Related, Oxford Start Construction on NYC’s $700M Hudson Yards Eastern Platform

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

New York City’s $15 billion, 28-acre Hudson Yards mixed-use project, which holds the distinction of being the largest private real estate development in the history of the U.S., moves closer toward realization with the commencement of construction of the Eastern Platform. Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group, developers of Hudson Yards, will shell out $700 million to complete the platform.

Ultimately, Hudson Yards will feature more than 17 million square feet of commercial and residential offerings and 14 acres of public open space. And it all needs a platform to serve as a foundation.

“The construction of the platform is the crucial step towards reimagining the West Side and connecting two of Manhattan’s most thriving neighborhoods – Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen,” a spokesperson for Related told Commercial Property Executive. Indeed, Hudson Yards is being touted as a game-changer, a development that will dramatically alter and revitalize the West Side of Manhattan and serve as a model of responsible development.

To bring the gargantuan project to fruition, two platforms are required to bridge over 30 active Long Island Rail Road train tracks, three subsurface rail tunnels operating Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains, and a new Gateway tunnel that is presently in the construction phase. The Hudson Yards buildings will rise through the platforms, which will span 75 percent of the Eastern and Western Rail Yards. It’s an engineering challenge that is being masterminded by structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti and the Hudson Yards’ general contractor Tutor Perini.  Three hundred caissons will support the Eastern Platform, which will consist of 25,000 tons of steel and 14,000 cubic yards of concrete for a total weight exceeding 35,000 tons.

Already, the Eastern Rail Yards portion of Hudson Yards is taking shape. Construction on 10 Hudson Yards, the 1.7 million-square-foot south tower to which cosmetics giant L’Oréal USA and software company SAP have already staked a claim, kicked off in December 2012, and by the close of 2014, more than 7 million square feet of development will be underway.