The 2012 Summer Olympics will begin in London at the end of this week, but they were almost held here?New York City was one of four cities to lose to London in the competition to host this year's Olympics. If NYC had won, making room for all of the athletes and events would have been quite the architectural and redevelopment feat (especially if London is anything to go by). While we're all in Olympics mode?and the city is a potential host for the summer games in 2024?we thought we'd take a look at how the 2012 Olympics would have reshaped the city.
Of course, just the process of preparing the Olympic bid did reshape the city. Several rezonings were passed so that the city could bid for the games, and the rezoned neighborhoods look far different now from the way they looked pre-bid. Most notably, Hudson Yards is getting office towers, residential buildings, a tree-lined boulevard, and the 7 train extension. The Queens West project has also evolved since its Olympic-hopeful days. And some of the projects initially proposed as Olympic venues were constructed anyway. So thanks, failed bid!
Here now, a look back at the new venues the city planned to construct -- or the existing ones it planned to modify -- in order to accommodate the Olympics:
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