Drew Angerer. Getty Images

You can see it on the skyline or along the Hudson River, upending Manhattan’s silhouette. The largest mixed-use private real estate venture in American history, it is called Hudson Yards.

The first massive tower emerged at the apex of the High Line, looming over it, a shingled, spiky, reflective blue-glass behemoth, shaped by eccentric cuts and angles, as if sheared by a giant Ginsu knife...