You know how the city pushed the Hudson Yards mega-development plan, saying it would be good because it would, besides creating retail, commercial and residential space, bring in tons of construction jobs? Well, now it turns out that Related, the development company who is building it all (including a 51-story skyscraper), has hired a huge California firm as the main contractor. As the Post reports from a Crain's article, "An outfit the size of Tutor Perini doesn’t need to subcontract work to third parties because it owns companies that can perform tasks such as concrete placement and electrical work, while local developers have to outsource the business." more ›

Remember the days when New York City was trying to drum up enthusiasm for bringing the 2012 Olympics here, and Mayor Bloomberg tried to get the West Side Stadium passed to sweeten NYC's bid (the bid had athletes walking down Broadway before entering the stadium!)? And then NYC was eliminated quickly from the the bid and it was kind of embarrassing? Well, now Mayor Bloomberg, a bunch of real estate developers and even an NYU urban policy professor say that city is better off without the Olympics, because the failed plan still jumpstarted lots of development on the Far West Side. So lose-win! more ›

You know what Manhattan needs? More commercial office space! Thankfully, Mayor Bloomberg and some big shot developers are committed to building a 51 story tower on West 30th Street, creating 1.7 million square feet of new commercial office space. Today they announced that they've already locked in the first tenant: Coach, Inc., which will occupy the lower third of the building. It'll be so tall you'll be able to see it from your office in Jersey City! Here's what's happening: more ›

The machines have breached the dock and Zion is about to to be overrun with thousands of sentinels! Okay, let's start this Friday right with video and photos of our beloved Tunnel Boring Machine [TBM] drilling through the last bit of bedrock to complete the 7 line extension. "Just after 4 p.m. on Thursday, the ground shook and the tunnel boring machine rumbled louder and louder as rocks fell to the floor of the chamber under the Port Authority bus terminal," the AP reports. "After a few minutes, dust filled the air and the rest of the rocks fell as the machine's blades spun in a circular motion, leaving a 22-foot-wide round hole." more ›

Yesterday, the MTA announced that it (finally) "entered into a contract" for the Hudson Yards, aka the West Side Railyards where Mayor Bloomberg once dreamed of putting a stadium for the Jets. But the MTA won't be working with just developer Related Companies—a Canadian (!) pension fund will be pitching in with $475 million of equity. The MTA's Chairman and CEO Jay Walder said, "This is a tremendously exciting development project that together with the extension of the 7 line will turn this area into a vibrant residential and commercial neighborhood. We were also able to maximize value for the MTA and provide a new revenue stream to support many of our vital capital projects." more ›

After a weekend of negotiations, the MTA and developer the Related Companies have agreed to delay closing on the Hudson Yards deal, according to the NY Times: "As a result, Related will not have to make a $43.5 million down payment immediately, although the company will have to pay a nonrefundable $10 million for the delay, according to two executives who have been briefed on the agreement." more ›

Ha! According to the AP, the MTA and developer Related Co. are still talking about the contract to develop the Hudson Yards, better known as the West Side Rail Yards. For years, the city has been trying to develop the area west of Penn Station, but the attempts to find a developer have been the stuff of melodrama, from a bidding process to picking one suitor—Tishman Speyer—who was later spurned. Then, in mid-May, Related stepped into the breach but the contract was put on the burner over...slow paperwork? The MTA said there have been "constructive negotiations" with Related. Should a deal go through, Related, who bid $1 billion for the land and $2 billion to build the platform over the railyards, will need to cough up $50 million at closing. more ›

What recession? The NY Times reports that developer Extell, the Greater New York Hospital Association, and investor Israel Green are teaming up to build a "60-story glass-and-steel tower on the West Side of Manhattan that would function as an international showcase and permanent conference center for the hospital industry." What's more, they think the building called the World Product Centre, which be located on 11th Ave. between 33rd and 34th Streets (where the Copacabana was) and would open in 2013, would be the anchor for the Hudson Yards. The partners claims the health care industry is, as the Times puts it, "recession-proof, since people always get sick." Still, with estimates are $500 million to $1 billion for construction, Community Board 4's Land Use Committee Chair Anna Levin said, "It may not be a stupid idea, but at this point I think it’s kind of an isolated idea, wrapped up in a whole bunch of uncertainties." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's not about to let a little economic turbulence down on Wall Street ruin his ambitious plans (paid for with $3 billion in bonds) for a business district at the west side Hudson Yards site. more ›

The MTA has called a special board meeting to approve a takeover of the Hudson Yards development project in Manhattan by developer The Related Companies and investment bank Goldman Sachs. The quick switch follows an abrupt departure by real estate development firm Tishman Speyer, that won approval after a tortuously long selection process. An MTA press release quotes Mayor Bloomberg:

"Today's announcement that the MTA will award Related Companies, in partnership with Goldman Sachs, the development rights for the West Side Rail Yards is great news for the City. Despite the setbacks of the last few weeks, we are certain that Related and Goldman will realize this tremendous opportunity to develop what is really the only large parcel of undeveloped space left in Manhattan. The attractiveness of this area for developers stems in part because the City is funding an extension of the #7 line, making this vital new mixed use community of residential, commercial and office space a truly transit oriented development. We will continue to work with the State and MTA and with the developer to help make the Hudson Yards development a reality."

Since the MTA is working on finder another developer to transform its 26 acres of Midtown Manhattan rail yards after its talks with Tishman Speyer collapse, it's only natural officials are trying to put on a happy face. NY1 notes that MTA executive director Lee Sander's positive spin is, "We're hopeful that we can put the deal back together. You never know till it's done, as we found out with Tishman. But we are optimistic." more ›

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With the deal to develop the West Side rail yards on the ropes, Senator Chuck Schumer said that Mayor Bloomberg's plan for the West Side is the "goofiest thing I've ever seen." According to the Sun, Schumer was specifically referring to "the Bloomberg administration’s decision to include a mid-block boulevard," claiming that it was sapping funds from the much-needed 7 line extension. more ›

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Mayor Bloomberg tried to rally hopes for a happy ending to the saga of the West Side rail yards by telling reporters, "The plan isn’t dead by any means. Hudson Yards is the most exciting opportunity New York has.” more ›

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Now that the MTA has selected Tishman Speyer to develop the West Side rail yards into Hudson Yards, a new period of public scrutiny will begin. The developer's plans will need to go through the city's public review process to rezone the western section, leaving plenty of time for potential modifications and opposition. more ›

The MTA finally selected developer Tishman Speyer to transform the West Side rail yards, between 10th and 12th Avenues between 30th and 33rd Streets, into a 26-acre commercial and residential hub. MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger said Tishman's $1.004 billion bid is "more money than anyone expected...It is an extraordinary deal." more ›

In spite of rumors suggesting Tishman Speyer, the real estate developer behind Rockefeller Center and Stuyvesant Town, has the upper-hand, the MTA is still seriously considering the bid from joint bid from Durst-Vornado for the 26-acre Hudson Yards. more ›

MTA officials are reportedly in negotiations with Tishman Speyer Properties this weekend in preparation to award the real estate firm the winning bid on the 26 acre Hudson Yards property. An official announcement is expected at the MTA's board meeting next Wednesday, which will initiate four months of more detailed negotiations about the sale. The winning bidder will acquire the rights to develop commercial and residential properties at the site. A platform will also need to be built above the rail yards first, which could cost $1.5 billion above and beyond the initial purchase price. more ›

Brookfield Properties, which had offered a plan to bring back streets - as well as 12 million square feet of development and 15 acres of public space - to the West Side Rail Yards, has declined to continue in the bidding process. The MTA had requested revised Hudson Yards proposals with more financial details by yesterday and the bids received were from Durst and Vornado, Tishman Speyer and Morgan Stanley, Extell, and Related Companies. more ›

Less than two weeks after Gov. Spitzer publicly reaffirmed his commitment to going forward with plans to construct Moynihan Station despite a $1 billion funding shortfall, it looks like the matter may be out of his hands. The New York Times is reporting that the whole $14 billion project, which would involve building Moynihan Station at The Farley Post Office building and constructing a new Madison Square Garden on the site, is on the brink of total failure. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Richmond Ave. on Staten Island, an injured corrections officer at Rikers Island in the Bronx, and a gas leak on East 68th St. in Manhattan.
• Chris Booker, the NY radio DJ boyfriend of Philly news personality Alycia Lane who allegedly punched a female NYPD police officer after calling her a dyke, says that she's being singled out because "[she's] a babe." Or it's because she allegedly punched a female NYPD police officer in the face after calling her a dyke.
• The Observer directs the politically inclined to Iowa Caucus-watching parties around town.

The proposed expansion of the Jacob J. Javitz convention center is essentially dead in the water as government officials admitted that the amount of money it would cost to undertake the project would not be worth the marginal return on investment that additional tax revenues would provide. Empire State Development Corporation chairman Pat Foye testified that about half of the expansion plan's $1.6 billion budget would be consumed just making repairs to the existing Javits structure. more ›

New York City's Conflict of Interest Board ruled that there was no problem in Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff continuing to work with real estate developers on multi-billion dollar real estate projects while a city employee, even though he'll be shortly negotiating with these same developers as a private citizen and President of Bloomberg LP, the Mayor's media corporation. According to the New York Post, the board cited "extraordinary circumstances" and said that Doctoroff's negotiations on behalf of the city with Vornado Realty Trust regarding the development of the Hudson Yards and Moynihan station were allowable. Doctoroff recently announced that he will be leaving his City Hall job for the position of President of Bloomberg LP. That company will be negotiating with Vornado for additional space at the building that houses Bloomberg LP's headquarters on Lexington Ave., since Vornado owns that building. The Conflicts of Interest Board gave its blessing on the condition that Doctoroff have no direct dealings with Vornado for a year after he leaves his position as Deputy Mayor. more ›

The MTA has apparently narrowed down the list of contenders to develop the West Side Rail Yards - and may even ask them to team up together. According to Crain's New York, the MTA favors the developers who have already lined up tenants. Which means the front runners are The Related Companies with News Corporation and Goldman Sachs, Durst & Vornado with Conde Nast, and Tishman-Speyer with Morgan Stanley. But front runners may need to be partners as well! more ›

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, who was in charge of Economic Development and Rebuilding in the Bloomberg administration, announced he would resign by the end of the year. The Post called the news "stunning," but we'd like to call it "classic," because his new job will be president of a little company called Bloomberg LP. At a City Hall press conference, Mayor Bloomberg said, "As a result of Dan's efforts, we've allowed for the creation of... more ›

Yesterday, Governor Spitzer, Mayor Bloomberg, MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander and other officials kicked off the extension of the 7 line by unveiling a new sign in Times Square pointing the way to Hudson Yards. Ah, nothing like putting in signs for things that won't be ready for years - the 7 will reach 34th and 11th Avenue in 2013. The 7 line extension will cost $2 billion for the 1.5 miles... more ›

While everyone knows that the proposals five development teams have offered up for the MTA's West Side rail yards are likely to change, the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff made it clear that he hopes they do, with a withering review of the five plans. Noting the great opportunity that developers have, Ouroussoff says the designs "are not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on... more ›

Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for the NY Times, enjoys working in his employer's new headquarters, he writes today, but the building designed by Renzo Piano falls short of the best skyscrapers in the city. For one, it allegedly harbors a streak of nostalgia, which in the world of architectural discourse amounts to an aesthetic identity crisis. The nostalgia in question is a longing not for neo-Gothic frills and cornices, but for the 1950s era... more ›