Manhattan West Projects Completes Project Platform View Full Caption

HUDSON YARDS — A developer has created new real estate to build on, using thousands of tons of concrete.

Brookfield Properties recently completed a 2.6-acre, 120,000-square-foot platform over railroad tracks leading into Penn Station. The new platform will serve as the foundation for the $4.5 billion Manhattan West project on West 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue.

“We celebrate today the creation of land in Manhattan — new land, which doesn’t happen very often and which will serve as the support and platform for new buildings to go up in the upcoming years,” said Brookfield CEO Dennis Friedrich during a press conference Tuesday.

When completed, Manhattan West will be made up of two office towers that will stand at least 60 stories tall, retail space and a 2-acre park that will have community programming, according to the developer.

Construction crews built the platform in two years, working above active railroad tracks day and night, according to the developer.

Using a $7 million horizontal crane Brookfield called “The Launcher,” workers placed the platform’s 16 bridge spans above the tracks, Brookfield said. Each span measured 240 feet in length and weighed about 400 tons, the equivalent of six subway cars.

“It was flawless. Everything was thought through,” said Al Fazio, an Amtrak deputy chief engineer, who praised the crews who worked on the project.

In addition to the office towers, Brookfield also plans to build an 800-unit residential tower and a five-star boutique hotel. It will also redevelop its neighboring office building at 450 W. 33rd St. and convert it into a glass structure that will fit in with the rest of the project.

The developer plans to begin building the residential tower early next year, and it is scheduled to open in 2017. The first office tower is expected to finish in 2018. No commercial tenants have been confirmed yet, according to a spokesman.