With megalandlord Tishman Speyer nearly in possession of the West Side Rail Yards, the other bid still in consideration—the joint proposal made by the Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust—is getting a late push to remain in the Hudson Yards conversation (above, a refresher on the eco-friendly, slightly insane Durst/Vornado bid, designed by FXFowle and Pelli Clarke Pelli). Charles Bagli wades into the showdown in the Times today, and here's why the Durst/Vornado bid makes sense, according to some: 1) Durst/Vornado has an anchor tenant in place for office space, Condé Nast. Morgan Stanley dropped out of Tishman's bid. 2) The Durst/Vornado proposal includes twice as much housing (7,000 units), seen as a safer bet in these troubled times than Tishman's office-heavy plan. 3) Tishman Speyer came in dead last in our Hudson Yards poll. OK, the MTA probably isn't taking that one into consideration. So why are the powers-that-be leaning toward Tishman Speyer? Because of the company's "blue-chip aura and its access to capital from around the world," Bagli writes. Well, if those are the characteristics that matter, we should feel lucky the MTA didn't enlist Bear Stearns to help out with financing.
· At 11th Hour, Rivals Vie for Deal on West Side Railyards [NYT]
· West Side Yard [durstvornado.com]
· Yardsmania Update-o-rama: Tishman Must Get Sexy? [Curbed]
· CurbedWire Special: Tishman Speyer Taking Hudson Yards? [Curbed]
FLATIRON—A tipster emails about "odd stuff at the top of One Madison Park Condo" writing: "What is up with this odd looking bracing at the top? I have watched the erection of this behemoth for months and there has been an odd departure from the weekly poured floor routine. Topping out maybe? New safety deal? Weird. I think a Wendy's was sacrificed for this glass tower and we deserve to know." Excellent view of things, in any case. [CurbedWire Inbox]
MIDTOWN WEST—A tipster emails to update and ask about the site of the old Sony Music Studios on W. 54th Street, noting "serious construction looks to be on the agenda...major scaffolding is up @ 460 west 54th st." An application has been submitted for an eight story building with 96 units designed by FXFowle. In the meantime, demolition permits were issued for the old building on March 3. [CurbedWire Inbox]
We told you we'd be keeping a closer eye on the architectural stylings of Dubai, and damn it, we meant it! In this great city of ours, visionary ideas often run into roadblocks: zoning, preservationists, the laws of gravity and physics, etc. In Dubai, none of this matters of course, so our great minds are making the trip to see their wacky ideas come to fruition. Like, for example, NYC architecture firm FXFowle, who have designed the world's longest and tallest arch bridge, scheduled to begin construction in March with a completion date in 2012. The bridge will be one mile long and 670 feet tall, carry 12 lanes of traffic and cost over $800 million. It will have a metro line running down the middle. And oh yeah, it's fucking insane. This is what we need connecting Manhattan to Governors Island, not some lame gondola.
The Fourth Annual Master Disaster Architects duel happened last night at the (sold out) Music Hall of Williamsburg, pitting FXFowle against Brooklyn-based Konyk. Archinect live blogged the whole hipster architecture face off and says that Konyk won on applause. (That's FXFowle's work on the left and Konyk's on the right.) There was a voting process as "Audience members were given cards upon arrival. After the teams presented, voters were to give their cards to the lumberjack if they wanted to vote for Team Konyk, or to the big brown bear if they wanted to vote for FXFowle." And there will be online voting over at lvhrd, but the polls don't open until tomorrow. Meantime, there's a vid here.
· ARCH DL IV: FXFOWLE vs. Konyk ~ live coverage [Archinect]
· Master-Disaster Duel [LVHRD]
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