The redevelopment of the West Side reached a significant milestone Wednesday as crews topped off the first building in the Hudson Yards project.
Hundreds of construction workers gathered to see the last batch of concrete raised to the top of 10 Hudson Yards, which will be a 52-story office tower. It will be the first in other buildings in the area including a shopping center, residential buildings, a school and a public parkspace.
Ronald Wackrow, the executive vice president of Related Companies, the real estate group overseeing construction at Hudson Yards, said the 1.7 million square foot building, which is set to open in March, serves as a foundation for what’s to come.
“As you look around, you can get a sense of the scale and magnitude of what we’re creating here,” Wackrow said.
The topped-off building, located at the corner of 30th Street and 11th Avenue, will be the new home of several companies including, L’Oréal USA, SAP and VaynerMedia. Coach, the anchor tenant, will take up 600,000 square feet, a third of the building.
The building was constructed out of concrete in order to save time and cut costs, according to Jeff Blau Related Companies’ CEO.
“We studied pricing and cost and timing and when we put all those factors together it made more sense,” he said.
The tower’s opening comes weeks after the MTA opened its long-awaited extension of the No. 7 line into Hudson Yards. The train was extended two miles from Times Square to alleviate traffic and attract customers, tourists and tenants to the redeveloped neighborhood.
City leaders and developers predict that the area, which is being designed as an urban campus, will be the newest hot spot in Manhattan. The entire project will create 17 million square-feet of commercial and residential space, which will house around 5,000 residents and make room for over 100 stores and restaurants.
The Eastern Yard will hold the five commercial towers — with one of them being solely residential — and will surround a public square while the Western Yard will have several residential buildings and a public school.
Time Warner, Boies chiller & Flexner are among the list of companies set to move into Hudson Yards along with the luxury department store, Neiman Marcus, and a restaurant by Thomas Keller.
Blau said the entire project is expected to be complete by 2025.
