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Old Posted Jan 3, 2014, 5:23 AM
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https://www.manhattanwestnyc.com/con...ium-38929.html

Council on Tall Buildings: New York’s New Delirium


Quote:
Rail passengers are taking their last looks at the brief flash of light they are used to receiving just after emerging from the Hudson River tunnel, and just before they dive into the bowels of Penn Station. Soon this 12-track channel will also be plunged into darkness, but it will be in exchange for Manhattan West’s 1.5-acre (0.6-hectare) landscaped public plaza, set between two 60-story towers by SOM. Unlike Hudson Yards, the tower foundations at Manhattan West are on terra firma. But in order to support the plaza between them, a highly innovative, post-tensioned, precast segmental bridge technology had to be devised to span the active rail lines below, without interrupting train movements. The platform alone is a $290 million investment, said Philip Wharton, Senior Vice President of Development for Brookfield Office Properties, the owners of Manhattan West.

The plaza represents a continuation of 32nd St. as a pedestrian walkway that stays level while the streets on either side drop to the west. If Brookfield can reach an agreement with Hudson Yards to their west, this corridor could theoretically provide an uninterrupted pedestrian pathway from Penn Station, through the future Moynihan intercity rail station, and through both mega-developments, all the way to the Hudson River and High Line.

A portion of the pedestrian corridor could pass directly through an existing building positioned over the rail yards, 450 W. 33rd St., a heavy-set concrete ziggurat that once housed both the New York Daily News printing presses and stored furniture for retailer E.J. Korvette.

While the building can structurally support and is zoned for a skyscraper, the current plan calls for re-cladding the structure and leasing to tenants in need of large floorplates, Wharton said. Including the two SOM towers, the project will comprise 6.2 million square feet (576,000 square meters) of office, residential and retail space.

Although Hudson Yards dwarfs Manhattan West in size, Wharton says the project’s ideal positioning between the High Line, which receives 3.5 million people per year, and Penn Station, which receives 600,000 travelers each day (219 million per year), will be beneficial for both developments.

“Retail and residential feed off each other,” Wharton said. “Retail wants to be near retail, and near residential. The Fairway grocery store in the [Hudson Yards] Coach building will be great for us. Office is more competitive. But for two out of the three uses, we are very happy about the complementary nature.”

The idea that the Javits Convention Center, High Line, Chelsea art-gallery district, Penn and Moynihan stations will be fused together at the double ship-knot of Hudson Yards and Manhattan West is staggering to comprehend, even in a city used to superlatives.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Wharton said. “Once this all is built out, it will be a whole other city here. There will be 25 million square feet of office space, 15,000 apartments, and maybe 150,000 to 200,000 people coming to work here each day.”
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