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......

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......

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.......

The U.S. financial markets may have been closed due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, but stock markets around the world tumbled as worries over the U.S. economy took hold. Johan Stein, who manages about $14 billion at an asset management firm in Stockholm told Bloomberg, "It's the worst I've ever seen. The financial system is in terrible shape, and no one knows where this will end.'' Many investors are doubtful that President......

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......

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......

The financial markets may be taking a hit lately, but Wall Street is still planning about $38 billion in bonuses this year. Bloomberg News reports that the money was thanks to "a record $9 billion of fees for arranging acquisitions and $5 billion for underwriting initial public offerings and sales of junk bonds." This translate to an average Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns worker getting over $200,000 in bonuses.......

A storefront at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and 43rd Street (across from Grand Central) may be a window into the future of the West Side Rail Yards. The MTA unveiled an exhibition of the five proposals to redevelop the rail yards on the Far West Side of Manhattan, and the public will get a chance to see the models every day (except Thanksgiving) through December 3. And what's more, the MTA wants the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An armored robbery in Queens, a boat in distress east of the Steeplechase Pier in Brooklyn and a school bus accident in Staten Island. The bids are in for the West Side Yards, and the companies that submitted them are Extell Development Company, Brookfield Properties Developer LLC, The Related Companies, TS West Side Holding, LLC (A Joint Venture of Tishman Speyer and Morgan Stanley), and Hudson Center East LLC......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an armed carjacking at the intersection of 164th St. and the Union Turnpike in Queens, an unconscious firefighter at 51st St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and a slashing on Myrtle and Wyckoff Aves. in Brooklyn. Mia Farrow is speaking out against the atrocities in Darfur. This is the summer of our discontent. The beach season is winding down with below-average-temperature weather and rain and clouds. An eight-month-old boy......

In an effort to cut power consumption and adopt a more green profile, some New York City office towers are making use of a somewhat archaic air conditioning system: blowing air over giant blocks of ice. WNBC reports that financial firm Credit Suisse is using such a system to cool its offices in the Met Life tower off Madison Square. The basement of the building houses three main cooling rooms with "chilling machines and......

A former client services associate at the Melville, Long Island branch of Morgan Stanley filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court claiming her old boss "tried to 'sexually assault her' with a pencil", stole her underwear, and complained to her about how his wife wouldn't give him oral sex. Lisa LaMacchia claims that a human resources official told her to "suck it up" after Richard Dorfman allegedly threw a file at her and called her......

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged 14 people in an insider trading ring that involved coded text messages on disposable cell phones, information from a Morgan Stanley lawyer, and secret meetings at the Oyster Bar. Wonder if they also shared information via the Whispering Gallery, too. The SEC says there were two schemes. One at UBS where an executive director gave tips to other traders for a share of the profits in cash. According......

Six female employees have filed a bias suit against their employer, investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Service, claiming that they were denied opportunities and financial rewards - and that their male colleagues created a "boys' club" environment including hookers at lunch and rude behavior. Proving that you can't make this up, the suit includes allegations that one woman was called the "Pamela Anderson of sales/trading" by her boss. (We imagine her boss is trying to......

The body of Hannah Shi, New York City's first confirmed tsunami victim, was found late last week and returned home over the weekend. Shi, a 25 year old NYU graduate, was working at the Hong Kong office of Morgan Stanley and on vacation on an island in Thailand. Her parents made the trip to Thailand to search for their daughter in December. One worry of theirs was that Hannah, if dead, might be buried in......

There's an interesting article by David Dunlap in the NY Times about the recent barriers in front of Morgan Stanley's Times Square offices at 1585 Broadway. Now, the barriers were erected because of fears that certain bulidings (especially ones that move American moneys) would be terrorist targets. Dunlap determines that the obtrusive "41 dark gray, eight-foot-long concrete planter tubs and 16 cylindrical planters. At some places, the tubs are barely more than one foot......