15 Hudson Yards. 10 Hudson Yards opened in May of 2016. The opening of Hudson Yards, built atop the MTA’s John D. Caemmerer West Side Storage Yard, brings together for the first time the West Side and the neighboring districts of Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. A world-class collection of architects and designers collaborated on Hudson Yards, including: Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Elkus Manfredi Architects; Foster + Partners; Heatherwick Studio; Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates; Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; Rockwell Group; and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Hudson Yards is now home to industry leaders across nearly every business sector. 10 Hudson Yards is home to Guardian Life Insurance Co., L’Oréal USA, Tapestry Inc., The Boston Consulting Group, SAP, VaynerMedia, Intersection and Sidewalk Labs. 55 Hudson Yards is home to Boies, Schiller & Flexner; Engineers Gate; HealthCor Management; Milbank LLP; Point72 Asset Management; Silver Lake; Third Point LLC; MarketAxess; and Mount Sinai Health System. 30 Hudson Yards is home to Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts (KKR), WarnerMedia, Related Companies, Oxford Properties Group, Wells Fargo Securities and DNB. 35 Hudson Yards will be home to Equinox’s headquarters and HSS. 50 Hudson Yards will be home to BlackRock’s world headquarters.

“The development of Hudson Yards has transformed the West Side of Manhattan, creating jobs and economic opportunity for New Yorkers. With the building of a new Pennsylvania Station-Moynihan Farley complex, we are going to connect this emerging neighborhood to a world-class 21st century transportation hub. Today marks our continued commitment toward building an even more sustainable City and region, and we are proud to be creating a stronger future for our state,” said Governor Cuomo.

New York City set their sites on transforming the broader 42-block Hudson Yards District from a largely vacant, underdeveloped area into a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood. The project progress is ahead of projections, with over 30 million square feet of new development completed or in construction since the rezoning in 2005. The $3.5 billion infrastructure investment that the City made, or has committed to fund, through the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation (HYIC) bonds is paying off as the essential first step to attract vast private investment in the District that otherwise would not have occurred. It is now estimated that future revenues from the District will not only pay off the bonds that funded the subway extension, but will generate more than $21 billion in net revenues to the City, creating an enormous new revenue stream to fund future services. Additional benefits to the City include over 3,000 new affordable housing units accounting for 28% of all new housing in the district.

Hudson Yards features an unprecedented mix of buildings, parks, utilities and public spaces that combine to form a connected, responsive, clean, reliable and efficient neighborhood. Planned as the first LEED certified neighborhood, Hudson Yards is home to a first-of-it-kind microgrid and two cogeneration plants that will save 24,000 MT of CO2e greenhouse gases from being emitted annually by generating electricity and hot and chilled water for the neighborhood, more than twice as efficiently as conventional energy sources. Additionally, nearly 10 million gallons of storm water will be collected from building roofs and public plazas, then filtered and reused in mechanical and irrigation systems. The development of Hudson Yards also provides for over 1,300 new or permanently preserved affordable units onsite and in the neighborhood, 14 acres of public space and a new K-8 public school.

“Today is truly a historic day in New York City, it is not every day that you get to open a brand new neighborhood in Manhattan. The one word that best describes Hudson Yards is ‘transformative.’ This project is not a stand-alone development – it is the creation of a new, mixed use neighborhood, including public parks, cultural institutions, affordable housing, and thousands of jobs. As this project has created much-needed links between Chelsea, Clinton and Hell’s Kitchen, it has, thankfully, become easy to forget how disruptive the West Side Yards were to our urban fabric. I congratulate the many partners that have made this revitalization of the West Side possible,” explained Congressman Jerrold Nadler.

“In New York City, we make the impossible reality - including building new neighborhoods over old railyards. Hudson Yards is bringing thousands of jobs, new green space, and expanded transportation to the West Side. The project is an example of the ingenuity that helps make New York the greatest city in the world,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Blake Hutcheson, Chair of Oxford Properties Group and President of OMERS added, “Today we celebrate the transformation of vision into reality with the opening of New York’s newest neighborhood, Hudson Yards. This neighborhood brings the community together with incredible art, architecture, public space and built form. We are proud of how far we have come in creating this great place, and excited to see it continue to grow and evolve with the spirit and energy of New York City and New Yorkers.”

Gary LaBarbera, President, Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York said, “The milestone we are celebrating today would not have been possible without the vision of Steve Ross and Related, as well as the hard work and dedication of the men and women of the building and construction trades. A world-class development project like Hudson Yards deserved only the best and most skilled workforce and we are proud to say it was built by union hands. We look forward to the future of Hudson Yards and will continue to collaborate with Related and Oxford on this ambitious project and many others across New York in the years ahead.”

Hudson Yards will also become a transportation hub, further connecting Manhattan’s West Side via the new No. 7 subway line extension. Hudson Yards is expected to pay the MTA $2.36 billion during construction and $66 million annually. It will also pay almost $100 million per year in tax revenue that will be available for debt service on the bonds issued for the No. 7 Subway line extension. Once fully developed, Hudson Yards will contribute nearly $19 billion annually to New York City’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and nearly $1 billion annually in State and City taxes. The companies and buildings at Hudson Yards will bring over 57,000 jobs to the new West Side neighborhood and Hudson Yards also estimates that, over the next six months, upwards of 600 new jobs will be filled by the developers and management team to provide essential services at the development, most of whom will be represented by SEIU 32BJ, plus thousands of additional jobs at restaurants and other campus businesses.

Roger Goodell, Thomas Heatherwick, Stephen Ross & Henry Kravis

The Hudson Yards Neighborhood Officially Opens As Related Companies And Oxford Properties Group Celebrate Historic NYC Milestone

The Vessel The Hudson Yards Neighborhood Officially Opens As Related Companies And Oxford Properties Group Celebrate Historic NYC Milestone