Hudson Yards Construction Ballet Begins

Last week saw the second major groundbreaking on the west side of midtown Manhattan in the last two months, as the $4.5 billion "Manhattan West" project’s first phase officially began.

2 minute read

January 23, 2013, 11:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Just last month, "the largest private real estate development in the history of New York" broke ground on the far west side of Manhattan. Now comes news that, just a few blocks east of Related's Hudson Yards "mini-city", "Brookfield Properties’ trio of new SOM-designed towers comprising the Manhattan West development" has started construction atop train tracks just west of Penn Station and the Farley Post Office building, reports Branden Klayko. 

At the grounbreaking ceremony, Mayor Bloomberg remarked that, “From Battery Park to Riverside Park, it’s just amazing how much development there has been all along the west side; an area everybody thought did not have the potential to become a hot neighborhood. Manhattan West will be a prime location in which to live or work, a vital piece of the mixed-use community we’ve envisioned for the Hudson Yards area, which is beginning to take shape.”

"Twin office towers with retail space will anchor the corners of the site, each with two million square feet of office space, and a third residential building will be built along West 31st Street for a total of 5.4 million square feet of space." notes Klayko. "In addition to the three towers, Manhattan West also calls for a 100-foot-wide swatch of new public space between the office towers built on the new platform. High Line designers James Corner Field Operations will design the new 1.5-acre landscape, which is imagined as a recreated 32nd Street forming a pedestrian link with Hudson Yards and park amenities farther west."

The complex choreography that will allow the platform and towers to be built atop the now-exposed tracks, while trains continue to operate is illustrated in the video below:

Monday, January 21, 2013 in A/N Blog

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight