Manhattan · New York County
622 Third Avenue
POPS - Outdoor Plaza
- Location
- 622 Third Avenue, at East 40th Street, Murray Hill / Midtown
- Size
- 0.10 acres
- Hours
- Open during business hours
- Type
- POPS - Outdoor Plaza
622 Third Avenue is a Privately Owned Public Space on Third Avenue at 40th Street, providing an outdoor plaza at the boundary between Murray Hill and the Midtown office district.
Third Avenue at 40th Street is a transitional point where the residential character of Murray Hill to the south gives way to the more commercial blocks of Midtown to the north. The POPS serves both populations.
The demolition of the Third Avenue elevated railway in the 1950s transformed the avenue from a shadowed, noisy corridor into a modern commercial boulevard. The transition triggered a wave of office and residential construction that reshaped the avenue's character.
The POPS provides outdoor seating on an avenue whose postwar transformation is one of the most dramatic infrastructure stories in Manhattan's history.
This plaza provides public space on the avenue that was reborn when its elevated railway came down, demonstrating how the removal of infrastructure can be as transformative as its construction.