NEW YORK | 10 Hudson Yards (Coach Tower) | 895 FT | 52 FLOORS

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Dac150

The height reduction might have been a strategic move to allow for demand to spill over into the other tower - which it undoubtedly will do. You have three big name tenants that have committed to the far West Side - that should be the leading talking point.

It's a stark contrast to what we see at the WTC site. As you said, there should be spillover not only into the north tower, but into neighboring developments as well. This tower will be remembered as the pioneer on the west side, they way the Conde Nast tower is consider the pioneer for the redevelopment of Times Square.

[CCs77]

I think that one aspect that could have influenced the shortening of the South Tower, and the lenghtening of the North one, is the decision to put up the Observation Deck, and the development of it as prominent feature of the development, with not only the observation deck but other amenities, such as restaurants and other amusements (they are assigning four full floors for these facilities)

If you see the older proposal, the roof of the South Tower would have been very close in height to where the observation deck would have been placed in the North Tower, obstructing a little bit the view.

But more important, is that reducing the South Tower permits increasing the height of the North one, since I guess they have a maximum of developable square feet, then, in order to increase the height of the North Tower, they must reduce the height of the other, so they don't exceed the permited footage. That way, they could have a higher observation deck, and they could claim, as they are doing, that this one would be higher than the Empire State's.

[Dac150]

Seems like some significant alterations for the sake of an observation deck, though who knows . . . that could've played a part. I'm sure at some point Related will shed some light on why the changes were made. Also keep in mind, the design of Tower 1 can also be altered again depending on who occupies it . . that of course remains to be seen.

[CCs77]

But it is not just an observation deck. They are planning it as huge amussement area, almost as a small thematic park above New York, as this article states.

http://observer.com/2012/10/hudson-y...ervation-deck/

But this is not the only place where Hudson Yards will surpass the Empire State Building. It will also boast observation areas closer to heaven than at the Empire State Building, both indoors and out.

Perhaps you noticed an unusual shard jutting out from the side of the tallest tower in the latest set of renderings, first revealed a few weeks ago in New York magazine? That is an open-air observation deck located at 1,100 feet. That puts it 50 feet above the Empire State Building’s famous outdoor terrace, that iconic movie set and marriage proposal destination.

And above Hudson Yard’s outdoor observation space will be a veritable playland of attractions reaching to the top of the tower, and by extension beyond the Empire State Building’s topmost observation room, at 1,250 feet, the place where zeppelins were once meant to dock.

“It’s more akin to the Rainbow Room to be honest,” Related spokeswoman Joanna Rose explained. “We have a ballroom, restaurant and bars above the observation deck that offer panoramic views. And yes, we are looking at locating some of those above the 1250 mark.”

They are just going after all the landmarks—not just the Empire State Building but Rockefeller Center, too. And it will be hard to compete, since as previously reported, that master of hospitality Danny Meyer will be running the show way up in the clouds.

As I said in a post before, nowadays the ESB observation deck makes more money than the rent of the office space of the entire building, And that do is just and observation deck, but it happen to be in one of the most iconic buildings in the world, making that tons of tourist want to visit it
I think they expect to make big money with this observation deck/theme park. This is money guaranteed, they can offer rents almost at cost levels at the begining in order to fill the building quickly in a highly competitive market, obtaining most of the profit from this observation deck during the first years of the complex (as it happened with the ESB by the time they build it) And it is also something that would draw a lot of people, specially tourists, to an area of Manhattan that today nobody visit, benefiting as well the retail complex of the lower floors.
So it is logical that they give it a big importance in the overall design, making it something that stands out, something very atractive and different.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by CCs77

But more important, is that reducing the South Tower permits increasing the height of the North one, since I guess they have a maximum of developable square feet, then, in order to increase the height of the North Tower, they must reduce the height of the other, so they don't exceed the permited footage. That way, they could have a higher observation deck, and they could claim, as they are doing, that this one would be higher than the Empire State's.

The size of the north tower has stayed consistent at 2.5 msf. The Coach tower has fluctuated between 1.7 msf to 2 msf, back to 1.7 msf now. The only other tower that has increased in bulk a bit would be the Childs designed tower opposite the north tower. I think it more likely had to do with getting construction financing for the smaller tower, the larger version just a little bit more ambitious. But, as we've seen, the potential is that the Coach tower is filling already.

Meanwhile, the lowest observation deck level at the north tower would be at 1,100 ft. That's higher than what the Coach tower was planned at, and a little higher than the Childs designed building just to the west.

[Dac150]

I understand what you're saying, CCs77, however I believe the initial success of the observation / amusement component is contingent on the level of marketing executed ahead of the opening. Should Related retain the observation component, I believe they will do what is necessary to properly market the attraction.

. . . . but I digress seeing as how this is the Coach Tower thread

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...6bPnLtVduGlO4M

November 13, 2012
Steve Cuozzo

JLL states that Extell’s One Hudson Yards will “like[ly] be the first new project developed in the Hudson Yards redevelopment zone.” As we first reported last spring, that’s Gary Barnett’s proposed 1 million-square-foot tower on 11th Avenue between 34th and 35th streets — which is in the Hudson Yards district but not at the rail yards site with which the Hudson Yards name is synonymous in many minds.

But why, in the JLL report, was there no mention at all of Related Cos.’ 2 million-square foot Coach tower, which will be the first to rise at the 26-acre rail site and is supposed to break ground any day? A rep for JLL explained the firm believed the Coach project wouldn’t be done until 2017 — two years later than Related must deliver the building to Coach and possibly other tenants, including L’Oreal.

Now, JLL has a selfish interest in ignoring Related: as JLL’s rep acknowledged, it’s the leasing agent for Extell’s project (CBRE has the nod from Related). But even allowing for the competition, cutting Related out of a report widely distributed to brokers and journalists struck us as less than fair play — and dumb, given the Coach project’s imposing public profile.

Still, the actual launch date for Related’s tower remains unknown. A few weeks ago we wrote that Related wanted “amendments” in its ground lease deal for the yards with the MTA, which has yet to close — two years after terms were agreed to. It wasn’t hearsay — MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said on the record that Related “has approached the MTA to amend the existing deal,” despite Related officials saying they weren’t looking to change anything. It matters big-time because Related can’t start work in earnest on its first Hudson Yards skyscraper until it closes on the ground lease.

A few days later, I bumped into Related Chairman Stephen M. Ross at Time Warner Center’s Porter House restaurant. Ross — politely, as has been his style since he was the subject of my first-ever Realty Check column on Nov. 10, 1999 — averred that I was “stirring things up” and there was nothing the least bit amiss. He wouldn’t elaborate. Nor would the MTA. Everyone hopes the long-awaited Coach skyscraper comes out of the ground immediately.

[Eidolon]

http://archrecord.construction.com/n...eak-Ground.asp

Hudson Yards To Break Ground
By C.J. Hughes
November 14, 2012

After years of debate and delays, Hudson Yards—an ambitious plan to create a new mixed-use neighborhood from scratch over railroad tracks on Manhattan’s west side—is finally breaking ground. Excavations for the first office tower on the site, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), which also created the master plan, will begin by the first week of December, according to a source at the Related Companies, its co-developer with Oxford Properties Group.

While much of Manhattan’s waterfront suffered serious flood damage from Hurricane Sandy, the site, which sprawls along the Hudson between Tenth and Twelfth Avenues, and West 30th and West 33rd Streets, was spared. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) stores its trains there, and its pumps worked when the water surged. Most of the development will be built atop a massive platform that will cover the tracks and allow trains to run even during construction. This should protect buildings from future storms, which have suddenly become a major worry. “Hudson Yards will have the benefit of learning from the mistakes of others” and incorporate the latest dewatering technologies, says Mitchell Moss, an urban planning professor at New York University.

The first tower, a 46-story, 1.7 million-square-foot building, with the luxury apparel company Coach as anchor tenant, will be at the far southeastern corner of the 26-acre Hudson Yards site. Construction of the $1 billion glass tower, which slopes westward before tapering to a point, is to be completed by 2015. Studios Architecture has designed the interiors for Coach; an entrance of the building will overhang a portion of the High Line. The entire development will include 14 acres of public open space and parks.

In addition to the Coach tower, KPF is designing a 1,300-foot high-rise. Connecting the two will be a five-story retail podium by Elkus Manfredi Architects, facing a landscaped plaza by Nelson Byrd Woltz. Also planned for the first phase: a 950-foot mixed-use tower with a hotel, condos, and shops, by SOM. Plus, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, along with the Rockwell Group, are designing a “culture shed,” a five-story moveable structure that abuts an 825-foot apartment tower that the team has also designed. The shed can roll out, like a trundle bed, to create a 55,000-square-foot performance and exhibition space.

A half-dozen structures, not yet designed, are planned for a second phase on the western side of the site. The total project, whose cost is $15 billion, isn’t expected to be completed for a decade. “This has to be the most exciting thing I’ve ever worked on,” says Bill Pedersen, 74, the lead design architect and a KPF founder.

It's about time!
I just wonder when they will nail down the final heights of all the projects, with the Equinox tower being 950 feet now instead of the 1100 feet it appeared to be in the renderings.

[NYguy]

Excavations for the first office tower on the site, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), which also created the master plan, will begin by the first week of December, according to a source at the Related Companies

So, in a couple of weeks or so, it begins...

[yankeesfan1000]

About time!!! Such a great building, can't wait to see it rise.

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busines...WYdVHJf9And3uK

Hudson Yards shovel-ready

By STEVE CUOZZO
November 27, 2012

In a critical breakthrough for Hudson Yards, the MTA board is expected tomorrow to let Related Companies start $50 million of preliminary work on its Coach headquarters tower before the developer closes on its 99-year lease of the 26-acre site from the agency. In exchange, Related will give up its right to defer closing until three citywide economic “triggers” have been met. The company founded by Stephen M. Ross also will commit for the first time to a firm closing date: June 1, 2013, although both Related and the MTA say it will likely occur sooner and possibly by this Dec. 31.

Related needs to get moving immediately on the 47-story, 1.7 million-square-foot skyscraper at 10th Avenue and West 30th Street — a so-called “terra firma” site. Towers planned for later will rise from a platform Related must build over the two rail yards between 10th and 12th avenues and 30th and 31st streets.

Coach, which is buying 750,000 square feet of office space, needs to move in by mid-2015 when leases elsewhere expire. Two other possible tenants, L’Oréal and German software giant SAP, are also said to have firm deadlines for moving into their space.

An MTA spokesman said the agreement — approved yesterday by the agency’s Finance Committee and to be voted on by the MTA board tomorrow — lets Related begin excavation and foundation work at once, but not above-ground construction.

Related must complete the preliminary work before the tower can actually start to rise. The new agreement gives Ross wiggle time to put infrastructure in place so he can build in earnest once Related closes on the lease.

Related said work at the site was “imminent” following expected MTA board approval this week.

[Eidolon]

Great news!

[NYguy]

http://www.equities.com/news/headlin...2&cat=business

U.S. Concrete Operating Company Helps Transform Manhattan's Iconic Skyline

Marketwire
11/27/12

Eastern Concrete, a U.S. Concrete Company (NASDAQ: USCR), has been privileged to take part in reshaping Manhattan's iconic skyline with recent high profile projects that will cement the city's place as having one of the most complex, glamorous and recognizable skylines in the world.

The U.S. Concrete operating company has been selected as the initial ready-mix concrete supplier on yet another high profile and a future landmark of the Manhattan skyline: the much anticipated Hudson Yards project. Eastern's work will begin in November 2012 and will include delivery of 14,000 cubic yards of concrete for the foundation of Tower C, the largest of the towers on the southeast side of the construction site. The concrete delivery will include 3,500 cubic yards of high strength concrete (14,000 psi, 12,000 psi and 10,000 psi).

"Eastern Concrete has the largest ready-mix delivery fleet in the area and an excellent track record with complex and large-scale construction," said John Russo, Operations Manager, New York Concrete. "We are confident that Eastern has the creativity, technology and solution to get the job done in spec and on time."

Hudson Yards is an ambitious mixed-use development by the real estate firm The Related Companies. The project is designed by the New York architectural firms of SOM and KPF and considered one of New York's largest developments ever. When complete, Hudson Yards will offer more than 12,700,000 square feet of office, residential, and retail space.

[NYC4Life]

12.7 million sq. feet of space is already more than certain entire cities.

[Eidolon]

Is this U/C? According to the diagram page it is, but I would like some confirmation on this.

[Arawooho]

This isn't U/C yet, but I think we will be seeing real action this week. I will visit the site tomorrow to see.

[Crawford]

This tower is actually 880 ft. per NYC DOB filings. Can the mods change the title?

[NYguy]

http://www.globest.com/news/12_490/n...rt-327233.html

New Hudson Yards Deal Means Earlier Start

November 29, 2012
By Paul Bubny

Shovels will begin moving dirt soon at the Hudson Yards redevelopment on Manhattan’s Far West Side under a modified contract approved Wednesday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors. The revised contract allows Related Cos. to begin foundation work on the headquarters for Coach Inc. before closing on its deal with the MTA for the 26-acre site.

In exchange, though, Related is committing for the first time to a firm closing date: June 1, 2013. Previously, the developer had the right to hold off signing on the dotted line for the Eastern Rail Yard portion of the site, and begin paying rent on its 99-year lease, until three triggers in the city’s real estate market were met: Midtown’s office availability rate declining to 11%, apartment sale prices reaching an average $1,200 per square foot and the AIA Architectural Billings Index hitting 50. The three markers have not yet been met.

An MTA staff summary outlined the reason that Related sought to modify its contract: “deadlines from Coach and other prospective occupants to commence construction” on the 1.7-million-square-foot tower, at which Coach will be the anchor tenant, in order to have it ready for occupancy by mid-2015.

[NYguy]

http://themidtowngazette.com/2012/11...rds-high-rise/

Coach Moves Corporate Headquarters to New Hudson Yards High-Rise

BY Claire Stern
November 12, 2012

The vacant plot of land on the corner of West 30th Street and Tenth Avenue may not look like much now, but in 2015 it will house a 46-story tower that will become Coach Inc.’s new corporate headquarters. By 2017, the surrounding area will have been transformed into a full-fledged business district......In an effort to maximize space and maintain its connection with the neighborhood, luxury leather goods company Coach announced last November that it would move its corporate offices from West 34th Street between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, where it has been for approximately 50 years, to the site’s South Tower, the first office building at Hudson Yards.

The 1.7 million square foot building will contain Coach’s central buying functions, design functions, and corporate marketing and communications offices and feature direct access to the High Line and adjacent shops and restaurants. The company recently announced that it will hold a minimum of 700,000 square feet—instead of the previously reported 600,000—in the building throughout 15 floors, which will be internally connected by a central atrium and staircase.

“We are a ever-growing company and our space is currently operating at full capacity so the need for additional space is very real,” said Jason Weisenfeld, senior vice president of brand communications at Coach Inc. “The opportunity to be a part of Hudson Yards, and stay in the neighborhood where we have been for almost five decades, and to be part of something as exciting as the development of Hudson Yards and continue our adjacency to the High Line was extremely attractive to us.”

Coach has a longstanding relationship with Friends of the Highline, the non-profit partner to the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation that oversees maintenance of the park, through its sponsorship of Coach’s annual Summer Party on the High Line’s Chelsea Market passage every June. The High Line receives 90 percent of its operating costs from private events, donations and memberships.

Chandra Singh, a 52-year-old Queens resident who works at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, thinks Coach will continue to do well when it expands to Hudson Yards. “Anywhere Coach is located they will do very good business because their quality is excellent,” said Singh, at Coach’s store in the Time Warner Center. “They have class, they have style and everything about it is top of the line.”

[uaarkson]

Mid 2015!? That's outstanding!