The Vessel, topped out; image courtesy of Related-Oxford

The Vessel, a 150-foot-tall climbable sculpture made of bronzed steel and concrete, topped out Wednesday, serving as the public centerpiece of Hudson Yards Public Square and Gardens. Designed by Heatherwick Studio, the $150 million interactive landmark includes 154 interconnecting flights of stairs, nearly 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings. The idea for the project stems from Related Companies’ chairman, Stephen Ross, who called it “New York’s Eiffel Tower.” The final piece of the 600-ton structure will be installed today, nearly eight months after construction began.

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Sky lounge floating high above the Lincoln Tunnel entrance at AC Hudson Yards Hotel (Credit: Danny Forster Design Studio).

Last year, 6sqft reported that demolition permits were filed by developer Arisa Realty to make way for a hotel that will rise amidst the rapidly-growing Hudson Yards development in far west Midtown, with Epstein Global listed as the architect of record. Now, CityRealty reports that preliminary renderings have appeared on the website of Danny Forster, host of the Discovery Channel show “Build It Bigger,” who is working with the architects on the project’s design. Plans have beens submitted for a 220-key, 120,000-square-foot hotel at 432 West 31st Street, and the the unconfirmed renderings refer to the AC Hotel Hudson Yards (Marriott AC is a subsidiary of Marriott Hotels for which the Hudson Yards hotel would represent one of the first forays into the U.S. market).

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A new rendering of 3 Hudson Boulevard, via FXFOWLE/Moinian Group

A revised proposal for the Moinian Group’s Hudson Yards tower 3 Hudson Boulevard calls for a slight height chop, which will strip it of its supertall status. A redesign from FXFOWLE now brings the total square footage to 2 million square feet from a previous 1.8 million and lowers its height to 940 feet tall from 1,050 feet. Instead of 63 floors, the tower will rise 53 floors in this new design. To match standards for today’s modern office, the building will now feature larger floor plates, higher ceilings and a terrace on the eighth floor. As the New York Post reported, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held this Friday with elected officials, celebrating the reboot.

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Construction progresses on the Vessel, photo courtesy of CityRealty

In April, construction began on Hudson Yards’ Vessel, a 150-foot-tall steel structure designed by Heatherwick Studio and its 100,000 pound-components were put in place by crane. The $200 million “public landmark” began to rise in August and now the structure’s construction has hit its halfway mark. The project’s idea comes from Related Companies’ chairman Stephen Ross, who called it the “365-day Christmas tree.” The climbable Vessel will be the centerpiece of the Public Square and Gardens, five-acres of greenery that will connect the buildings of Hudson Yards. The structure includes 154 geometric-lattice linked flights of stairs, 80 landings and will able to hold 1,000 visitors.

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The Shed courtesy of Diller Scofidio +Renfro, via The New York Times

Construction of The Shed, a six-level flexible structure that can adapt to different art forms and technologies, continues to progress where the High Line meets Hudson Yards. While the building, an independent non-profit cultural organization, has an expected opening date of 2019, the massive eight-million-pound structure can now slide along the High Line for five minutes on a half-dozen exposed steel wheels that measure six-feet in diameter (h/t NY Times). The Shed, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, in collaboration with Rockwell Group, features a movable shell on rails that sits over the fixed base of the building, allowing for it to change size depending on the type of event.

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A rendering of One Hudson Yards, designed by renowned architecture firm Davis Brody Bond. (Image via onehudsonyards.com/Related)

The new luxury rental residences at One Hudson Yards at 530 West 30th Street, part of Manhattan’s largest new mixed-use development, have begun leasing for the 30-story building’s 178 apartments which range from one to three bedrooms (and one four-bedroom penthouse) according to a press release from Related Companies. The building’s architecture is by Davis Brody Bond; interiors are by Andre Kikoski, who also designed the building’s peerless collection of luxury amenities. Of particular note are extra-tall windows set into a modern curtain wall façade that offer breathtaking views of out over the Hudson River, the surrounding West Chelsea neighborhood and all of Downtown Manhattan–as well as Heatherwick Studios’ “Vessel” sculpture.

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Image: Pexels

6sqft recently reported on a forecast by online real estate marketplace Ten-X predicting a precipitous threefold spike in New York City’s apartment vacancy rate that could even exceed 11 percent by the end of next year as thousands of new apartments hit the market, adding up to a “grim reckoning” for landlords. Now, a Crains reporter tells us that skeptics like marketing-consultant-to-developers Nancy Packes, who said the prognostication of a rental market meltdown “didn’t make any sense,”  could be right after all.

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Image: Pexels

A new forecast by online real estate marketplace Ten-X predicts that New York City’s apartment vacancy rate will exceed 11 percent by the end of next year as thousands of apartments hit the market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The study also points to a slowing job growth rate, which drives the rental market, as a factor in what could be a “grim reckoning” for landlords.

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Photo of Hudson Yards Amtrak tunnel encasement via Tutor Perini

Currently, the first part of two box tunnels under the Hudson Yards development, below 10th and 11th Avenues on Manhattan’s west side, sits mostly finished. While construction of the final piece has yet to begin, when it’s complete the remaining section would link the tubes to the proposed new tunnel under the Hudson River, providing better access to Penn Station. However, according to the New York Times, both tunnel projects, which fall under the multi-billion dollar Gateway Program, lack the funding needed to finish.

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After an announcement yesterday morning that Michael R. Bloomberg made a $75 million gift towards Hudson Yards‘ arts center The Shed–bringing the total raised towards the $500 million capital campaign to $421 million–the “new center for artistic innovation” held a tour to mark the completion of steel construction. The eight-story structure, designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro in partnership with the Rockwell Group, is a “fixed” base building made up of two gallery levels, a versatile theater, rehearsal space, creative studios for artists, and a sky-lit event space. But what makes the project truly unique is its telescoping outer shell that deploys over the building’s courtyard, doubling its footprint and creating a myriad of options for flexible, multi-disciplinary work. Ahead, 6sqft shares an up-close view of this amazing structure.

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