Hudson Yards
Almost every time I’ve called Assemblyman Richard Brodsky about a story in the past few months, he interrupts me in my first question. “You wanna know the story you should be doing?” he states, then goes into a diatribe on how the billions in initiatives on the far West Side are an unstable set of dominoes, all liable to topple. My response—while the projects seem on shaky ground, there’s not enough hard figures or examples... READ MORE»
By | February 15, 2008 | 3:15 pm
Letting local development corporations issue lots of debt for major projects like Hudson Yards could end up sticking the city with a hefty bill, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority warned City Council members today. Dick Ravitch, who brought in billions in capital financing for the MTA in the 1980's, cautioned that if the residential and commercial developments don't bring in as much money as projected, the city might be stuck with... READ MORE»
The New York Times' Charles Bagli reported over the weekend that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has asked the five bidders for the West Side rail yards to submit a new round of bids. Apparently, the MTA would like to now lease for 99 years the 26 acres of rail yard rather than sell it. The MTA, the yards' landlord, would also like an "equity-type interest" in any project built on the site on... READ MORE»
Above is the former exhibit space for the five Hudson Yards development bids. The space, at Vanderbilt Avenue and 43rd Street near Grand Central Station, has been empty since December, and looked particularly cold today. The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Yards' owner, is supposed to start considering next month which of the five bids wins the development rights to the 26-acre site. ... READ MORE»
More from The Observer's February interview at City Hall with outgoing deputy mayor for economic development Daniel Doctoroff. Location: What about Hudson Yards? The city and the M.T.A. are preparing bids for the eastern and western yards at the same time. What sort of thing will be built there? ... READ MORE»
The Tishman Speyer plan looks, in comparison to Extell’s eclecticism or Brookfield’s urbanism, downright conservative (or, if you prefer, stately). It is not enormously high (about 1,000 feet), and is almost perfectly symmetrical along an east-west axis. The towers grow progressively smaller as they move to the west. Its edge comes from the money behind it: the Speyers joined up with Morgan Stanley in a 50-50 partnership, and the investment bank will own its... READ MORE»
Extell Development’s architect, Steven Holl, came up with the idea of building a very low suspension bridge over the West Side Rail Yards instead of a deck that would be supported by piers scattered among the tracks. That way, workers would only have to tinker along the north and south edges of the site, leaving the rail yards to function normally underneath them. “I think we are the only project that is really minimally... READ MORE»
Brookfield Properties, a giant landlord that keeps a lower profile than some of the city’s single-engine developers, did not come into the West Side Rail Yards competition with an anchor tenant. It did, however, come in with a whole bevy of design firms—seven in all—that proceeded to break just about every rule or convention that was set out for them. The result is a plan that—forgive the hypothetical—Jane Jacobs would like (online here). It... READ MORE»
The joint proposal for the West Side Rail Yards by the Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust is obsessed with getting people to the far West Side. The developers propose a subterranean “people mover” below 33rd Street that would carry up to 20,000 riders an hour from Penn Station to 11th Avenue (although it was not clear just who would pay for it); a pedestrian skyway that floats over the entire site and... READ MORE»
Probably never had so many of New York’s real estate elite crammed themselves into such a small space as happened Sunday afternoon at the press preview of proposals to develop the Western Rail Yards: Steve Roth, Stephen Ross, Jerry Speyer and his son Rob, Ric Clark, Gary Barnett, Steven Holl, Helmut Jahn and Rafael Pelli. S.I. Newhouse even dropped by, very casually dressed, as proof that if Mr. Roth’s bid won, he’d... READ MORE»
Extell Development Co.’s proposal for the Western Rail Yards, which is the first of five that the public and press can get a look at, really revs up the amount of green space on the ground by building tall. Really tall. The tripled-legged tower pictured to the right would stretch 1,238 feet into the air, rivaling the Empire State Building’s 1,250-foot height, and outdoing that icon in total square footage and the size... READ MORE»
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has joined Stephen Ross's Related Companies in its bid for the Hudson Yards project, a source familiar with the bid said. If Stephen Ross' Related won the bid to develop on the far West Side, News Corp. would move its headquarters from its Sixth Avenue tower and into a new tower in Hudson Yards, the source said. Last week, The Observer reported that Conde Nast would leave 4 Times Square... READ MORE»
Five developers have bid on the Western Rail Yards. The bids came into the yards' owner, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, by 5 p.m. on Thursday, and they include the usual heavyweights of New York City building. 1. Extell Development Company2. Brookfield Properties Developer LLC3. The Related Companies4. TS West Side Holding, LLC (A Joint Venture of Tishman Speyer and Morgan Stanley)5. Hudson Center East LLC and Hudson Center West LLC (A Joint Venture of... READ MORE»
A fancy architect may not speak as loudly as cash, but it could give you an edge in the fight to lay claim to 26 acres of Manhattan real estate. Clearly, that’s the thought of a number of the developers who are working on proposals for the Western Rail Yards, which are due at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s offices by 5 p.m. today. We’ve scurried up a few notes about who has hired whom... READ MORE»
Usually money talks. But when you're fighting to control a massive parcel of land right in the public eye, the right design is also key. Here are the architects the five bidders have been working with.... READ MORE»
