The first building in New York’s sprawling Hudson Yards development is open for business. Today, 10 Hudson Yards—one component of the multi-billion-dollar project on the city’s west side—welcomed its first group of tenants, luxury goods company, Coach, Inc.
Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) the 895-foot-tall glass-clad tower straddles the High Line, Chelsea’s wildly popular elevated park. This morning, employees and press entered the building’s spacious lobby on 30th Street—clad in granite, cast aluminum, and hand-hammered limestone panels—taking an escalator upstairs to a separate lobby for Coach’s new global headquarters. There, a double-height display case showed off hundreds of classic bags in a rainbow-like spectrum of leather. A towering digital screen, meanwhile, displayed fashion campaign images.
“I gotta tell you, this is very, very exciting. It’s a preview of what’s to come,” said Stephen M. Ross, chairman and founder of Related Companies, the project’s developer.
The company’s offices had been in the neighborhood for more than half a century, housed in two industrial buildings.
Coach CEO Victor Luis said during opening remarks that the building will provide “a fresh start in a new home.”
In Coach’s new space, according to KPF director Marianne Kwok, the company wanted to maintain the feel of the former office, so the building’s concrete structure was left exposed throughout. The firm worked with Studios Architecture for Coach’s office interiors and L’Observatoire International on the lighting design.
Said Kwok of working with Coach, “It was great to work with people who understand the process of design—people who make things.”
But there is still plenty of work to be done on the rest of the building: in a separate lobby at the High Line level, a crew was working in cherry pickers; the joints of the limestone panels were still drying.
Coach will be joined later this year by L’Oréal USA, the Boston Consulting Group, VaynerMedia, SAP, Intersection, and Sidewalk Labs. The building is expected to house some 7,000 employees. Of the building’s 1.8 million square feet, Coach occupies more than 700,000 square feet.
KPF, also responsible for Hudson Yards’ master plan, designed 30 Hudson Yards, and 55 Hudson Yards (with Kevin Roche). Firms including Diller Scofidio + Renfro, SOM, Elkus Manfredi Architects, and Heatherwick Studios also have projects there.
When completed in 2024, the entire development will encompass more than 17 million square feet of commercial and residential space, and include dozens of shops, restaurants, a public school, 14 acres of public space, and a luxury hotel. The project is expected to contribute $19 billion to the city’s GDP, according to a report the developers released last month.
Check out 10 Hudson Yards in the video below:
