Much of Manhattan’s 17.4-million-sq-ft Eastern Yard--the 13-acre first phase of the 28-acre Hudson Yards air-rights minicity—is open. The retail center and the public square and gardens, including its centerpiece TKA Vessel, opened March 15.
Much of the development, planned by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, sits over a 26-acre active rail yard. The first phase, which involved building a 13-platform over the tracks, had many of those involved on tenterhooks. Caissons had to be threaded around the tracks and also had to avoid two active Amtrak tunnels and a third tunnel not yet in use.