MTA Opens Up West Side Railyards to Bidding

Somewhere, Adam Smith is smiling: The MTA has decided to offer up West Side railyards to competitive bidding, possibly thwarting the City's efforts to put a West Side Jets Stadium there. But this doesn't mean a free-for-all with the bidding: The MTA says that any other bids must comply with current rules and restrictions, like zoning issues; for instance, the Jets proposal does comply while Cablevision's "surprise" bid would require rezoning. Another possible wrinkle, the NY Times reports, may be the reluctance of various developers to "incur Mayor Bloomberg's wrath." Ooh, the wrath of Michael R. Bloomberg - scary!

For once, everyone is supportive of an MTA decision. The MTA needs money, this land will bring them money. And the Jets' bid of $100 million is definitely a lowball offer, especially since housing is scarce in Manhattan's West Side, it seems). However, Gothamist is sure the MTA will screw things up somehow. The rules for the bidding will be posted on the MTA website, and the bidding process will end March 21. Gothamist wishes there was a super-secret eBay site for multi-million dollar projects, because that would be gold, old white billionaires checking the highest bidder, but all this stuff probably unfolds in some Sun Valley poker room.