West Side Railyard Bids Are In

No matter what happens on the football field, it's clear that the Jets want to win the Battle of the West Side because they increased their bid to $720 million, up from their bid earlier $100 million. Long live free markets and the MTA reading the fine print and realizing they could hold an auction for the land. Gothamist did appreciate that the NY Times' Charles Bagli wrote that the Jets, as well as Cablevision and Transgas, had "increased their offers for what has become one of the most hotly disputed sections of Manhattan since rival gangs battled over Five Points." We'd love to see what would happen between Bill the Butcher and James Dolan - Marty, make that movie! The Jets were able to increase their bids by including the money they would make from selling the air rights of the land to developer, which would be a sweet $440 million. Highlights of the bids:

- Jets "would build a large retail area along 11th Avenue, a community market, a theater, a museum and a riverfront cafe, all within or adjacent to the stadium" plus a residential development. [NY Times]
- Cablevision's $600 million "proposal, Hudson Gardens, would be a largely residential community with 5,800 new apartments and a park. The plan includes moderate-income housing, a school, a library, a hotel, public toilets, theater equipment suppliers, a supermarket and a park -- all with glistening Hudson River views." [Newsday]

- Transgas's $1 billion proposal involves building a power plant on the West Side, plus getting the MTA to help them "build a $2 billion electric power plant along the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, along with a contract from the authority to buy power from the company for the next 20 years," which makes most people believe the Transgas bid won't go forward since it's somehow contingent on more things than the Jets' bid. [NY Times]

And proving that bidding is serious business, two other companies submitted bids that were rejected because they didn't include the $25,000 fee to bid. Good work, MTA! The NY Post's Steve Cuozzo puts the hit on Cablevision's plan ("How could Cablevision — an outfit with no development experience that mucks up every enterprise it touches — possibly pull off a miracle not even the most practiced real estate company has suggested doing itself?") while the Daily News' Juan Gonzalez says it's great ("The Cablevision plan...is an urban planner's wish list.")

Photo of Cablevision's Hudson Gardens model from Newsday

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on March 22, 2005 7:19 AM

Comments [rss]

Rob Styles

I caught the first part of Full Minute's set last night. I don't know, theres something odd about 30 year olds playing pop punk suited for 16 year old kids- calling that bassist energetic is an awful euphemism for "terribly annoying and corny".

Comparing them to the Rentals is way off. the only similarities are the presence of a synth-playing chick. i thought they sounded alot like Sum41's 1st 2 albums. maybe i would have liked Full Minute 5 years ago when pop punk bands first started to steal from hair metal.

they definitely arent reinventing the wheel, but i can see why they played side stage at warped tour.

Rachel

Good point, Daybird. Building the Nets arena over the Brooklyn Yards would be a damn sight (or site) better than razing the homes there.

And then someday we can cover that huge scar in Long Island City....

Captain Midnight

Oh, and does anyone know how the restored High Line will fit in with either scheme? Will they just demolish the northernmost portion before it reaches the railyards?

daybird

Now if we could only try the same with the Brooklyn Yards at Atlantic & Flatbush. Wonder why that model doesn't apply there...

Max

Zoning in NYC is wacked. You realize that Soho is a Commercial zone (a C-5 I believe)? You know two things that are not allowed in a C-5? Restaurants and retail stores. Yup. Re-Zoning is better than underhanded deals (like waiting 6 months after asking exorbidantly high rents to ask the city for an exemption so you can put in a fancy boutique instead of the egg and flour warehouses the area is zoned for). That said, some of the things that have grown out of NYC's zoning are the things that make NYC great; apartments above business'es, etc.

Captain Midnight

"Moderate income housing." What is that supposed to mean in Manhattan nowadays? Only $500,000 for a 1BR instead of $1M?

sandsage

ahh, but it's all a bit more complicated than it seems: the jets bid assumes that the air rights over the railyards can be transferred to all of hudson yards, but that means rezoning hudson yards AGAIN and undermining the deal that was cut to use zoning bonuses to encourage affordable housing development. the city council aint gonna go for that.

also, transgas doesn't want a power plant in manhattan, it wants one in williamsburg.

rabbit

thats a good point. cablevision really did more than anyone to make sure the MTA didn't get ripped off.. they more or less just gave NY a 650 million dollar gift.

Max

Free markets indeed. Thank you, Cable Vision for saving the tax payers of NYC at least $610 million dollars. That said, hire a new architect- p-u that is an ugly ass design.

Neil Epstein

I haven't really cared about this situation, my primary drive was not wanting a stadium because of it's traffic and noise. But after reading the "proposals" it seems the best. I don't understand why Madison Square Garden needs an apartment complex if only to flex their monopoly dollars, and their plan seems way to self contained and scream projects to me. And a powerplant in Manhattan doesn't seem right. The lesser of the evils seems the Jets stadium.