Hudson Yards is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, bounded roughly by 30th Street in the south, 41st Street in the north, the West Side Highway in the west, and Eighth Avenue in the east.; Chapter 11: Figures The area is the site of a large-scale redevelopment program that is being planned, funded, and constructed under a set of agreements among the State of New York, City of New York, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), with the aim of expanding the Midtown Manhattan business district westward to the Hudson River. The program includes a major rezoning of the Far West Side, an extension of the New York City Subway's to a new subway station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, a renovation and expansion of the Javits Center, and a financing plan to fund the various components. The various components are being planned by the New York City Department of City Planning and New York City Economic Development Corporation.
The largest of the projects made possible by the rezoning is the multiuse Hudson Yards real estate development by Related Companies and Oxford Properties, which is being built over the West Side Rail Yard. Construction began in 2012 with the groundbreaking for 10 Hudson Yards, and is projected to be completed by 2024. According to its master plan, created by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, the Hudson Yards development would include 16 skyscrapers to be constructed in two phases. Architects including Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, Thomas Heatherwick, Roche-Dinkeloo, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro contributed designs for individual structures. Major office tenants include or will include Tapestry, Equinox Fitness, and BlackRock.
The area includes other major development projects. One such project is Manhattan West, developed by Brookfield Property Partners over the rail yard west of Ninth Avenue between 31st and 33rd streets. Other structures being developed in the Hudson Yards Zoning District include 3 Hudson Boulevard and the Spiral. The special district also includes Pennsylvania Station, the subject of a major overhaul.
Hudson Yards is part of Manhattan Community District 4 and its primary ZIP Codes are 10001 and 10018. It is patrolled by the 10th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.
Geography "Hudson Yards" takes its name from the MTA rail yard along the Hudson River between 30th Street and 33rd Street, part of a Penn Central rail yard that once extended to 39th Street. The portion of the MTA yard between the river and Eleventh Avenue is called the Western Rail Yard, and the portion between Eleventh Avenue and Tenth Avenue is called the Eastern Rail Yard. The Hudson Yards area includes parts of the Garment Center, the Javits Convention Center, Madison Square Garden, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the Farley Post Office, and the Lincoln Tunnel. Most of the Hudson Yards redevelopment area is also known as Hell's Kitchen South.Andrew Jacobs, "Stadium, Shops, Condos and Calamari: Development Fantasies for Hell's Kitchen South," New York Times, December 17, 2000. The special purpose district covering the area, the Special Hudson Yards District, includes a "Hell's Kitchen subdistrict", encompassing the core residential area existing prior to redevelopment of the surrounding area. The subdistrict extends between 30th Street to the south and 41st Street to the north.
Context Early plans
There has been a long series of proposals to develop the rail yard air rights, including for a major expansion of Midtown Manhattan by William Zeckendorf in the 1950sPaul Crowell, "'Palace' Plan Out; Bigger One Urged," New York Times, January 6, 1956. and for a housing development considered by U.S. Steel in the 1960s.Robert E. Bedingfield, "U.S. Steel Weighs Midtown Project," New York Times, August 4, 1964. The idea of building housing on air rights over the rail yard, with commercial development between 34th Street and 42nd Street, was included in a plan announced by Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. in 1963 that would have included projects covering a swath of Manhattan from its southern tip up to 72nd Street.Horne, George. "670-Million, 40-Year Waterfront Plan To Alter West Side Is Urged by Mayor; Convention Center, Docks and Housing Would Be Built,", The New York Times, April 26, 1963. Accessed April 18, 2022.
The administration of John Lindsay maintained the goal of the 1963 plan—a westward expansion of Midtown—but shifted their focus to the blocks north of 42nd Street, home to 35,000 residents of the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. As a first step, the City approved a convention center on 44th Street. But after the defeat of a bond issue that would have funded a 48th Street "people mover",Richard Witkin, "State Will Cancel Some Road Projects," New York Times, November 4, 1971. the City abandoned it and the rest of the master plan. At the same time the local Hell's Kitchen community proposed that midtown expansion take place south of 42nd Street instead. A community-proposed convention center site—between Eleventh and Twelfth avenues from 34th to 39th streets—was later promoted by Donald Trump, who had obtained an option on the rail yard from the bankrupt Penn Central in 1975. Facing political opposition and the severe fiscal crisis of the 1970s, the City and State eventually chose the rail yard site when the 44th Street site proved to be too expensive. However Trump's offer to build the convention center was rejected.Marilyn Bender, "The Empire and Ego of Donald Trump," New York Times, August 7, 1983. In 1987 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) converted the remainder of the rail yard into a storage facility for commuter trains; the new West Side Yard was designed with space left between the tracks for columns to support development in air rights above the tracks.
Despite the completion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in 1986, no further development took place. One impediment to development was a lack of mass transit in the area, which is far from Penn Station, and none of the proposals for a link to Penn Station were pursued successfully (for example, the ill-fated West Side Transitway).Gregory P. Benz, et al., "West Side Manhattan Transitway Study ," Transportation Research Board, Special Report No. 221, May 8–11, 1988. No changes to the zoning happened until 1990, when the city rezoned a small segment of 11th Avenue across the street from the Javits Center.Oser, Alan. "Perspectives: The West 30's; Land Uses Near the Convention Center." The New York Times. New York. February 4, 1990. Section 10, page 9, column 2.Buder, Leonard. "Area Near Javits Center Is Rezoned." The New York Times. New York. February 24, 1990. Section 1, page 29, column 2. However, as most of the area was still zoned for manufacturing and low-rise apartment buildings, the rezoning did not spur development.Lyons, Richard. "Postings: For Pioneers?; Housing Near Javits Center." The New York Times. New York. July 2, 1989. Section 10, page 1, column 4.
Redevelopment begins Formal planning The Hell's Kitchen community's 1973 proposal for major office and residential development south of 42nd Street was finally realized when all impediments to development were addressed. In 2003, the New York City Department of City Planning issued a master plan that envisioned the creation of of commercial and residential development, two corridors of open space – one between Eleventh Avenue and Tenth Avenue, and another network of open space between Ninth Avenue and Tenth Avenue to create a park system from West 39th Street to West 34th Street, portions of which would be located along the Dyer Avenue/Lincoln Tunnel Expressway corridors. Dubbed the Hudson Yards Master Plan, the area covered is bordered on the east by Seventh and Eighth Avenues, on the south by West 28th and 30th Streets, on the north by West 43rd Street, and on the west by Hudson River Park and the Hudson River. The city's plan was similar to a neighborhood plan produced by architect Meta Brunzema and environmental planner Daniel Gutman for the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association (HKNA). The main concept of the HKNA plan was to allow major new development while protecting the existing residential core area between Ninth and Tenth avenues.Full HKNA Plan
To help facilitate development, the city's plan called for extending the IRT Flushing Line to a 34th Street subway station under Eleventh Avenue at the rail yard, and next to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which would be expanded by the State. To fund the subway and a park and boulevard and other infrastructure, the City proposed a novel tax-increment financing scheme within a Hudson Yards financing district to collect both residential property taxes and commercial payments-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOTS) and sell transferable development rights to prospective developers.City of New York, Hudson Yards financing proposal , July 12, 2004. A Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation would issue bonds against expected revenues.
In January 2005, the New York City Council approved the 60-block rezoning, including the eastern portion of the West Side Yard. The newly rezoned Hudson Yards area was to have of Class A office space, 20,000 housing units, of hotel space, a 750-seat public school, of retail and more than of public open space.
The rezoning and financing district did not include the western portion of the rail yard; this was reserved for the proposed West Side Stadium, which would have been built as part of the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the conclusion of the Olympics, the stadium would have been used by the New York Jets. When not in use for football, the covered stadium would be a venue for conventions at the Javits Center, and so proposers dubbed the structure the "New York Sports and Convention Center". This effort, led by Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, was unpopular with both the public and politicians. Consequently, the City Council insisted that financing for the city's broader rezoning plans not be used to subsidize the rail yard stadium. In June 2005, the stadium proposal was defeated, and after the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2012 Olympics to London, the stadium proposal was permanently scrapped. The city government subsequently rezoned the western rail yard for residential and commercial development and added it to the financing district. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) then sought to develop the yard, and in conjunction with the city government, the MTA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a mixed-use development to be built on platforms over the rail yard, which would remain in use throughout.
Rail yard development bids
Five developers responded to the RFP: Extell, Tishman Speyer, Brookfield, Vornado, and the Related Companies. Tishman Speyer won the bid in March 2008. Tishman Speyer entered into a 99-year lease with the MTA, paying $1 billion for the air rights. It would also spend another $2 billion for development over the rail yards, including for the two platforms over the yards to support of public spaces, four office buildings, and ten high-rise residential towers.