Hudson Yards Event Recap

Monday, Nov 9, 2020

Hudson Yards Event Recap

Pic 2

On Thursday, October 22, CREW Calgary was invited to join CREW Montreal for a discussion between CREW Montreal’s Maria Concetta Giampa and Dean Shapiro, Senior Vice President and Head of US Development for Oxford Properties Group, US on the largest private real estate project in American history – Hudson Yards.  Hudson Yards is a 28-acre real estate development in the Chelsea and Hudson Yards neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City and is unlike anything ever built before.  It is constructed on two platforms built over the West Side Yard, a working rail yard with over 30 active train tracks and rail tunnels.

Pic 1

For participants who attended the 2016 CREW Network Convention in New York and toured the Hudson Yards construction site or the High Line as part of Convention, this presentation was a very welcomed update on the status of the development and how construction has progressed.  But even those who have never been to New York were in for a treat!

Participants learnt how the concept of the project came about, the challenges and complexities of constructing 16 buildings above a rail storage yard – an engineering marvel.  Participants were also privy to the leasing strategies used for a project of this scale – being approximately 18 million GSF – to attract the likes of companies like Coach, L’Oréal, SAP and Time Warner (to name a few) to move to West Manhattan as well as the background to the Neiman Marcus 225,000 SF flagship store and what is currently in store for that space given Neiman Marcus’ bankruptcy filing earlier this year.  Overall, participants were given a taste of what was involved in developing Hudson Yards as the cultural hub of West Manhattan with a variety of shops, gourmet restaurants, offices, hotels, residences, public art places, gardens and more. 

Hudson Yards is home to the Edge – the highest outdoor sky deck in the Western Hemisphere at 100 stories high, which participants learnt was not originally part of the development plan, but during the construction process inspiration struck and the Edge became reality and now visitors are treated with an unbelievable view of New York. 

The Vessel is another attraction in Hudson Yards, which is the interactive centerpiece designed by Thomas Heatherwick consisting of 154 flights of stairs that visitors can climb – simply stunning! 

Are you inspired? We sure are! If you missed this event and are intrigued to learn more about Hudson Yards, check out these links and videos from different stages of the construction:

Hudson Yards Website 

Platform Construction Video 

Construction Time-Lapse Video 

Opening Ceremonies Video 

Smartest Park Infographic