Hudson Yards' 'The Vessel' Offers Early Ticket Signup

HUDSON YARDS, NY — When "The Vessel" opens in the Spring of 2019 it will officially signal the arrival of Hudson Yards — the booming development on Manhattan's west side that will rise above an MTA rail yard.

The $150 million sculpture was designed by British artist Thomas Heatherwick to serve as a centerpiece for Hudson Yards. The sculpture features an interwoven maze of 154 flights of stairs with 2,500 total steps and will rise about 150-feet-tall.

New Yorkers have the chance to be among the first to see Midtown's newest "public landmark," but will have to act fast. The Hudson Yards official development website is now offering the opportunity to sign up for early ticket notifications.

Designers have boasted that The Vessel can accomodate 1,000 people on its stairs at once, but tickets will be distributed on a limited basis when the sculpture opens.

The London-based architect of the piece, Thomas Heatherwick, said "it will act as a new free stage set for the city and form a new public gathering place for New Yorkers and visitors."

"In a city full of eye-catching structures, our first thought was that it shouldn't just be something to look at. Instead we wanted to make something that everybody could use, touch, relate to," he said in a statement Wednesday.

"Vessel" is funded by Related Companies, which is developing the Hudson Yards with Oxford Properties Group.

Lead photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images News/Getty Images