Not long ago, Mayor Bloomberg called the redevelopment of the Far West Side "the single most important economic project that this city has undertaken in decades." He was talking about Moynihan Station, Hudson Yards, the Javits Center expansion and the extension of the 7-train. Now, most of those projects are in various stages of disarray (or in the case of Javits, death) and critics have been lining up to pound the rest into submission, citing factors like the credit crunch and poor planning. We've been rounding up these stories under the rubric West Side Doom & Gloom, and Charles Bagli's story on West Side redevelopment in the Times today is by far the gloomiest and doomiest. The argument is made that commercial development will be slow to creep west, especially if Moynihan Station doesn't get done.
That's why, some argue, all resources should be focused on Moynihan—even a smaller version if the Garden stays put—before work begins at Hudson Yards. Oh, and Hudson Yards should be completely rethought, too, because it sucks. Or at least David Childs thinks so. The situation on the West Side is now even more delicate with the addition of Brookfield Properties' Manhattan West. As we speculated, rejected Hudson Yards tenant Condé Nast has been negotiating with Brookfield for one of two office towers planned for the SOM Yards, but that too could be in jeopardy if Moynihan stalls. Ugh! Well, at least the High Line will make its way up there. Maybe.
· West Side Redevelopment Plans in Disarray [NYT]
· Moynihan Station Deathblow: MSG Pulls Out of Plan? [Curbed]
· Yardsmania: From 'Grim Referendum' to 'Damning Indictment' [Curbed]
Now that the Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust are also-rans in the Hudson Yards sweepstakes (but hey, a silver medal ain't bad), the companies' proposed anchor tenant—magazine megapublisher Condé Nast—may be looking to switch sides. In today's Women's Wear Daily (a Condé title), Amy Wicks writes that the company "possibly has a shot at office space under Tishman Speyer's plan." Also, Morgan Stanley may be back on board, even though they dumped Tishman a little while back. Oh, so now that Tishman is the hot shit in town, you want to get back together, Morgan? Yeesh! Anyway, getting back to Condé Nast, a memo was sent out to employees by COO John Bellando that read:
Last October, I informed you of our intention to consider constructing a new office tower in connection with a proposal by The Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Group to develop the West Side Rail Yard - also known as the Hudson Yards.
Yesterday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority selected a different bidder to develop this property. However, several other promising real estate development opportunities have been brought to our attention and we intend to continue to explore all of our options for a new office tower in the 2013 - 2016 timeframe.
With Tishman Speyernow in the driver's seat at the Hudson Yards (proposal images above), let's take a closer look at the West Side's new overlords. Founded in 1978 by partners Robert Tishman and Jerry Speyer, Tishman Speyer has grown to become one of the largest real estate development/investment/management firms in the country, if not—dramatic pause—the world. Signature properties in Tishman Speyer's portfolio include the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center and Berlin's Sony Center.
In 2006, Tishman Speyer purchased the middle-class enclave of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan for a record $5.4 billion, and the company has been busy gussying it up and shifting the apartments to pricey market-rate rentals. Soon after, the company set another record, selling the office building at 666 Fifth Avenue for $1.8 billion. Phew. OK, now that that's settled, let's focus on the future of the rail yards, twice the acreage of the World Trade Center and almost as complicated. The $1.004 billion deal with the MTA for the development rights may be settles, but there are many questions left to be answered.
YARDSMANIA—The MTA just sent out a statement regarding the revised bids for the West Side Rail Yards: "In January, the MTA asked each of the five development teams that submitted proposals for the Hudson Yards to submit revised proposals adhering to a deal structure preferred by the MTA. The deadline for responses was today. We received revised proposals from four teams, which we are reviewing. Brookfield Properties did not submit a revised proposal. The MTA continues to adhere to the existing schedule." This is not surprising, given Brookfield's new money-sucking mini-Hudson Yards just to the east. Relive the good ol' days by checking out Brookfield's bid. R.I.P. [CurbedWire Inbox]
Economic slowdown be damned, Brookfield Properties is moving full steam ahead on its gigantic Manhattan Westoffice park on the west side rail yards that aren't quite the West Side Rail Yards. The company has enlisted the services of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill—the same firm behind the two signature towers of Brookfield's Hudson Yards bid—to design two more huge office towers for Manhattan West, which, confusingly, is just to the east. At top right, a rendering of the new buildings, as well as a refresher on the hypothetical One and Two Hudson Place at Hudson Yards. Our initial gut reaction was that SOM is being lazy, but then we realized the genius. Now Brookfield has to win the development rights for Hudson Yards, just so the design becomes contextual.
· Brookfield Taps SOM for Other West Side Rail Yards [The Real Estate]
· Brookfield Births 'Manhattan West' on Hudson Yards' Doorstep [Curbed]
· Yardsmania #1: Brookfield Properties Goes Splittsville [Curbed]
In a day filled with West Side development news, the biggest piece of intel just hit the wire. Brookfield Properties, the massive commercial landlord and one of the companies bidding on the Hudson Yards, has announced it will develop the other West Side rail yards, right smack in between the Hudson Yards and Penn Station. Bloomberg reports that Brookfield will start constructing a platform over the rails in June, and three acres and 5.4 million square feet of fresh new office and mixed-use develop space will be created. The $600 million project has been dubbed Manhattan West, and the platform is expected to be completed in late 2010. The first tower could be finished by 2013. The site runs from 31st to 33rd Streets, and Ninth Avenue to the Lincoln Tunnel approach. Yardsmania!
· Brookfield Properties Reports Strong Performance and Growth in 2007 [Yahoo! Finance]
· Yardsmania #1: Brookfield Properties Goes Splittsville [Curbed]
With a decision on the Hudson Yards bids supposedly one month away, the MTA has chucked a curveball right at the groins of competing developers Extell, Related, Tishman Speyer, Vornado/Durst and Brookfield Properties. Over the weekend, Charles Bagli reported in the Times that the MTA has cold feet about selling the 26 acres of prime waterfront land currently serving as the West Side rail yards. Now, the MTA has two new requests: the winning developer gets a 99-year lease, and the MTA gets an "equity-type interest" in any project built on the land. Whoa now! It's like the cash-strapped MTA woke up one day and was like, "Oh crap, we forgot about the billions more we could be making off this one piece of land!" But how will the developers react to these new demands? As Bagli points out, the move comes right when commercial developers are growing uneasy about the market and the economy. One anonymous bidder told the Times, "I think these people don't realize what the financial climate is like." Another classic case of the unpredictable MTA doing its thing, or an awesome muscle move because—in the end—the winner will pay whatever it takes to get the deal done?
· New Bids Are Sought for Building on Railyards [NYT]
· Yardsmania Nonshocker: Underdogs Still Underdogs [Curbed]
· Yardsmania: Is Related's Murdochville Inevitable? [Curbed]
· Curbed Poll Reminder: The Hudson Yards Winner Is... [Curbed]
When the Hudson Yards bidding process kicked off, Extell and Brookfield were branded as the long shots. The two companies are the small fries compared to the other developers, and they are the only proposals without an anchor tenant already announced. Now, Crain's is reporting that three of the five builders have each bid $1 billion for the rail yards, giving them the inside track. Guess which two are left out in the cold again? Yep, Extell and Brookfield. But the MTA will most likely end up combining elements from several bids into a grand master plan, so who knows, maybe the Hudson Yards will end up having some of Gary Barnett's DNA in it. Ew.
· MTA eyes 3 for W. Side job: report [NYDN]
· Yardsmania: Huge Crowd Packs Cooper Union [Curbed]
· Curbed Poll Reminder: The Hudson Yards Winner Is... [Curbed]
Now that all the instant reaction to the Hudson Yards proposals clustereff has died down, it's time for the propaganda war to begin. In the end, the unpredictable MTA possesses the only opinion that matters, but that won't stop the developers from scoring every press mention as either a win or loss for their cause. Extell already took home a huge victory in securing the Ouroussoff seal of approval, and here are some other Hudson Yards odds and ends:
2) Related's bid, while somewhat warmly received, was peppered with negative feedback regarding the lack of building details. Apparently Stephen Ross & Co. were listening, as a Curbed reader alerts us to some changes over at the Yards displays on 43rd Street and Vanderbilt Ave.: "Related has revamped its presentation, adding a very detailed video and another scale model, big improvement." Well played, Related. Well played.
3)New York's Intelligencer, after dissing the bids altogether a la Ouroussoff, also appears to be veering toward the Extell camp, giving project architect Steven Holl a forum to spout off about how terror-proof the Extell design is. So if you're looking to side with Osama bin Laden's preferred Hudson Yards design, look elsewhere. Like, maybe to Tishman, with that whole Morgan Stanley headquarters thing. Just saying!
· Curbed Poll Reminder: The Hudson Yards Winner Is... [Curbed]
1)New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff finally got around to checking out the Hudson Yards plans, and woo boy, he is not happy. Ouroussoff drops the hammer on the whole process, writing that the proposals are "not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on the state of large-scale planning in New York City." Wham! The Related bid is "disturbing," the Vornado/Durst bid is "slightly less disturbing." The "only one worth serious consideration" is Extell's proposal (right), which didn't fare so well in the people's vote. Interesting. ['In Plans for Railyards, a Mix of Towers and Parks'/Nicolai Ouroussoff]
2) The latest regarding One Madison Park and its increasingly notorious $45 million penthouse. A "European Pritzker Prize-winning architect" will be brought in to design just the 22nd Street entrance (because 23rd Street is yucky) and the penthouse will come with a private butler, paid for by the condominium, who will live in a one-bedroom unit on a lower floor. There is a debate going on about whether or not that is possible, however. You know Tim Robbins ain't gonna be pleased about paying for somebody else's manservant. [Big Deal/Josh Barbanel]
3) Joyce Cohen finally figured out who would buy in the Simone in Windsor Terrace, a building that immediately puts you one foot in the grave upon purchase: people whose only other option is the Bronx. Makes sense. [The Hunt/Joyce Cohen]
If Brookfield Properties has a dream team of architects lined up to design the 16 buildings and lush green spaces of its West Side Rail Yards vision—including High Line masterminds Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Field Operations—then why is the company's bid seen as an underdog? For three big reasons. 1) Unlike Related or Vornado/Durst or Tishman Speyer, Brookfield has no major tenant already lined up. 2) Brookfield is not as outrageously wealthy as some of the other developers, which is seen as a sign of weakness for a project that will take over a decade and many billions of dollars to build out. 3) Brookfield's proposal—which opens up the grid and forgoes one huge park in the middle—violates the city's strict guidelines for the Hudson Yards. Despite all these hurdles, Brookfield's bid may be emerging as the fan favorite.
Merrill Lynch's move from Brookfield Properties' World Financial Center to a new skyscraper built on the ashes of the Hotel Pennsylvania in Midtown seemed like a sure thing. Then Merrill's CEO stepped aside amidst financial turmoil, and then the landmarking campaign for the Hotel Penn gained some momentum, and now, the Observer's Eliot Brown reports that Gov. Spitzer is trying to lure Merrill Lynch into the World Trade Center's Tower 3. For those who need a refresher, Tower 3 is Sir Richard Rogers' flag-waving entry to the WTC hodgepodge (right). Reportedly, Spitzer wants to cut Merrill a huge deal on the cost of the move—like, hundreds of millions of dollars. Let's just say that Brookfield and Hotel Pennsylvania landowner Vornado can't be happy with this Spitzer-Larry Silverstein collusion, which essentially ruins the fair fight to win the bank's money. But they both have that little Hudson Yards thing going on, so maybe Brookfield and Vornado are distracted. Dudes, you guys are totally getting effed over here!
· Spitzer Goes to Bat for Silverstein, Vies to Keep Merrill Downtown [NYO]
· Commence Heavy Tugging: Merrill Move in Jeopardy? [Curbed]
· 'Heavy Tug' Fails: Merrill Headed For Hotel Pennsylvania? [Curbed]
· Merrill Lynch Getting Sexy 'Heavy Tug' to Stay [Curbed]
Phew! Now that the five Hudson Yards bid are in, it's time for the swift, cruel hammer of judgment to come down. But given that the MTA won't say how much the developers are bidding (pissing off some), and since the building designs will surely change as the winning bid navigates various approval stages, how can the proposals be accurately assessed by the public? Simple: by Curbed poll! So, the first task is to read up on the Brookfield Properties, Extell, Related, Vornado/Durst and Tishman Speyer bids. The second is to forget all about what will win (Related, most likely), and what has no chance of winning (Extell). The third is to simply ask yourself...
Developer: Brookfield Properties Architects: Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Field Operations, Thomas Phifer & Partners, ShoP Archiects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, SANAA, Handel Architects Biggest building: 1.9 million total square feet and ~1,300 feet tall Housing: 3,300 units Public space: 15.4 acres High Line?: Saved! Online?: Yup!
Brookfield's bid is seen as one of the long shots, because the company has no major corporate partner to tout. Brookfield knew this going in, so they piled on the starchitects like they were going out of style. Like most of these bids, the end result would most likely look far different than the proposals, but that's especially true with Brookfield, given the preliminary stage of the design as well as all the firms involved. Brookfield's plan divides the Yards into two chunks separated by Eleventh Avenue, the more residential Western Rail Yards ("Hudson Green") and the more commercial Eastern Rail Yards ("Hudson Place"). Cultural and community facilities (like a new Children's Museum) are sprinkled throughout, and two big hotels are planned right smack in the middle.
The Observer files their report on the Hudson Yards bids today, and they agree with pretty much every expert's take: Related, Tishman Speyer and Vornado/Durst are the frontrunners to win the development rights because they already have corporate partners raring to move in (News Corp., Morgan Stanley and Conde Nast, respectively), and Brookfield and Extell are the dark horses. The good news is that the MTA will eventually show the proposals to the public, which was sort of unclear. State Senator Tom Duane will meet with the MTA to decide the how and when in the next couple of weeks. Will our Curban Planning winner be on display right next to the big dogs' designs? Probably not, but we're cool with that as long as we get to see some people mover napkin sketches.
· It Begins: Titans Bid On Western Rail Yards [NYO]
· Hudson Yards: Bankers vs. Hotties (& Three Other Bids) [Curbed]
Comments
Now that the Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust are also-rans in the Hudson Yards sweepstakes (but hey, a silver medal ain't bad), the companies' proposed anchor tenant—magazine megapublisher Condé Nast—may be looking to switch sides. In today's 
1) New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff finally got around to checking out the Hudson Yards plans, and woo boy, he is not happy. Ouroussoff drops the hammer on the whole process, writing that the proposals are "not just a disappointment for their lack of imagination, they are also a grim referendum on the state of large-scale planning in New York City." Wham! The Related bid is "disturbing," the Vornado/Durst bid is "slightly less disturbing." The "only one worth serious consideration" is 
Merrill Lynch's move from Brookfield Properties' World Financial Center to a 
The 
