new parkland coming to hudson yards

Glass skyscrapers aren’t the only thing Hudson Yards will see more of in the years to come.

Three acres of new green space will be built over a rail cut as part of the massive West Side development’s next phase, City officials announced on Aug. 8, enlarging an existing park at the site by 75 percent.

Hudson Park and Boulevard, as the greenway is known, currently occupies portions of three blocks from West 33rd Street to West 36th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues. The park will be extended three blocks north to West 39th Street as part of the project’s second and final phase, with portions of the new parkland slated to be constructed on top of an Amtrak rail cut that runs below street level.

The City Council voted Aug. 8 to support the issuance of up to $500 million in bonds to complete infrastructure projects within the Hudson Yards redevelopment zone, including the park expansion.

“Completing this park has been a goal of the West Side community for years,” City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose district includes Hudson Yards, said in a statement. “Securing this financing is an important step in ensuring that this neighborhood has essential public green space as Hudson Yards grows.”

The first phase of the park, completed in 2015, is the site of entrances to the new 34th Street-Hudson Yards 7 train stop. It also includes seating, fountains, and a children’s play area, and hosts a weekly farmer’s market.

The park, now popular with office workers from recently opened Hudson Yards commercial towers nearby, will eventually also serve the thousands of new residents expected to flood the neighborhood as the development’s residential buildings are completed. The district’s first condominium tower, 15 Hudson Yards, is expected to open by next spring.

“In a growing neighborhood like Hudson Yards, three acres of new parks is a vital investment in the wellbeing of residents for generations to come,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

Work is still in progress on a public garden area just south of the existing park that will eventually serve as home to Vessel, a Thomas Heatherwick sculpture consisting of dozens of interconnecting stairways and platforms that is intended to serve as a centerpiece for Hudson Yards. The garden will also serve as a connection between the High Line to the south and Hudson Park and Boulevard to the north.

Design work on the park expansion project will begin in the fall. Construction is expected to begin in 2020, with a target completion date of 2023.