“The Vessel” at Hudson Yards Will Reopen After Public Safety Measures are Taken

By: Benyamin Davidsons

Manhattan’s tourist attraction in Hudson Yards, The Vessel, is reopening with some changes after closing in January following a third suicide in 15 months.

As reported by the NY Times, on the last Friday of May The Vessel was reopened after four months of closure. The developer, Related Companies, has put in place several measures to reduce the risk of suicides at the 150-foot structure, but stopped short of raising the height of barriers along the sculpture’s walkways. Security will be tripled, and visitors will no longer be allowed to walk up the maze of staircases alone. People will be permitted to climb the steps of the sculpture only in pairs or groups, but not alone.

Those who try to enter alone will be turned away, though group tours will be available to connect people who are visiting without their own crowd. Staff members at the Vessel will also be trained to look for behavior that might suggest a person is considering self-harm, a spokesman for Hudson Yards said. A new sign has been placed at the entrance providing information about the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, along with other signs discouraging suicides.

Tickets to the site are no longer free, rather there will now be a generally charge of $10. A spokesman for the Related Companies said the company consulted for months with suicide-prevention experts, security experts and some local politicians about ways to limit further suicides at the tourist site.

Local community boards were also pushing for more protective barriers to be put up, and were disappointed in that regards. “We don’t think this is good enough,” said Lowell D. Kern, the chairman of Community Board 4. “The only way to prevent future tragedies is to raise the height of the barriers.” “I understand that the Vessel is seen as a work of art and architecture, and there’s a certain aesthetic involved with that,” Kern addded. “But you’re trying to balance an artistic aesthetic versus loss of life, and there’s no choice there.”

Since the Vessel opened in 2019, three young adults died after jumping from the structure, which sits at the center of Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s Far West Side. The site features a labyrinth of 154 interconnecting flights of stairs and 80 landings offering a good exercise as well as views of New York City and the Hudson River. The soaring new landmark was designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Heatherwick Studio.