Watch - nyc mayor breaks ground on $15bn manhattan development

Photo credit: HYDC (via TownNews.com)

The New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg broke ground on a landmark $15 billion development in Manhattan this month.

"This is the future of New York," Bloomberg said of the Hudson Yards project, which will transform a desolate railroad storage yard into an upmarket area of offices, apartment buildings and restaurants and Bars.

The ceremony was held for the first office tower in the project, a 48-storey building that is expected to be completed in the next three years.

The development, which spans 26 acres in New York, will take 12 years to finish and is estimated to create 23,000 construction jobs in addition to room for 40,000 people live or work in the city.

Watch the Mayor's speech (via The Daily Mail):