First breaking ground in 2012, the 28-acre Hudson Yards project remains New York City’s single largest private real estate venture in the metropolis and even the nation at large. Its progress in the ensuing eight years has been incremental, coming together through multiple single projects. It presently stands near the end of its first phase, with the final half to follow. 

In the last year, CISLeads posted previously about the opening of the final phase of the High Line, a floating oasis that connects via the Coach Passage to this ongoing, monumental project, where recent developments give us a new look into Hudson Yards’ future and the future of its projects. 

Two Major Hudson Yards Structures Continue to Rise

In late March, it was reported that 450 Eleventh Avenue was finally reaching street level. The proposed 531-room hotel at its completion will rise to a height of just over 480 feet, and as with many skyscrapers, a steady base is needed, and this is the part of this particular construction project that is beginning to come to a close, at long last. Walls for the foundation appear to be finished, and work on the ground floor slab, as of the 21st of March, seems ready to begin. 

Perhaps the second most notable new structure taking shape in the Hudson Yards project is that of 50 Hudson Yards, significant because it is the final part of phase 1. Set in midtown, 50 Hudson Yards is set to far outpace 450 Eleventh Avenue’s apex at a gargantuan 1,011 feet in height. This project is coming together quickly, with it almost doubling in height since December. Construction will center around shaping this giant into 2.9 million square feet of leasable commercial space.

While both buildings are set to be completed in 2022, the city’s recent stop work order on all nonessential construction work may change this; either project may be continuing labor for the sole purpose of finishing any phases that would be dangerous to leave undone. 

The Related Company Seeks Federal Funding to Complete Second Half of Hudson Yards Project

With phase 1 set to finish in the next two years, eyes are already turning toward a smooth transition into phase 2. Stephen Ross, a real estate developer best known for the Time Warner Center development with The Related Company firm that he chairs, has been rallying in the hopes of securing federal money to bolster phase 2 of this extensive project. A loan to the tune of a little more than $1 billion is needed to kick off this last part of the project, which promises a multitude of construction projects extending into the next decade. It is moving forward in conjunction with Amtrak. At present, sources suggest that this is because the funding they are seeking requires cooperation with the local railroad in order to be viable. No official reports have been released since the stop work order on nonessential construction.

The Future: Years of Potential

Phase 1 is set to finish after 10 years of hard work, from groundbreaking to the final plate of glass installed. While many of these smaller projects promise to carry forward for at least another couple years, they are part of a larger whole that, if phase 2 is as extensive as the first, may show up to another ten years of additional work for New York construction workers. With recent orders to halt nonessential construction, interested parties will have to listen for updates on this long and ongoing project.