| Hudson Park | |
 Hudson Park, between34th Street and 35th Street | |
| Maintained by | Hudson Yards / Hell's Kitchen Alliance |
|---|---|
| Length | 1,200 ft (370 m) |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City |
| Postal code | 10001, 10018 |
| North end | 36th Street (phase 1) 39th Street (phase 2a) 42nd Street (phase 2b) |
| South end | 33rd Street |
| East | Tenth Avenue |
| West | Eleventh Avenue |
| Construction | |
| Commissioned | 2014; 11 years ago (2014) |
| Construction start | 2007 (phase 1) late 2020 (phase 2) |
| Completion | Late 2014 (phase 1) 2023 (phase 2) |
Hudson Park and Boulevard is agreenway andboulevard inHell's Kitchen,Manhattan inNew York City, being built as part of theHudson Yards Redevelopment Project. It lies between10th and11th Avenues. The park, officially calledBella Abzug Park, is located in the median of the boulevard, which consists of two one-way roads that run parallel to each other.
When complete, it will be 4 acres (1.6 ha) in area, six blocks long, and run north–south between 33rd and 39th Streets. The boulevard will be in the center of the park when complete. Construction will be in two phases; the first phase, located between 33rd and 36th Streets, was under construction from 2012 to August 2015. The construction of the section between 36th and 37th Streets is underway as of summer 2021. The second phase[1] has no timeline. The total cost of the project is more than$30 million.
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In the 1930s, there was a proposal to build a street in the middle of the block between 10th and 11th Avenues, running from 34th to 42nd Streets within roughly the same place as the current Hudson Boulevard. It would have fed into theLincoln Tunnel. One block of the street was actually built between 40th and 41st Streets. The road was namedGalvin Avenue, afterPort Authority of New York and New Jersey chair John F. Galvin, and was labeled as such through the 1980s.[2] This name was still in use as recently as 2017,[3] although there are no street signs for it.
In January 2005, theNew York City Council approved the rezoning of about 60 blocks from 28th to 43rd Streets, creating the neighborhood ofHudson Yards;[4] the need for a park in the area was seen when Hudson Yards was being planned.[5]
The park and boulevard was developed concurrently with theNew York City Subway's7 Subway Extension to34th Street. The park contains the two entrances to the 34th Street station.[6] The first entrance is located between 33rd and34th streets,[6] and a second entrance is between 34th and 35th streets.[7]
Phase one of the park's layout, led byMichael Van Valkenburgh Associates,[8] was finished in January 2012.[9] Construction began in January 2012.[10] Since the boulevard was brand-new, it would conform toNew York City Department of Transportation standards set in 2012. Atraffic signal was installed at34th Street to facilitate pedestrian flow through the park.[11]
Abusiness improvement district for the park, started in early 2014,[12] is being led by Robert J. Benfatto Jr., ofManhattan Community Board 4. The BID has a $1.2 million budget in its first year, which will go up to $3 million in subsequent years. Its budget is used for Hudson Park maintenance and operations, district-wide services and improvements, administration and advocacy.
As of August 2014[update], the section of the park between 33rd and 34th Streets was completed, and was to open at the end of 2014.[13][14][15] However, the section between 34th and 36th Streets was delayed to August 2015, while the 33rd to 34th Streets section did not open until the 34th Street station opened on September 13, 2015.[16]
On March 1, 2019, theNew York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced that Hudson Park was to be renamed in honor ofBella Abzug, a New York representative and one of the leading endorsers of thesecond-wave feminism movement. This was part of an effort byBill de Blasio's association's plan to recognize female New Yorkers duringWomen's History Month.[17]
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The boulevard is split into two, with a Hudson Boulevard East and a Hudson Boulevard West. The park serves as a median.[18] The boulevard starts from a restricted driveway (extending from31st Street westbound) at33rd Street and is one-way northbound to35th Street, with the park to the west of the roadway. North of 35th Street, a southbound roadway forms and the park is located between the two roadways up to 36th Street. Future plans call for the park to be extended up to39th Street (although the western roadway ends at38th Street, the eastern roadway and the park go up to 39th Street). Then, aHigh Line-style promenade above theLincoln Tunnel entrance will be constructed in the second phase to connect the greenway to42nd Street.[13][19] The boulevard's southern end is integrated with theHudson Yards Public Square, an L-shapedpublic square that is intended to be Hudson Yards' centerpiece.[20]
The first phase of the park and boulevard has lawns, a fountain, a café, wooden benches, planting beds, and a playground. Three fountains between 34th and 35th Street are able to detect wind speeds and shut off during high winds. A 50-foot-high pole designed byJames Carpenter between 35th and 36th Streets was built as a café location.[13] Additionally, theAmtrakEmpire Connection will run underneath the park.[21] The park will be owned by the city.[22] It, along with theHigh Line, Hudson Yards public square, andHudson River Park, will create a pedestrian-friendly greenway. The first phase and part of the second phase of Hudson Boulevard West is already completed.[13]
The boulevard is bordered on the west and east between 33rd and 34th Streets by the future locations of55 Hudson Yards and50 Hudson Yards, respectively.[23] Currently, the 55 Hudson Yards space is occupied by a subway ventilation building, with a facade containing aU.S. flag pattern on the side of the building facing the park and boulevard.[13] On April 30, 2014,Tishman Speyer announced the acquisition of land between the Hudson Park & Boulevard and Tenth Avenue, between 34th and 35th Streets; which will be razed[24] to make way for a "Hudson Spire", to be the tallest building in America with a potential height of over 1,800 feet (549 m) and 108 stories.[25]
Although the boulevard is six blocks long, the 30-foot-wide (9.1 m) park[20] extends as a non-vehiculargreenway north to 42nd Street via a pedestrian bridge, and through the Hudson Yards development south to 30th Street and connecting with theHigh Line.[21]
One side of the park is to be commercial and the other side residential.[5]
