Manhattan's Far West Side Rises From Olympic Disappointment

The Bloomberg administration repurposed many elements of the bid to create Hudson Yards, the commercial and residential district taking shape west of eighth Avenue, a once desolate are of factories, lofts and parking lots between 30th and 43rd streets. Since 2005, the year the bid was rejected in favor of London, fifteen towers have been constructed and a dozen hotels have arrived and now compete for customers.

Mayor Bloomberg has admitted in interviews that he "hates to lose," and so elected to push ahead with many of the redevelopment plans contained in the Olympic bid. "We thought the Olympics would be the catalyst to get a lot of things that many people thought the city needed," he said. "In fact, many got done" anyway. From the start of his mayoralty, Bloomberg had made the Olympics, as well redevelopment of the West Side, his priorities.