It’s fun to look back, and that’s a quote from a Bloomberg Business article written on July 20, 2020 about the bankruptcy of the Neiman Marcus store in the Hudson Yards and how Related was planning to repurpose the building as office space. Here’s a fuller quote:
“If Related is looking for a way to make sure that space does not stay empty for a very long time, then converting it to offices could be a good move, “ said Crain’s New York Business Reporter Natalie Sachmechi. Sachmechi said that, despite the pandemic, there is still a strong demand for office space in the city, especially from high-tech and financial companies, even law firms. She said the move to work from home will not be permanent.”
I ran across that article while reading a current Bloomberg Cities interview with a former Cooper Robertson planner who planned more than one mega-project in NYC. He worked with developers like Dan Doctoroff and Olympia and York who had big, failed projects like Queens Quay in Toronto and Canary Wharf in London. No city should have to suffer on a large scale from the ego of a single firm, and perhaps the world is now changing so fast that it’s too risky for just one company to make all the decisions. Wiser minds might have avoided the $200 million cost of “The Vessel”.