66 Hudson Boulevard, aka The Spiral, Begins Rapid Vertical Ascent, in Hudson Yards

Night rendering of the New York City skyline featuring 66 Hudson Boulevard. Credit: BIG/Tishman Speyer.

Over the past two months, 66 Hudson Boulevard, aka The Spiral, has made swift progress. The first steel beam for the 65-story skyscraper was dedicated in mid-April and erected at a time when the core foundation walls hadn’t yet reached street level. Now, the steel superstructure for the Bjarke Ingels Group-designed commercial office tower is three floors above the Midtown neighborhood of Hudson Yards.

Recent photos from around the perimeter show the scope of work that has been completed since YIMBY’s mid-April update on the property.

Looking from the public plaza of Hudson Yards. Photo by Michael Young

Several construction cranes are on site, making it possible for workers to rapidly assemble the steel perimeter and girders. Tishman Speyer is the developer of the upcoming 2.85-million-square-foot structure, Turner Construction Company is the construction manager, and Banker Steel is in charge of fabricating the steel for the supertall, which is estimated to cost around $3.7 billion.

The western corner of the site. Photo by Michael Young

The construction cranes for The Spiral. Photo by Michael Young

The eastern corner of the site along Tenth Avenue. Photo by Michael Young

The site is located directly north of 50 Hudson Yards, Norman Foster’s future supertall commercial office building. These two skyscrapers are going up at the same time and it will be interesting to see how they compare in size and scale.

Looking from a much broader perspective reveals how 10 Hudson Yards, 30 Hudson Yards, 50 Hudson Yards, and The Spiral will completely transform the urban landscape along Tenth Avenue between West 30th Street and West 35th Street. It is still unclear at the moment if another equally large skyscraper will rise on the parcel of land to the north of Tishman Speyer’s property, between West 35th Street and West 36th Street.

Completion of The Spiral is slated for sometime in 2022.

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15 Comments on "66 Hudson Boulevard, aka The Spiral, Begins Rapid Vertical Ascent, in Hudson Yards"

  1. I hate the fact that this building is not a true spiral. A stepped spiral that looks atrocious instead.

  2. I’ve said this before, but this design is underwhelming considering the beautiful architecture other cities around the world seem to muster up. It’s just an uninspired variation on the glass box designed by people who don’t seem to be excited by architecture at all.

    • Howard Miller | June 20, 2019 at 9:06 am | Reply

      Hear! Hear!

      And spot on!

      Yep, Hudson Yards:

      Soon to be to Manhattan, as what 4th Avenue in Brooklyn is derisively called:

      “A canyon of mediocrity”

      Just on steroids!

      Or, as I prefer to call this spectacularly fugly collection of boring, banal, unimaginative and insipid “architecture” (assuming one can even call buildings this ugly that without being an insult to the profession itself, that is!):

      The largest collection/concentration of incredibly ugly “Supertalls” in the world, with 30 Hudson Yards easily the ugliest of them all (so far).

      Such a shame that Manhattan’s once picture postcard skyline that used to be the envy (and inspiration) of the world with buildings like Empire State, Chrysler, Woolworth, 30 Rock, Seagram’s (just to name but a few) is being vandalized and destroyed by such breathtakingly ugly buildings as those seen in Hudson Yards.

      Awful.

      Absolutely awful.

      Oh, well, I guess there’s the far better looking “Supertalls” slated for Park Avenue to look forward to! ?

  3. I love renderings where the 20 surrounding buildings suddenly ‘vanish’

  4. Confused in St Louis | June 19, 2019 at 7:20 pm | Reply

    Amazing isn’t it.

  5. Confused in St Louis | June 19, 2019 at 7:23 pm | Reply

    So, is there general agreement that “Hudson Yards” no longer refers to a specific development but instead to a much wider neighborhood?

  6. Interesting to see two different construction techniques on these two similar sized buildings..Foster’s building, with the core rising first and this one, with the steel perimeter leading..I think the ‘Square Spiral’ here will wind up looking great.

  7. BIG’s style has always been about working within constraints. Construction costs are the first limitation upon creating new buildings. Like it or not, new buildings are only built in Manhattan because they make profit for the people who invest the money needed for them to be made. Glass boxes are the cheapest and artistically safest way to go at the moment. We should be thankful that BIG is at least bringing something new to the table. Otherwise we’d just get another big glass box, without the spiral!

    • Howard Miller | June 20, 2019 at 9:20 am | Reply

      Let’s see if the building turns out even half as good as the render after the developer “Value Engineers” (translation: degrades by substituting much cheaper and uglier materials than originally proposed when the project was announced to the public and submitted for approvals from the city to build – or basically nothing more than the classic deception that falls under the category of “bait & switch”) the crap out of this next “Supertall” to rise in an area of the city that’s rapidly becoming the largest concentration of incredibly ugly buildings in the world.

      So, we shall see – since other than 35 Hudson Yards, nearly everything else seen to date in this neighborhood are little more than ginormous, overly massed, hulking eyesores ?

  8. David Chillemi | June 20, 2019 at 7:01 am | Reply

    People think it’s easy to design a new building. I’ve been in construction for 42 years in NYC, and this building is special. It’s not over the top, see Jenga building, it incorporates the Hi Line using landscaping tying it to the neighborhood, and it has a subtle grace and futuristic look wrapped in terraces all the way up. Unique to say the least. Try to find sliding doors opening to terraces up 66 floors that maintain this beauty anywhere in the world. BIG hit this one out of the park!

    • It’s a lot easier to leave a scathing comment on a hobbyist website than it is to get your supertall skyscraper design constructed in Midtown Manhattan.

  9. If they actually did build the originally planned Spiral, that would be spectacular. I hate the play it safe & boring approach..

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