At some point in their lives, nearly every American makes a trip to the “Big Apple.” So it isn’t necessary to apologize for discussing a major new Manhattan attraction in a column on travel.
Its name is Hudson Yards, and it is the largest privately financed real estate development ever.
It was built over a vast area of railroad tracks in midtown New York, and required many years of construction and billions of dollars.
Henceforth, visitors to New York will be urged to inhabit its hotels, eat at its restaurants, attend its theatres, shop at its mammoth stores, gawk at its skyscrapers, and view the rest of the city from an observation platform one hundred stories high. In terms of views, the Empire State Building is about to be surpassed.
Hudson Yards opened (at least the one-third of it that has been completed) a few weeks ago, and I viewed it at the worst possible time, amid the tens of thousands who flocked there on its opening day.
In time, there will be considerable landscaping, as well as numerous other futuristic buildings designed as theatres, apartment houses, schools, offices, various gathering places, and (perhaps) libraries, museums, and hospitals—a 21st century city within the city.
This new neighborhood, a short walk from Times Square, is a breathtaking assortment of the most modern achievements of famed architects, and it will house, feed, and entertain tens of thousands of people and create 45,000 new jobs.
You, the tourist, will need to form your own opinion as to its overall visual effect, and numerous art critics have compared it unfavorably to Rockefeller Center elsewhere in the city.
But thus far, crowds of New Yorkers seem to be using its facilities and welcoming this awesome addition to an ever-more fascinating town.