Continuing on our post from last week about the reuse of space & the NY high line, we stopped for lunch at the world-famous Chelsea Market: an exciting place for both tourists and locals. Situated in Chelsea, a New York neighborhood in Manhattan with a rich cultural history dating back to the 1800s. The Chelsea Market offers various interesting cultural, culinary, and social activities for both tourists and locals. After a long walk on the High Line, it was time for lunch, and also to check out one of NYC’s most expensive real estate transactions in history.
What do you think about when you hear the word “market”? Probably food, beverages, maybe some clothing stores, and not much else, right? Well, then you are about to be surprised. This building was originally constructed as the home of the National Biscuit Company factory. You may better know them today as Nabisco. Believe it or not, this is where Oreo was born. Located at 74 9th Ave in New York, the Chelsea Market seems to be just like any other market: Wide hallways with different shops on each side, long lines of stools accommodated to fit the length of bars that are often crowded, and high ceilings that make visitors’ voices echo. So far, no surprises. As soon as you start looking around more carefully, you will begin to notice that there are artists who set up expositions and use the hallways as large galleries to display their work. Of course, it’s common that these pieces of art follow the same concept or are related to the same idea, so at the end of the day you will get to have a great meal and enhance your cultural knowledge.
But this post isn't about the Chelsea Market history, it's a post about space! As I mentioned, recently the structure was sold to Alphabet, better known as Google for a whopping $2.4 billion dollars. Today, Google has offices in the same building tourists and locals alike enjoy Apple & Brie Crepes. While the masses snack and shop, many of the most important people in the tv and the tech world conduct meetings and develop new products right above your head.
Today, we are in the midst of one of the greatest transformational revolutions of space. The 2020 COVID pandemic has shown that the new “Normal” we are all living in, will be here to stay. As the world moved to a more digitized economy, we have all experienced new ways of living and working. If we take a look at the Chelsea Market, it’s clear that a factory or office building today likely has a different future than the original designers and constructors intended for it. The question is, how do we get there?
If you are an owner, prospective tenant or buyer, or even an operator of space, it starts with BIM. BIM is beyond just a model, and owning the standards you design to must be an inherent part of your digital strategy. It’s one thing to design from scratch, but we all know as the world moves to a more sustainable future, the reuse of space will become more and more commonplace. This is where your standards, digital strategy, and technology tie efficiency together for your operation. From Laser Scanning to recommissioning, our team is here to help.
