Rendering of Essex Crossing via Moso Studio

The New York Times recently suggested that the boxy, ordinary-looking Essex Crossing, with its Trader Joe’s, Target, movieplex, historic Essex Street Market and subsidized affordable housing was the “anti-Hudson Yards,” a convincing foil to the buzzy midtown tourist magnet. The obvious contrast between the glittering far-west-side megaproject that in the right light resembles Dubai on the Hudson and the six-acre $1.9 billion development abutting the Williamsburg Bridge speaks to each one’s intended audience, of course. But a diversity of options for both locals and visitors and a broad offering of affordable housing could make Essex Crossing more than just Liverpool on the Lower East Side.

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Image courtesy of Related Oxford.

6sqft reported back in March that Hudson Yards had opened a reservation list to experience Edge, the observation platform perched at a record-setting 1,100 feet in the sky. Now you can officially buy tickets to the Western Hemisphere’s highest outdoor sky deck. Visitors can gaze out on a 360-degree view of New York City’s iconic skyline from the champagne bar, or peer down through a glass floor. The platform-in-the-clouds will open on March 11, 2020; you’ll be able to sip cocktails or get a light bite at the 100th-floor bar or dine at Peak, the 101st-floor restaurant, café and event space.

Tickets and more this way

Photo by Iwan Baan, courtesy of The Shed

After news broke last month about the Hamptons fundraiser Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross hosted for President Donald Trump, there were calls to boycott organizations owned by his company. While Equinox, SoulCycle, and David Chang’s Momofuku Restaurant Group separated themselves from Ross to clear the air, some fashion brands have more recently blacklisted Ross-linked entities, including the arts center The Shed at Hudson Yards, which was developed by Related. The New York Post reported this week that Michael Kors, Vera Wang, and the Academy of Art have canceled shows at the venue following the fundraiser fallout in August.

Is The Shed so last year?

Photo of Hudson Yards via Flickr

As Related Companies CEO Stephen Ross continues to face backlash for throwing a fundraiser on Friday for President Donald Trump, his company is dealing with some drama of its own. Plans submitted a year ago to the Long Island Rail Road for the second phase of the Hudson Yards development have still not been approved by the agency, the New York Post reported.

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The site at 451 10th Avenue in 2018, with Hudson Yards to the south; via Google Streetview

A joint project from Related Companies and Eliot Spitzer would bring over 100 units of senior housing near Hudson Yards, the Real Deal reported on Wednesday. According to permits filed with the city last week, the 44-story mixed-use tower at 451 10th Avenue will include 126 “long-term care facility dwelling units.”

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Rendering via MVVA and the Hudson Yards Development Corporation

To make room for New York City’s most expensive park project ever, a handful of properties near the Hudson Yards site face demolition. One of those buildings is Affirmation Arts, a gallery on West 37th run by William Hillman. According to THE CITY, Hillman said he is willing to give his building to the city for free, on the condition it remains a cultural center. “I would like to give this building to the people of New York City to share with the world,” Hillman said during a hearing Tuesday.

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Rendering courtesy of Related/Oxford.

The $20 billion, 28-acre Hudson Yards megaproject has been in the news recently as its official March 15 grand opening approaches. The New York Times reports that the nation’s largest residential development has gotten more than a little financial help from the city government to get there. In fact, public records–and a recent study by the New School–reveal that the development has received nearly $6 billion in the form of tax breaks and additional government assistance, twice the controversial $3 billion in incentives held out to Amazon to entice the retail tech giant to bring its second headquarters to Queens.

That’s a pretty big break

Thomas Heatherwick’s 150-foot-tall, honeycomb-shaped climbable public art installation at Hudson Yards is set to open for public climbing in March along with the complex’s Shops and Restaurants on March 15. Known for some time as “The Vessel,” the bronzed steel and concrete structure has no official title as of yet. As for the former moniker, a Related representative told 6sqft in an email, “It was always a placeholder until the public experienced it. We’re excited to have the public help us with a name.”

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Rendering courtesy of Related/Oxford.

Though it seems hardly a week can go by without a flurry of news from Manhattan’s newest instant neighborhood, Hudson Yards, the west side mega-project–the largest private development in the nation’s history–developed by Related Companies and Oxford Propertied Group now has announced that Friday, March 15th will be its official opening date. In addition to a grand opening celebration, the Public Square and Gardens and the neighborhood’s centerpiece, Thomas Heatherwick’s “Vessel,” are set to open on that date; more importantly, The Shops and Restaurants at Hudson Yards will be officially open.

Off to quite a start

If hanging out at 900 feet in the air isn’t your thing, NYC’s newest neighborhood, Hudson Yards, promises plenty of fun things to do with your feet on the ground.  As the first phase of the megaproject prepares to open this spring, New York-based design studio Snarkitecture will be introducing Snark Park, its first permanent exhibition space in Hudson Yards. Known for their clever reinterpretations of the familiar, Snarkitecture’s Snark Park will be a site for immersive installations housing design environments for all ages to explore, discover and enjoy.

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