BrandWikiReturn

30 Hudson Yards

30 Hudson Yards (also known during construction as the North Tower) is a supertall commercial skyscraper on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Located near Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, and the Penn Station area, the building is part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, a plan to redevelop the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's West Side Yard. It is the seventh-tallest building in New York City and the ninth-tallest in the United States as of May 2025.[6]

The building has a triangular observation deck, known as The Edge, jutting out from the 100th floor, with a bar and event space on the 101st floor. This observation deck, at 1,100 ft, opened in March 2020 and is the second-highest outdoor observation deck containing optically transparent flooring in the world, after the Cabo Girão Skywalk. The building was formerly the headquarters for WarnerMedia until the company was merged with Discovery, Inc. in 2022 to form Warner Bros. Discovery, which remains a tenant. WBD subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc. is based at 30 Hudson Yards. The building also serves as the headquarters for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., an American global investment company.

History

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on December 4, 2012. Early construction work focused on building a platform to cover much of the Eastern Rail Yard, for much of Phase 1 to sit upon and to allow the Gateway Rail Tunnel project to pass underground with a clear path. The platform is rested on caissons that are drilled underground into the solid bedrock known as Manhattan schist. On December 12, 2013, it was announced that Tutor Perini Building Corp. was awarded a US$510 million contract to build the platform.[7]

In 2013, Time Warner (later WarnerMedia, and now Warner Bros. Discovery) announced its intention to move most of its offices to 30 Hudson Yards, vacating its current headquarters at the Time Warner Center, also owned by Related, at Columbus Circle.[8] The company would occupy half the building, below the 38th floor.[9][10]

In mid-2015, Related received a $690 million loan from Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and CIBC which allowed construction to start.[11][12] By January 2016, the structure's first few aboveground floors were already complete.[13] Construction of the observation deck at the top of the tower began in April 2018.[14][15] The observation deck was nearly complete by mid-2018.[16][17][18][19]

In January 2019, WarnerMedia hired Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Cushman & Wakefield to find a buyer that would sell their office condominium and allow the company to lease it back—known as a sale-leaseback. WarnerMedia's office condo included more than 1.4 e6sqft on floors 16 through 51 and represented approximately 60 percent of the 90-story tower with 2.6 e6sqft.[20]

The building opened on March 15, 2019.[21][22] One month later, WarnerMedia executed a leaseback and sold their space to Related and Allianz for $2.2 billion after signing a 15-year lease for 1.5 e6sqft.[23] The sale closed in June 2019.[24] The partners financed the purchase with a 10-year, $1.43 billion commercial mortgage-backed security interest-only loan from Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs.[25] In June, KKR took out a $490 million mortgage from Deutsche Bank on their office condominium space.[26]

Tenants

  • Lobby: Home Box Office, Inc., Wells Fargo, The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards (retail), Bluestone Lane coffee
  • Floors 1–15: Wells Fargo Securities
  • Floors 16-23, 25–51: Home Box Office, Inc.
  • Floor 24: Convene[27]
  • Floor 25: (mechanical floor)
  • Floor 35: (sky lobby)
  • Floors 43–44: Visa inc
  • Floor 52: (mechanical floor)
  • Floors 60–66: Wells Fargo Securities
  • Floors 72–73: The Related Companies
  • Floors 74–83: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
  • Floor 79: (mechanical floor)
  • Floors 100–101: (observation deck)
  • Floor 101: Peak with Priceless Restaurant (event space)
  • Floors 102–103: (mechanical floors)

Studios

  • 17N: Early Start
  • 19X: Multi purposed studio
  • 19Y: CNN This Morning, Quest Means Business
  • 19Z: Erin Burnett OutFront, Fareed Zakaria GPS, CNN News Central, The Source
  • 21L: Anderson Cooper 360°,[28] CNN Newsnight

Architecture and design

Kohn Pedersen Fox was chosen for the design of the building, while Thornton Tomasetti was lead structural engineer and Jaros, Baum & Bolles provided MEP engineering services.[29][6] Originally planned to be 1337 ft tall,[30] the building was later downsized to 1270 ft tall, making it still the development's tallest building.[6][31] WarnerMedia's space features amenities including a cafeteria, a fitness center, a two-level auditorium and cinema and an outdoor deck.[25] The protruding outdoor deck has resulted in reviewers likening the building's shape to a duck.[32][33]

The building's lobby contains artwork by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa consisting of 11 stainless steel spheres hanging from the ceiling, meant to represent global unity and cultural diversity.[34]

Edge

The building features an 1100 ft outdoor observation deck known as "Edge", located on the 100th and 101st floors.[35] Edge contains a cantilevered outdoor terrace jutting 80 ft outward south of the building on the 100th floor, providing panoramic views of Manhattan and the Hudson River.[36] Edge is the second highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere after the SkyPod at the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, both are lower than Top of the World, the rooftop observation deck at top of the original South Tower of the World Trade Center which was 1,377 feet (419.7 m) high. Edge is also the second highest observation deck in New York City, after One World Observatory.[37][38] Visitors can lean into the 9 foot high clear glass barricade slanted 6.6 degrees outward to safely check out the street and rooftops below. Edge also features a 225 sqft glass triangle in the floor which looks down to the street 1,131 feet below. There is also a grand outdoor staircase on the east side of the deck.[39]

Edge opened to visitors on March 11, 2020, and temporarily closed two days later due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.[40] Edge reopened on September 2, 2020.[41] Starting in 2025, Edge has hosted a seasonal pop-up nightclub called Marquee.[42]

City Climb at Edge

In October 2021, it was announced that 30 Hudson Yards would host another attraction dubbed "City Climb at Edge" which allows visitors to ascend an outdoor staircase located at the top of the tower's crown. It was opened to the public on November 9, 2021, and is the highest open-air building ascent in the world.[43]

Gallery

See also

  • List of tallest buildings in New York City
  • Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project
  • List of tallest freestanding structures in the world
  • List of tallest freestanding steel structures
  • List of tallest buildings

External links

References

  1. Stephen Smith. Permits Filed: 30 Hudson Yards New York YIMBY, July 22, 2014, retrieved February 15, 2020^
  2. 30 Hudson Yards Office Space – Hudson Yards hudsonyardsnewyork.com, August 24, 2016, retrieved April 11, 2018^
  3. 30 Hudson Yards – The Seventh-Tallest Building in New York City Homedit, September 2, 2022, retrieved 2 August 2024^
  4. 30 Hudson Yards Hudson Yards Center, Oxford Properties Group Inc., July 17, 2018, retrieved October 11, 2018^
  5. 30 Hudson Yards, New York City – SkyscraperPage.com skyscraperpage.com, retrieved January 26, 2024^
  6. CTBUH. 30 Hudson Yards Facts | CTBUH Skyscraper Database Skyscrapercenter.com, November 1, 2011, retrieved May 20, 2014^
  7. D'Amico, Esther; Worrell, Carolina (December 19, 2013). "Further Work Details Revealed on Three Major NYC Projects".^
  8. TW is at Center of hot attention New York Post, June 5, 2013, retrieved December 7, 2017^
  9. Time Warner Press Releases Time Warner, January 16, 2014, retrieved July 31, 2014^
  10. Charles V. Bagli. Time Warner Is Planning a Move to Hudson Yards The New York Times, January 16, 2014, retrieved April 11, 2018^
  11. Permits Filed: 30 Hudson Yards New York YIMBY, July 22, 2014, retrieved August 28, 2014^
  12. Daniel Geiger. Developers land $5 billion loan for 30 Hudson Yards, mall on far West Side Crain's New York, December 10, 2015, retrieved May 3, 2019^
  13. Tanay Warerkar. Hudson Yards's Tallest Tower Begins Its 1,287-Foot Ascent curbed.com, December 23, 2015, retrieved April 11, 2018^
  14. Leanna Garfield. New York City is getting a 1,296-foot-tall skyscraper with the highest observation deck in the Western Hemisphere — see the incredible views Business Insider, April 11, 2018, retrieved June 12, 2018^
  15. Scott Stiffler. Construction Begins on Observation Deck at 30 Hudson Yards chelseanow.com, April 25, 2018, retrieved June 12, 2018^
  16. Andrew Nelson. 30 Hudson Yards' Observation Deck And Parapet Nearly Complete New York YIMBY, May 7, 2018, retrieved June 28, 2018^
  17. Devin Gannon. 30 Hudson Yards officially tops out at 1,296 feet 6sqft, July 17, 2018, retrieved October 11, 2018^
  18. Hudson Yards Construction Rolls On As Retail Center Rises Curbed NY, June 10, 2015, retrieved June 20, 2015^
  19. Ameena Walker. Tracking the biggest buildings taking shape at Hudson Yards Curbed NY, April 4, 2018, retrieved June 12, 2018^
  20. Lois Weiss. WarnerMedia looking to sell, lease back Hudson Yards HQ New York Post, January 8, 2019, retrieved October 13, 2020^
  21. Zoe Rosenberg. 6 crucial ways New York City's landscape will change in 2019 Curbed NY, January 2, 2019, retrieved January 3, 2019^
  22. Aria Bendix. Hudson Yards is the biggest New York development since Rockefeller Center. Here are all the major buildings in the $25 billion neighborhood. Business Insider, October 7, 2018, retrieved January 3, 2019^
  23. Chava Gourarie. Allianz Teaming Up With Related in Its $2.2B Acquisition of 30 Hudson Yards Commercial Observer, April 24, 2019, retrieved April 24, 2019^
  24. Erika Morphy. Allianz Buys $384M Stake in 30 Hudson Yards Office Condo GlobeSt, June 17, 2019, retrieved August 6, 2022^
  25. Matt Grossman. Related, Allianz Office Deal at 30 Hudson Yards Funded with $1.43B Mortgage Commercial Observer, June 20, 2019, retrieved June 21, 2019^
  26. Matt Grossman. KKR Seals $490M Financing for Commercial Condo at 30 Hudson Yards Commercial Observer, June 7, 2019, retrieved June 8, 2019^
  27. Convene 30 Hudson Yards | Premiere Meeting & Event Venue | Now Booking^
  28. 30 Hudson Yards NewscastStudio, August 3, 2019, retrieved August 3, 2019^
  29. 30 Hudson Yards Floor Plans | Hudson Yards Hudsonyardsnewyork.com, January 22, 2014, retrieved May 20, 2014^
  30. Fedak, Nikolai (November 25, 2013). "Related's Hudson Yards Towers Re-Named". New York Yimby.^
  31. New York's Hudson Yards Starts Next Phase as Deck Begins Bloomberg News, March 19, 2014, retrieved August 28, 2014^
  32. Justin Davidson. Hudson Yards Is a Gilded City Straight Out of a Billionaire's Fantasy Intelligencer, 2019-02-18, retrieved 2023-04-21^
  33. Johnny Tucker. West side story: inside New York's Hudson Yards DesignCurial, May 31, 2019, retrieved 2023-04-21^
  34. Sebastian Morris. Related And Oxford Unveil Commissioned Art Installations At Hudson Yards New York YIMBY, January 31, 2019, retrieved January 31, 2019^
  35. Winnie McCroy. Hudson Yards Set to Alter Skyline, Transform Neighborhood Chelsea Now, February 6, 2013, retrieved September 5, 2017^
  36. Lyndsey Matthews. The Second Highest Outdoor Observation Deck in the Western Hemisphere Is Now Open AFAR Media, March 11, 2020, retrieved September 6, 2020^
  37. Zoe Rosenberg. Hudson Yards' observation deck finally has an opening date Curbed NY, October 24, 2019, retrieved September 6, 2020^
  38. Morgan Hines. See what New York looks like from the Edge, a sky deck with a glass floor, 100 floors up USA TODAY, November 5, 2019, retrieved September 6, 2020^
  39. Lois Weiss. Hudson Yards observatory dares visitors to live life on the 'Edge' New York Post, October 24, 2019, retrieved October 13, 2020^
  40. David W. Chen. How Will Hudson Yards Survive the Pandemic? The New York Times, June 19, 2020, retrieved June 19, 2020^
  41. Katie Warren. View from the top: A guide to NYC's best observation decks, from the Empire State Building to the Top of the Rock Business Insider, September 2, 2020, retrieved September 5, 2020^
  42. Hannah Dailey. Go Clubbing In the Clouds at This Summer DJ Skydeck Overlooking New York City at 1,100 Feet Billboard, 2025-05-12, retrieved 2026-04-02^
  43. Shivani Vora. Now You Can Climb Outside a Skyscraper to the Top of New York City Architectural Digest, October 26, 2021, retrieved November 1, 2021^