Hong Kong on the Hudson (Hudson Yards)

The Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s far west side are train tracks for the MTA’s West Side Yard. In the 2000s, just after New York City lost its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics (that would have featured a stadium in this area), the New York City Department of City Planning rezoned the area so that buildings could be constructed over MTA’s yard.
 
The plan of tall buildings popping up on Manhattan’s west side was so large in scale that people called it “Hong Kong on the Hudson,” after the Chinese city of many skyscrapers over a small area. “Hong Kong on the Hudson” has been cited in print since at least 2008 and has been popularized by Kathleen Treat, of the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association.
     
A similar Hudson Yards nickname is “Dubai on the Hudson.”
 
       
Wikipedia: Hudson Yards (development)
Hudson Yards is a real estate development in the Chelsea and Hudson Yards neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. It is the largest private real estate development in the United States by square footage, and has been compared to Roppongi Hills, a Japanese development similar in scale and use. Upon completion, 13 of the 16 planned structures on the West Side of Midtown South would sit on a platform built over the West Side Yard, a storage yard for Long Island Rail Road trains. The first of its two phases comprises a public green space and eight structures that contain residences, a hotel, office buildings, a mall, and a cultural facility. The second focuses on residential space, along with an office building and a school.
   
SkyscraperPage Forum
Lecom
Mar 9, 2008, 10:07 PM
Can’t wait for this pioneer to rise, since a tower of its size will give less credibility to nimbies to bitch about the “anti-urban” character of this “Hong Kong on the Hudson”
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StatenIslander237
Mar 10, 2008, 10:25 AM
Can’t wait for this pioneer to rise, since a tower of its size will give less credibility to nimbies to bitch about the “anti-urban” character of this “Hong Kong on the Hudson”
....ich, not loving the “Hong Kong on the Hudson” label, but I get your drift. This is an outstanding way to get the ball rolling down there. :tup:
 
NYguy
Mar 10, 2008, 12:28 PM
....ich, not loving the “Hong Kong on the Hudson” label, but I get your drift.
Yeah, its a reference to the west side NIMBYs who are horrified that there could be tall buildings built over the railyards.
   
DNAinfo.com New York
Council Hearing on Hudson Yards Rezoning Attracts Groups Seeking Affordable Housing
Updated November 23, 2009 8:47am
November 23, 2009 8:46am | By Serena Solomon, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Community groups in Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea are looking to have their voices heard as the City Council considers rezoning the far West Side to make way for development over the MTA’s rail yards.
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“There is no guaranteed affordable housing slated for that enormous development,” said Kathleen Treat, from the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association, referring to the project as “Hong Kong on the Hudson.”
     
SkyscraperPage Forum
NYguy
Posted: Jan 30, 2010, 1:05 PM
“Hong Kong on the Hudson” is so yesterday for the up and coming NIMBY. Now, “Dubai on the Hudson”, that has a nice ring to it…
 
http://www.cityrealty.com/new-york-c…-horsley/30182
Civic group assails MTA yards project as “Dubai on the Hudson”
January 29, 2010
By Carter B. Horsley
The West Side Neighborhood Alliance, a community-based group in Chelsea, published an article yesterday in this week’s edition of Chelsea Now criticizing the agreement about affordable housing at the Western and Eastern rail yards of the Metropoitan Transportation Authority in West Midtown made by the authority and The Related Companies and Goldman Sachs, the designated developer. That agreement is due to be finalized January 31, 2010.
   
Washington (DC) Post
Hudson Yards: An urban town within a city rises on site of New York’s lost Olympics 
By Associated Press, Updated: Sunday, August 5, 2012 6:08 PMAP
NEW YORK — New York lost the 2012 Olympics, but the city’s bid for the summer games spurred another, visionary venture: building up the largest undeveloped parcel in Manhattan.
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This October, developers of the ambitious Hudson Yards project expect to break ground on a skyscraper where the Olympic stadium could have been.
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Kathleen Treat, of the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association named after an old adjacent area, calls Hudson Yards “Hong Kong on the Hudson,” referring to the densely populated Asian city with people living in tightly clustered high-rises.
 
Twitter
Michael Scotto
@mikescotto
Welcome to Hong Kong on the Hudson, otherwise known as Hudson Yards
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6:48 AM - 15 Mar 2019