Vessel, The Centerpiece of the Hudson Yards Public Square and Gardens, Tops Out Reaching Full Height

NEW YORK, NY – December 6, 2017 – Vessel, the centerpiece of the Hudson Yards Public Square and Gardens, today topped out after eight months of construction. The last structural piece was installed and Vessel has now reached its full 150 foot height. The new urban landmark designed by Heatherwick Studio is comprised of 154 intricately-interconnecting flights of stairs, 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings. Rising from a base that is 50 feet in diameter, Vessel will offer the public a one-mile vertical climbing experience and some of the most unique views of the West Side when Hudson Yards opens in early 2019.

Stephen M. Ross, Chairman of Related Companies, said, “Great public spaces bring people together and define neighborhoods. The Hudson Yards Public Square and Gardens and its centerpiece Vessel, a new kind of vertical public space, will become the new gathering place for Manhattan’s West Side and a destination for New Yorkers and visitors alike. I look forward to early 2019 when we all can enjoy Manhattan’s newest public space and experience, interact with and climb Vessel.”

Thomas Heatherwick, Founder of Heatherwick Studio, said, “Vessel is one of the most complex pieces of steelwork ever made. Today we are marking the exciting moment when the last of the enormous 75 pre-fabricated pieces which travelled all the way from Italy to Manhattan, has been assembled ahead of schedule and with astonishing geometric accuracy. Over the next few months we’ll focus on installing the final details of the structure, as its paving, balustrades, lighting and cladding come together to complete this different kind of public space.”

Blake Hutcheson, President and CEO of Oxford Properties Group, said, “Vessel is a landmark-within-a-landmark. Already the West Side’s most magnificent destination, the topping out of Vessel adds an undeniable exclamation point to Hudson Yards’ success. We’re delighted that people from all over the world will have another great reason to visit Hudson Yards and experience the terrific intersection between design and architecture.”

Vessel was fabricated by Cimolai S.p.A. in their Monfalcone, Italy facility and arrived on Manhattan’s West Side in six separate shipments after travelling for 15 days at sea, a brief stay at Port Newark and a 5-hour barge trip across the Hudson River. Vessel is constructed of a structural steel frame covered by a polished copper-colored cladding. Over the next year, mechanical and finishing components will be installed as well as the landscaping elements.

The Public Square and Gardens at Hudson Yards, designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects in collaboration with Heatherwick Studio, will feature more than five acres of public plazas, gardens and groves that seamlessly connect to the High Line and the new Hudson Park & Boulevard. When complete, this continuous chain of open spaces on the West Side will run from Gansevoort Street to Times Square, making it the largest network of public spaces developed in Manhattan since Central Park. During the coming months, additional elements of the Public Square and Gardens will also continue to take shape, including the continued planting of the Bosque in the southern section of the public space in the spring. When complete, the Public Square and Gardens at Hudson Yards will eventually house more than 28,000 plants, 200 mature trees, woodland plants and perennial gardens. Vessel and the Public Square and Gardens are expected to open in early 2019.

Hudson Yards is a new neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side being developed by Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group. Hudson Yards will be home to more than 100 shops and restaurants – including New York City’s first Neiman Marcus – dozens of the world’s corporate business leaders, state-of-art modern residences, a unique cultural space, 14 acres of public open space, a new 750-seat public school and a 200-room Equinox® hotel – all offering unparalleled amenities for residents, employees and guests.

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ABOUT RELATED COMPANIES:

Founded more than 40 years ago, Related Companies is a fully-integrated, highly diversified industry leader with experience in virtually every aspect of development, acquisitions, management, finance, fund management, marketing and sales. The company has $50 billion of real estate assets owned or under development including best-in-class mixed-use, residential, and retail, office, trade show and affordable properties in premier high-barrier-to-entry markets. Headquartered in New York City, Related has offices and major developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, South Florida, Washington, D.C., Abu Dhabi, London and Shanghai, and is well-known for having developed the 2.8 million square foot Time Warner Center in New York City and the 72-acre CityPlace in West Palm Beach as well as being a leader in green building. For more information, please visit www.related.com

ABOUT OXFORD PROPERTIES GROUP:

Oxford Properties Group is a global platform for real estate investment, development and management, with approximately 2,000 employees and over $40 billion of real estate assets that it manages for itself and on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners. Established in 1960, Oxford has regional offices in Toronto, London and New York, and the company's portfolio includes approximately 56 million square feet of office, retail, industrial, multi-family and hotel properties. Oxford is the real estate arm of OMERS. For more information, please visit www.oxfordproperties.com

ABOUT HEATHERWICK STUDIO:

Heatherwick Studio is a team of 180 problem solvers dedicated to making the physical world around us better for everyone. Based out of our combined workshop and design studio in Central London, we create buildings, spaces, master-plans, objects and infrastructure. Focusing on large scale projects in cities all over the world, we prioritise those with the greatest positive social impact.

Working as practical inventors with no signature style, our motivation is to design soulful and interesting places which embrace and celebrate the complexities of the real world. The approach driving everything is to lead from human experience rather than any fixed design dogma. The studio’s completed projects include a number of internationally celebrated buildings, including the award-winning Learning Hub at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

The studio is currently working on approximately 25 live projects on four continents. Current projects include a major new headquarters for Google in both Silicon Valley and London (in collaboration with BIG), and Coal Drops Yard, a 100,000 sq ft retail quarter in London that makes use of two historic coal drops buildings.

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CONTACTS:

Joanna Rose/Jessica Scaperotti
212.801.3902 / 212.801.3528
[email protected]