That easy comprehension and clarity of path immediately mark The Well as different from another mega-development, Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, which opened in 2019 with double the retail at 750,000 square feet. Despite the odds, Hudson Yards has become
an economic success, generating hundreds of millions of dollars more revenue than expected.
Still, the design of Hudson Yards’s “vertical retail center” continues to fight shoppers’ desire lines. There is no central spot from which to comprehend the entire layout, no single stacked run of escalators from the ground floor to the top, and no food court in the body of the mall. At Hudson Yards, the ground floor is filled with luxury shops uninteresting to the tourists who stream through the front doors, their curiosity piqued, and then get the runaround on the way to the Shake Shack on level four. Chairs and tables have been added along the hallways, and the Uniqlo is buzzing, but you’ve really got to work for them.
The retail designers of The Well,
BDP, have not made these obvious errors. You will be able to see (and likely hear) the marketplace from most points in the complex, and the 11,000 residents in the six residential buildings above will provide a built-in customer base for the greengrocer, butcher, baker, pharmacist and gym down below. This is not a mall for window shopping, but for everyday urban life — heavy on the food and entertainment, light on the fast-fashion retail.
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
The Well by Marcanadian, on Flickr
