Like most places south of the Arctic Circle, night falls on NoChe once per 24-hour period.

Manhattan West too corporate? Far West Side too bland? Clinton too anodyne? Hell's Kitchen too imprecise?

"You've heard of NoMad, NoLita, and NoHo," writes Bisnow. "Well, get used to 'NoChe.' " (We'd prefer not to!) "It stands for North Chelsea, pronounced a touch exotically"—because nothing screams exótico like millions of square feet of shimmering class A office space!—"like the Spanish word for 'night.' It's how insiders are referring to the dramatic new area being forged by Brookfield and Related on the Far West Side."

This is the first we're hearing of NoChe, although it isn't the first appearance of the name, which dates back to at least 2005, when Lockhart Steele was still slumming it as a writer at Curbed NY. The New York Times also included the abbreviation in its pages as recently as October, when it quoted broker Clifford Finn, then CitiHabitats' head of new development marketing, as saying, "A lot of people like to think of it as North Chelsea, or NoChe." (The name appears most popular with unnamed "insiders" and "a lot of people.")

The Observer spoke with Hell's Kitchen resident Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation, to get his take on the latest attempt to rename what may be Manhattan's most oft-renamed 'hood.

"I've never heard of that one before," said Mr. Berman, referring to the NoChe moniker. "I've heard of some other funny ones—Hellsea, Chelsea Heights—but those were always sort of tongue-in-cheek, people weren't actually trying to rebrand or rename. At one point somebody was trying to push SoPA—South of Port Authority." (Though Sandy may have, mercifully, put the kibosh on that particular neologism.)

Then again, "stranger things have happened," Mr. Berman conceded. But is it likely? "I think Hell's Kitchen is a great name, and I think people feel a lot of pride attached to it. So... I don't think so."

If you build it, they will come. Promise. (Edward Reed/Flickr)

One of the big debates that has been raging around the rezoning of Midtown East is how it might impact development already underway around the city, much of it funded in part by the public sector, and thus taxpayers. Should these projects fail, Joe Public could lose out on his investment.

The World Trade Center and Hudson Yards have been two focal points, but Manhattan West, which broke ground yesterday, ought to be considered, too. While the project's backers bragged at the groundbreaking about building without public subsidy, they are still competing for the same anchor tenants as their rivals further east. Furthermore, the $2 billion the city contributed to the construction of the 7 train nearby is to be paid back through property taxes on the new projects. No new development, no bond proceeds, big trouble for the city.

Still, Mayor Bloomberg is standing by the decision to fast-track the Midtown rezoning and ensure it gets completed this year.

"There's lots of development going on all over the city, not only on the West Side but downtown, at the World Trade Center, in Brooklyn and Long Island City," the mayor said. "People are surprised by how much interest there is."

Still, the mayor thinks there are provisions being taken to protect these projects. "That's why we set the five year sunrise," the mayor said, referring to the delay in the rezoning taking effect until 2017. Some landlords have complained about the delay, as has Post columnist Steve Cuozzo.

"We think that's a decision to give people plenty of breathing room to get their projects off the ground," the mayor said of the sunrise provision.

John Zuccotti, the former Brookfield chairman who was on hand for the groundbreaking yesterday was unconcerned about the Midtown East rezoning, as well. "I think the rezoning will come in its time, but it won't be as tranformative as this because they're building where there are already office building," Mr. Zuccotti said. "Here there was nothing, and it's all gonna change." It is this total transformation, this neighborhood from nothing, its brand-new glowing greatness, that will make the project so appealing (and cheaper) to companies and residents.

Not that the transformation comes as a surprise to Mr. Zuccotti.

"It all started with Battery Park City," he said, where Brookfield (then Olympia and York, still led by Mr. Zuccotti) was one of the first builders, creating the World Financial Center. "I was there when the ships left, and it was clear we had to find a whole new use for the West Side. My father took me to the Normandie when it was on fire, so I remember the old West Side, and it's not that anymore, hasn't been for a long time."

"From Nelson Rockefeller to Michael Bloomberg, that's been the transformation, and here we are."

“With today’s groundbreaking, we’re taking a major step forward in the transformation and rebirth of the Far West Side of Manhattan,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said from the podium at the corner of 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue.

Behind him stood the Farley Post Office, some day to become a grand new entrance for Penn Station. In front of him, earth movers had already begun tearing up this former parking lot, making way for one of the project's two 60-story office towers. Directly across the tracks below, on 31st Street, construction workers had not even stopped for the groundbreaking ceremony as they prepped the southwest corner for a residential tower that will rise there. All three towers and a large retail building on the northwest corner are being designed by Ken Lewis and SOM.

Ric Clark, Brookfield's Chief Executive, told The Observer after the ceremony that the project had actually been ready to move forward last year, but the market felt better now, particularly for the inclusion of apartments. "We weren't sure if we would be building one tower at first, or two, but as things progressed, it just made more sense, in terms of economic and market conditions," Mr. Clark said. He had on a long navy overcoat to stave off the cold of the winter morning groundbreaking.

Brookfield has actually controlled most of the parcel since the 1980s, but in the middle of last decade, it acquired the piece Mr. Clark was standing on, at the northeast corner of the site. This unlocked the next important piece of the project, which was determining to build to construct any buildings along the edges of the site. That way, the foundations and cores could be built over terra firma, with only a small section of each building cantilevering out over the train yard below.

In 2009, Brookfield hit upon using a concrete bridging technology that would allow it to deck over the tracks without having to build a huge steel structure reaching down to the yard, holding up what will eventually become the 1.5-acre public plaza at the development's core. Instead, this bridge will be suspended across the 5-acre site.

The final piece was acquiring a 75 percent stake in 450 West 33rd Street, the massive pyramid-with-its-top-shorn-off tower that was the former home of the Daily News and occupied the block front on 10th Avenue. Brookfield is currently redeveloping the property, with architecture firm REX redesigning the structure.

"It's finally the right time," Mr. Clark said.

The developer is still working on finding an anchor tenant before the tower will rise, but until then foundation work will move forward, and numerous tenants are said to be interested.

Correction 1/16: An earlier version of this post stated that 450 West 33rd Street was located on 11th Avenue, not 10th Avenue. The Observer regrets the error.

The new development boasts two new office towers at 2 million square feet apiece, along with a smaller tower--just by a hair, at 1.2 million square feet -- and a fourth building at 200,000 square feet that will be a mixed-use space.

Cushman & Wakefield powerhouse (and global brokerage chairman) Bruce Mosler will be heading the ten-person leasing team, which includes Arthur Mirante, Michael Rotchford and Maureen Kelly, among others.

Melissa Coley, a spokeswoman for Brookfield Properties, said the first office tower can go up as soon as 2015, should Cushman & Wakefield secure enough tenants.

In the meantime, Brookfield Properties will be constructing a deck over a portion of the development that rests above an active railroad, said Ms. Coley.

That deck, an estimated $300 million project, shows potential tenants that Brookfield is serious about seeing the development through, said Mr. Mosler.

“The fact [Brookfield is] already making an investment in the platform puts us in a position to be competitive in being able to say to a large tenant that we are investing already to have you in and up and running in the next 36 months,” said Mr. Mosler.

Mr. Mosler told The Commercial Observer that the project - with its proximity to Penn Station and the possibilities that a new development brings to the Penn Plaza neighborhood - is enough to lure several major tenants.

“This represents to me the most exciting new development in the country and in the City,” said Mr. Mosler, he added.