BY YANNIC RACK | The man who gave Hudson Yards its name is moving his own company into the new West Side neighborhood.
Last week, the developers of the eponymous endeavor announced that Daniel Doctoroff, who served as deputy mayor for economic development and rebuilding under former mayor Michael Bloomberg, is relocating his tech firm to the project’s first commercial tower, 10 Hudson Yards.
“As a leading data-driven, connected neighborhood, Hudson Yards is the perfect fit for us,” said Doctoroff, who is now Chief Executive of Sidewalk Labs, a tech company that focuses on urban quality-of-life issues.
“Moving here will also mark a milestone for me,” he added. “The effort to turn this neighborhood into an engine of growth for New York City has been a personal mission for me for 20 years and it is very exciting to see that dream becoming a reality.”
Under the Bloomberg administration, Doctoroff pushed for building a football stadium where Related Companies is now erecting high-rises across active railroad tracks.
Although the stadium plan, which was supposed to lure the Olympic Games to the city, was ultimately defeated in 2005, ensuing zoning changes paved the way for Hudson Yards.
“It’s somewhat of a homecoming to have Dan and his team at Hudson Yards, since this new neighborhood would not have been possible without his foresight and dedication,” Related’s founder and chairman Stephen Ross said in a statement.
Sidewalk Labs, which Doctoroff started with Google last year, will take roughly 67,000 square feet across two floors of the 52-story tower at W. 30th St. and 10th Ave. It will share the space with Intersection, a media-centric tech company chaired by Doctoroff and partly owned by Sidewalk Labs.
The two firms are set to move in this spring, along with the tower’s other tenants, such as Coach Inc., The Boston Consulting Group, L’Oréal USA, SAP and VaynerMedia.
“Hudson Yards is the first New York City neighborhood to offer a true 21st century experience to New York’s residents and employees, and is an ideal location for Intersection and Sidewalk Labs to design innovations that will make other cities more resilient and efficient,” Ross said.
Ten Hudson Yards is now almost fully leased, according to the developers, after construction on the 895-feet tower topped out last Oct. with the symbolic lifting of a bucket of concrete to the building’s roof.
It is not the only building sprouting up across the development’s 28 acres. Right next door, construction is underway on the Shops and Restaurants at Hudson Yards, a retail and food complex that will include New York City’s first Neiman Marcus and restaurants by chefs like Thomas Keller, José Andrés and Costas Spiliadis.
Workers are also busy at 30 and 55 Hudson Yards, the two other office towers that will make up the neighborhood’s Eastern Yard.
The former is now fully committed, with tenants Time Warner Inc., KKR and Wells Fargo Securities sharing 2.6 million square feet, according to the developers. It will open in 2019.
Construction has also begun on 35 Hudson Yards, a hotel and office building, and sales will begin later this year on 15 Hudson Yards, the site’s first residential building.
