Your First Look At The Edge, Hudson Yards' 100th Floor Observation Deck (Opening 2020)

The Hudson Yards, the $25 billion residential and commercial complex, built atop MTA LIRR rail yards on the west side of Manhattan, is opening this Friday. However, one spectacular piece of the development won't be ready until early 2020: The 100th floor observation deck that will, according to press materials, be the highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, with panoramic views of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and New Jersey.

Located at 30 Hudson Yards, visitors will take a 60-second elevator ride to the 100th floor to the Edge, which is what the observation deck will be called (well, actually press materials call it lowercase "edge"). There is 7,500 square feet of outdoor space, and the deck extends 65 feet from the building.

During a press tour of the Hudson Yards on Saturday, journalists were invited to see Edge in progress, and the vista is pretty incredible. It's a heady feeling, to be eye-to-eye with the Empire State Building's spire; Billionaire's Row is also very visible and the Chrysler Building looks so tiny.

Surrounding the deck are 79 glass panels, each nine feet tall and angled outwards, so you can see the streets below. The deck is made up of 15 sections (each weighing 35,000-100,000 pounds), totaling 765,000 pounds, which had to be fit together:

There's even a glass floor so you can peer directly 1,100 feet (!) under you.

When Edge opens, there will also be a 10,000 square-foot bar, restaurant, and event space, operated by London-based restaurant group Rhubarb.

Ticket pricing for Edge is unclear at this point, but it will be open from 8 a.m. until to 12 midnight. Hudson Yards says that group sales will start this month for events happening in Spring 2020.