Although summer is slowly coming to an end, there are never a shortage of events and festivals in the Big Apple! Some highly anticipated activities include movies in the park (Die Hard is playing on the 27th!), the Electric Zoo Festival, and the Jazz Age Lawn Party. However, traffic, action, electric-dance and jazz are not the only sounds NYC residences will be hearing this back to school season. The construction boom is being felt, and heard, all over New York City, particularly throughout the boroughs of the Hudson Yards. In fact, the Hudson Yards neighborhood, the largest private real estate development in American history, is easily becoming one of the noisiest neighborhoods in the city.

Construction on the Hudson Yards project began December 2012. The renovation is taking 360 acres of underutilized space on the far west side of Manhattan and repurposing it into a 24/7 live, work and play environment.The project is intended to be the new center of New York City located. With the Hudson Yards development, New Yorkers can look forward to a new number seven subway line (6 minutes from grand central station), schools, iconic parks, the first-ever Neiman Marcus to come to Manhattan and sixteen skyscrapers of office, residential and retail space. The Hudson Yards redevelopment project will cost around $20 billion, and, upon being finished, can expect around 70,000 visitors each day.

Although a highly anticipated attraction, the Hudson Yards construction is currently nothing more than a nuisance. In fact, local residents have complained that the noise from the pounding, drilling and jackhammering hasn’t ceased since construction began three years ago. The noise from the Hudson Yards construction is so loud and widespread that it has resulted in more than 53,600 complaints over the course of the past year – half of them being attributed to after-hour construction. It seems that no place, or time of day, is immune to city noise.

Hudson Yards’ projected year of completion is 2018, but unfortunately this year the construction has already been driving residents out of their neighborhoods to run from the project. And for good reason! Three more years of inescapable construction noise (even after-hours) is anything but appealing. As a result, people are selling their apartments and moving out in search of quieter surroundings. Although moving is an obvious solution to escape the noise, it is definitely a last resort option. No one wants to be forced to relocate their families and homes under any circumstances. A more viable, long-lasting solution in the never-ending battle with noise pollution is soundproofing windows. The average window blocks only about 20-25% of noise while soundproof windows eliminate up to 95% of noise. With this option, residents can stay in their homes and finally get some simple peace and quiet. By investing in soundproof windows, residents can spend the next 3 years of Hudson Yards construction with a quiet and relaxed front row seat to the new face of New York.

To learn more about the Hudson Yards redevelopment project, visit their site for more information.