In the space of a few years, the Manhattan skyline has become almost unrecognisable, with a host of new buildings literally redesigning it. 432 Park Avenue, a long, square tower rising above the fray, appeared in 2015. Then, in 2016, it was 56 Leonard Street - the 'Jenga Tower' designed by Herzog & de Meuron - and in 2017 the Madison Square Tower. Soon it will be 111 Murray Street, in Tribeca, which is nearing completion... The list goes on and on, not to mention the twenty or so other buildings currently under construction, starring.., a transparent banner designed by Jean Nouvel at the corner of 53e rue and 6e...
In the space of a few years, the Manhattan skyline has become almost unrecognisable, with a host of new buildings literally redesigning it. 432 Park Avenue, a long, square tower rising above the fray, appeared in 2015. Then, in 2016, it was 56 Leonard Street - the 'Jenga Tower' designed by Herzog & de Meuron - and in 2017 the Madison Square Tower. Soon it will be 111 Murray Street, in Tribeca, which is nearing completion... The list goes on and on, not to mention the twenty or so other buildings currently under construction, starring.., a transparent banner designed by Jean Nouvel at the corner of 53e rue and 6e avenue, which will tower 320 metres above Central Park.
New York is stepping up its policy of pharaonic works by rehabilitating certain under-exploited districts, particularly in Manhattan. First there was the need to revitalise of the Financial District, on the edge of the former World Trade Center and Wall Street, with the opening of boutiques, hotels and restaurants, followed by the inauguration of the Freedom Tower in 2014. What for decades had been a purely business district has gradually become a real place to live and go out. And even more so since 2016 and the unveiling of the Oculus, a new station in the urban network designed by Santiago Calatrava and costing four billion dollars.
At the same time as this renaissance of the southern tip of Manhattan was taking place, a series of projects for redevelopment of the Hudson river banksoffering New Yorkers a new green lungOn the East River, around South Street Seaport, shopping centre projects are being developed.
The other side of the coin is that these monumental projects, which are transforming New York into a city that is perfectly clean, smooth and flashy all at the same time, are causing rents to soar, particularly for commercial leases. From Downtown to Midtown, many storefronts have had their curtains drawn, the owners having decided overnight to triple the rent. This is what we call high rent blightthe scourge of high rents. Even in the streets of the East Village, once the epicentre of bohemian life, independent bookshops and ramshackle cafés are being replaced by Starbucks and other globalised brands. As a result, New York is losing its magic and its rebellious magnificence. In short, everything that set it apart from other cities around the world. "New York's energy has become less concentratedsays Noam J. Gasper, a videographer based in Long Island City. Creative people are moving in as affordable rents become available, rather than coming together to form artistic communities."
Colossal redevelopment
Despite all this, the charm of the super city continues to work. Tourism is beating records, with 63 million national and international visitors, compared with 33 million in 1998. "New York is the most visited city in the northern hemispheresays Christian Gonzalez, Director of Research at the Center for an Urban Future NYC. Tourism is now one of New York's top five economic sectors."According to Caroline Winter, Communications Director at Business France New York, the city's appeal remains intact: "it is the first city where French entrepreneurs settle when they come to the United States". Especially as economic activity continues to grow. After the Financial District, Midtown, the other major business district, is now in the spotlight with the renovation of the famous Penn Station, New York's second-largest railway station damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. A colossal redevelopment project which aims to relieve congestion while restoring the city's panache.
While this refurbishment is a public-private partnership, the Hudson Yards project is the largest private 100 % property development in the history of the United States. It will be built in part on a platform erected above the train sidings, in the geographical continuity of the station. Initially, six of the planned sixteen towers will be operational in 2019, with the second phase scheduled for completion in 2025. Several emblematic buildings These include The Vessel, designed by artist Thomas Heatherwick; The Shed, dedicated to art and designed by Scofidio + Renfro; and a sublime residential building, one of the last designed by Zaha Hadid. "In spring 2018, half of our flats (Editor's note: the equivalent of a three-room apartment is 3.9 million dollars) were already sold before they were even builtsays Jessica Scaperotti, VP communications at developer Related Companies. It will be a mixed-use district with homes, a shopping mall and the first Equinox Hotel, all surrounded by 16 hectares of green space."
New business district
But above all, Hudson Yards is set to become the new business hub of New York.-York. L'Oreal, SAP, Boston Consulting Group and Tapestry are all headquartered at 10 Hudson Yards, the only tower already in operation. Other big names are expected to join them soon. Planned for 2019, 30 Hudson Yards will house media giants Time Warner, HBO and CNN, as well as KKR and Wells Fargo on the financial side, while investor BlackRock has reserved its place at 50 Hudson Yards, a tower designed by Norman Foster and due to open in 2022. Next door to the Hudson Yards, the Manhattan West development will be home to teams from JP Morgan, Accenture and Amazon.
As far as Jeff Bezos' company is concerned, the city is holding its breath. Like Newark, NYC is one of 20 cities on Amazon's shortlist to host its 'number two' headquarters after Seattle. Four locations have been proposed by the city: Midtown West with the Hudson Yards and Manhattan West, the Financial District, Long Island and the Brooklyn Tech Triangle. The major strength of the bid: 296,263 employees specialising in tech, compared with 150,419 in San Francisco, and academic excellence reinforced by the opening of Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island at the end of 2017. A partnership between Cornell University and the Israeli institute Technion, this campus should eventually welcome 2,000 students and hundreds of professors. "It's a tremendous catalyst for our technology sector"said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who intends to make New York "the world's largest city.he leader of the 21st century economy". Attracting one of the GAFAs would be a powerful argument for strengthening the city's high-tech aura in its long-distance battle with Silicon Valley. While New York has seen the birth of a number of successful start-ups, such as fintech OnDeck, online retailer Etsy and Tumblr, none has the scale of Google or Facebook. There is IBM, but it was founded in 1911...
So the city is stepping up initiatives to develop the sector, such as the Union Square Tech Hub, a training centre, incubator and coworking space, whose project has just been approved. Less geeky than California, New York's technology scene is undoubtedly more serious and just as attractive to investor capital. "It's starting to resemble the city's traditional economy, with a shift towards businesses that make money instead of noise."explains Josh Kleyman, Business Delegate and Coordinator of the Canadian Technology Accelerator in New York, in an interview published by Forbes.
If Silicon Alley, on the outskirts of Flatiron and 23e For almost ten years now, it has been a meeting place for start-ups specialising in advertising and the media - such as BuzzFeed and Mashable - as well as fintech. As a result of the proximity of Wall Street, innovation has spilled over into the other boroughs: creative and urban tech in Brooklyn, foodtech and biotech in Queens, social start-ups in the Bronx. Another consequence of Manhattan's forced gentrification.
