866 
Once home to the New York City horse cab stables, the stretch of 11th Avenue bounded by 39th Street to the south and 59th Street to the north remains a hub of activity for the transport industry in Manhattan. With the largest concentration of auto dealerships and related services on the island, the busy thoroughfare is now experiencing an important transformation. With ever-growing real estate pressure and land value, many low-rise industrial structures and empty parking lots lining the avenue are being converted into highrise residential and office buildings.
In the picture above, captured by Google Maps Streetview in 2007, the predominantly low- to mid-rise built form of the avenue offers an unusual sight in New York City, whose iconic skyline is defined by some of the United States' tallest buildings and urban canyons.
Fast forward to August 2015, the view from the same angle shows quite a different landscape. While the conversion of the High Line into an elevated park has spurred urban renewal in parts of Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen, with some of the newly built edifices visible in the back ground, development is also happening along 11th Avenue. To the right of the picture, the Goldstein Hill & West Architects-designed Sky is now dominating the area with 62 storeys of rental apartments. Over the next decade, the Hudson Yards redevelopment will undoubtedly alter this view further with 15, 35, and 55 Hudson Yards, 3 Hudson Boulevard, and Hudson Rise soon to rise on both sides of the changing thoroughfare.
Have an idea for a future Throwback Thursday? Let us know by leaving a comment in the field below!
