A brand-new design has been revealed for 3 Hudson Boulevard, a long-planned tower with 1.85 million square feet of office space.
Just shy of 1,000 feet tall, 3 Hudson Boulevard will top out at 56 stories with several floors having nearly 30-foot-high ceilings and plenty of terraces. It is slated to be ready for tenants at the end of 2023.
The $3 billion-plus project, located on the northwest corner of West 34th Street and Hudson Boulevard, is a collaboration between Joseph Moinian and office real estate investment trust (REIT) Boston Properties.
The REIT is an experienced developer that owns and has built office buildings from Salesforce Tower in San Francisco to numerous Boston projects and, locally, 250 W. 55th St.
Moinian, who built the Sky and Atelier residential towers a few blocks north, as well as other office buildings, has owned the site for decades. But for years, the plot — bounded on its other side by Eleventh Avenue and West 35th Street — was used for staging by the MTA and Amtrak.
All that commotion didn’t stop Moinian from planning his project. This is the third iteration and all the parties agree that the third time’s the charm.
Designed by FXCollaborative’s Dan Kaplan, it has Gensler as a consulting architect.
As soon as the railroads packed up, foundation construction started.
“It’s a very special building and a special location, and we’ve worked really hard to design a building that justifies the quality of the location because of the park,” says Boston Properties’ exec John Powers. The tower’s location is adjacent to the new Hudson Boulevard Park, a fountain-filled oasis. That section of park has a bench that is named for Moinian’s executive, Oskar Brecher, who passed away in 2016.
The tower’s 40-foot-tall lobby will feature hospitality-like food and beverage experiences that range from casual seating to elegant bars. Escalators and a dramatic staircase will lead to a second-story sky lobby and the main elevators.
“We designed the building from the outside in and from the inside out — and for what today’s users want,” says Powers.
“We are fortunate to be on the park and we want to respect the park and celebrate the park,” he adds of the building’s front “yard,” where there is one of three entrances and covered access to the 7 train.
And the inside is just as extraordinary. “We wanted something with a big statement,” Powers says.
The center core building has just one support column for the large, 50,000 square-foot podium floors that run from stories 3 to 7.
“It’s very unusual to have one column for a trading-sized floor,” says Moinian. These floors cantilever over the duplex lobby and have 16½-foot ceilings with 10½-foot windows.
As the building rises and sets back to smaller floors, it allowed the creation of seven unique floors dubbed “delighters.” These have breathtakingly high ceilings and in some cases, terraces.
Explains Richard Monopoli, senior vice president of development for Boston Properties: “They are the best products and they ‘delight’ the customers.”
“They are not typical,” Moinian adds proudly.
The “delighter” floors have ceilings that are either 19½ feet tall or a whopping 29 feet high. The latter type will include terraces.
The delighter floors include 6, 9, 28, 29, 45, 54 and 55. “An interior architect could do something special,” Powers says about the interior-design possibilities. For instance, staircases could be built between 28 and 29 and 54 and 55.
The “regular” floors will have 14½-foot-tall ceilings.
“It makes it very efficient,” Powers says. The building will be clad in high-performance glass — engineered to limit the heat loads and energy usage that plague such towers — that is critical to meeting new city energy targets.
Preparing for construction, Monopoli is currently negotiating orders for the concrete, steel, elevators and the glass curtain wall, while Tishman Construction has been hired as the contractor.
We designed the building from the outside in and from the inside out —and for what today’s users want.”
– John Powers, executive vice president of Boston Properties
Brokerage guru Peter Riguardi, chairman of the tri-state region for JLL, is overseeing the leasing. “The floor plates work well for tech, investment banking, finance and law firms,” he says. Two anchor tenants can have private entrances.
Since the foundation at 3 Hudson Boulevard will soon reach grade level, should an anchor tenant ink a deal by the end of 2020, it would get its keys at the end of 2023. All employees could be moved in during 2024.
The team is targeting and in conversations with the “next” group of large tenants who are expanding or have leases expiring.
Rents would start at about $110 per square foot for the lower floors and rise from there — not a shocking number for brand-new Class A space.
Tenants will benefit from the special 20 percent Hudson Yards tax abatement that will run for 20 years. “It has to be one of the biggest draws for Hudson Yards,” Moinian says.
Sited opposite the low-rise Javits Center, tenants from the fifth floor upwards will have views across its planted roof to the Hudson River.
The building also sits across West 34th Street from 55 Hudson Yards — coincidently a site once owned in part by Boston Properties — and is a block from the Equinox hotel and fitness facility.
A ramp onto the curved northern end of the High Line is down the block.
The tower is surrounded by wide avenues, while the large site to its north is for a subway vent, allowing great view corridors.
“In my judgement, this is the most attractive building in Hudson Yards and will have a real presence, with the ceiling heights, glass, light and air,” declares Powers. “There’s never been a podium built like this in the city.”
Quips Riguardi, “It could be the cherry on top of the Hudson Yards.”
