First Hudson Yards tower opens in New York

New York

THE first skyscraper at Related Cos's US$25 billion Hudson Yards project opened on Tuesday after three and a half years of construction, bringing office workers to a once-desolate area of Manhattan's far west side that's now transforming into a new business enclave.

About 300 employees of Coach Inc moved into new headquarters at 10 Hudson Yards, where the luxury-handbag maker will soon be joined by tenants including L'Oreal USA, SAP, VaynerMedia and Boston Consulting Group. The 52-storey tower at 10th Avenue and West 30th Street, designed by the architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, is fully leased.

The milestone is just the beginning for Related, which wants to keep tenant momentum going as it pushes ahead with the rest of its 28-acre project and competitors plan their own skyscrapers nearby. Related was the pioneer in the area with…