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Those darn gray boxes! They represent the portion of land left out of the 2005 rezoning of the Special Hudson Yards District—the western part of the rail yards that late yesterday led to the collapse of negotiations between Hudson Yards bid winner Tishman Speyer and land owner the MTA. A while back, the High Line Blog explained the rezoning, which is where we lifted the above image from (is that the Jets Stadium in there?!). But maybe the gray boxes are just an excuse. Maybe Tishman had buyer's remorse in light of the credit crunch and was just looking for a way out. Maybe, or maybe not. Charles Bagli reports in the Times that Jerry Speyer is flying from Milan to London today to meet with Mayor Bloomberg about the Hudson Yards. It was Speyer's son Rob who broke off the six-week-old talks with the MTA. Can the old men settle this over a hot cup of Earl Grey? The MTA probably hopes so. Writes Bagli, "But if the authority reopened negotiations with another bidder, it would almost certainly mean that it would get less money for the rights to the property, real estate executives said."
· Deal to Build at Railyards on West Side Collapses [NYT]
· Yardsmania: MTA Dumps Tishman Speyer, Chaos Ensues [Curbed]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Take one last look at the Hudson Yards proposal designed for Tishman Speyer by Helmut Jahn and Peter Walker, folks, because the thing ain't happening. Late this evening, the MTA announced that it had hit an "impassé" with bid winner Tishman over the West Side rail yards, and the result is that the development rights are now back in play. The deal was supposed to be that Tishman would close on the eastern half of the property now, and the western half when it was rezoned to allow for the massive residential and commercial plans, which could take a while. Tishman balked at closing on anything until the western portion of the yards got rezoned, and the result is this doomsday mess we now find ourselves in. Look, in a city where a damn train station can't even get built, is it surprising that a multi-billion-dollar build-out of a plot of land bigger than the World Trade Center would have massive complications? A Tishman Speyer spokesman told Reuters, "We still hope to be able to complete this deal and reach an agreement that satisfies the needs of everyone." We'll see about that, but oh my, does this mean that Murdochville is suddenly alive? Will any promised megaproject get built? The world seems like a cold, dark place right about now.
· MTA, Hudson Yards developer at an impasse [Reuters]
· $1B Deal To Develop West Side Rail Yard Collapses [AP via WCBS]
· All Curbed Hudson Yards coverage [Curbed]

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The World Trade Center PATH station designed by Spanish starchitect Santiago Calatrava has gone from celebrated symbol of Ground Zero's rebirth to an annoying party crasher that the Port Authority doesn't know how to tell to leave. The bird-like terminal was clipped to look like a stegosaurus, then it was clipped again, then last week it got reconfigured yet again due to mounting budget concerns. It's unclear how much Calatrava will be left in it when the terminal—near the MTA's own screwed-up train station—gets built, but here's the thing: the Port Authority may abandon the PATH station altogether. The Sun's Peter Kiefer reports that the incoming Port Authority director may see this is an opportunity to get out of the project, and divert the $1.9 billion in federal funding to the renovation of Penn Station. There are many political hurdles to navigate if the PATH station (a new temporary PATH entrance recently opened at the WTC) gets cut, but some feel that Governor Patterson is behind the move. Pity poor Santiago—he's not having the best of months.
· Ground Zero Money Is Sought for Penn Station [Sun]
· Port Authority May Clip Calatrava Again [Curbed]

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It hasn't been the best of times for World Trade Center-area mass transit projects. The financial troubles of the MTA's Fulton Street Transit Hub have been well documented, and now, architect Santiago Calatrava's PATH station for the Port Authority could be in dire straits. The "soaring bird" (seen above in prouder times) has already been clipped twice, and now comes the shocker: the Port Authority is preparing a "modest alternative" to the Calatrava design just in case the cost estimates of building it exceed $2.5 billion, which they most certainly will. The PA claims that no matter what happens, Calatrava's ribbed above-ground structure will remain (in some sort of fashion), but changes could include making greater use of the existing tracks as well as parts of the new temporary PATH terminal. So, when it's all said and done, which round of Rendering/Reality will be more depressing: the Fulton Street Transit Hub, or Calatrava's PATH station?
· Citing Budget Concerns, Port Authority Plans for More Modest Hub at Trade Center Site [NYT]
· New WTC PATH Entrance Ready for Your Morning Commute [Curbed]
· Calatrava's WTC Hub Clipped Again? [Curbed]

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The MTA has to answer some tough questions regarding the botched Fulton Street Transit Center near the WTC, but answers are a little tough to come by right now. If you recall, the hub—which will connect the area's 11 lines of subway spaghetti—was supposed to be topped by a Grimshaw Architects-designed glass "oculus," filled will street-level retail. Until, uh, some complications. Now, there's a half-serious proposal floating around to stick a theater designed by Frank Gehry, one that is supposed to go next to the Freedom Tower, on top of the Transit Center. Well, we thought it was half-serious, but today the Sun reports that there are "concept drawings" of the GehryTheaterTrain making the rounds, and the MTA is seriously considering it. Of course, all this hemming and hawing means more delays down at Ground Zero. Testifying in front of the City Council's transportation committee yesterday, the MTA's capital construction president said the project will be delayed at least 12 to 18 months. Which, if you've been by that mess of a corner lately, is totally awesome news!
· Despite Delays, MTA Defends Fulton Center Progress [Sun]
· Riding the Subway With Frank [Curbed]
· MTA Admits WTC Transit Hub is Out of Money [Curbed]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

When is the opening of a train station more than just the opening of a train station? When it signals any form of progress in the redevelopment of the World Trade Center. And while this is actually just the opening of a new temporary entrance for the PATH train (the third since 9/11), it still has significant meaning. Which is precisely why we sent Curbed shutterbug Will Femia to capture the new PATH action at Vesey Street on the eve of its first big test, a morning rush hour. This entrance is taking the place of the one on Church Street, which will soon close to make way for excavation and construction at the site. In 2011, the PATH entrance will move back to Church Street, housed in whatever remains of the Port Authority's once-glorious Santiago Calatrava-designed soaring bird. Which will be near whatever remains of the MTA's once-glorious Fulton Street Transit Center.
· Construction Watch: What's Up at the World Trade Center? [Curbed]
· Calatrava's WTC Hub Clipped Again [Curbed]

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When the details of the five bids for the Hudson Yards were released back in November, Times architecture oracle Nicolai Ouroussoff slammed the process as "a grim referendum on the state of large-scale planning in New York City," before anointing Extell's Steven Holl-designed proposal as the only one worth a lick. Now that Tishman Speyer has been selected by the MTA as the winning developer, it's not surprising that Ouroussoff is singing the same tune, though the lyrics are slightly different. Today, he writes that the Hudson Yards are "a damning indictment of large-scale development in New York," while still singing the praises of Extell's bid. Ouroussoff's take is that the Hudson Yards will be a depressing office park cut off from the rest of the city via a wall of skyscrapers that some people will have the misfortune of living in, and it's an opinion that most people would probably agree with. Meanwhile, in a Times news analysis, Charles Bagli writes that the final architecture will probably look nothing like the current plans anyway, and perhaps not even Tishman Speyer can navigate the minefield that will accompany this ten- to twenty-year build-out. Folks, this is going to be a fun next couple of decades. Join us, won't you?
· Profit and Public Good Clash in Grand Plans [NYT]
· For Railyards, the Hard Part Is Still Ahead [NYT]
· Yardsmania: OK, So Now What? [Curbed]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

With Tishman Speyer now 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.

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

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]

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At the end of 2006, the MTA announced that it had made so much money off the taxes it collects from real estate transactions—especially the $5 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village—that no fair hikes would be necessary, and station improvements would be on the way. My oh my, how times have changed. Now, the MTA has no money for its ambitious projects, and the recent fair hike that was supposed to cover simple quality-of-life issues—like a G Train you don't have to be embarrassed about—won't even cover it. The MTA has postponed $30 million in service improvements, because revenues from real estate taxes have fallen sharply, including the lowest one-month amount collected on residential mortgage taxes (from single-family homes to six-unit apartment buildings) in six years. So the MTA was lying about the whole justification of the fair hike thing? Uh, no comment. It was thought that the pending sale/lease of the Hudson Yards (more on that soon) would inject enough cash into the MTA's coffers, but now it's not even enough to plug the gap on half of what the MTA wants to get done.
· M.T.A. Delays Improvements, Citing Drop in Real Estate Sales Taxes [NYT]
· Time to Pass the Hat on Moynihan Station [Curbed]
· MTA Admits WTC Transit Hub is Out of Money [Curbed]

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After weeks of closed-door wheeling and dealing, the Hudson Yards—soon to be the biggest development project in the city, if the whole thing doesn't completely fall apart—have exploded with activity. Here, a primer on the most recent headlines:

1) The Winner: The Times reported it over the weekend, and the Sun echoes it today: the MTA is on the verge of announcing that Tishman Speyer is the winning bidder for the rail yards, with the joint Vornado/Durst bid still in play. The board will meet on Wednesday, perhaps to approve a deal. The MTA had initially set this week as the deadline, and even though there were rumors the decision would be delayed, it looks like the MTA may actually deliver on a promise. If you want to review Tishman's bid, here you go. [Sun]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

The Hudson Yards development plan created by Tishman Speyer—with architects Helmut Jahn and Peter Walker—has emerged as the frontrunner in the past 24 hours, according to the New York Times. You may recall that Tishman's proposal featured Morgan Stanley as an anchor tenant—an anchor tenant that has now sailed away. Still, the MTA is said to be in final negotiations with Tishman, with plans to formally present the plan to its board for approval this Wednesday if final details can be worked through. (The other proposal that's still breathing is said to to be Durst/Vornado.) Above, a photogallery of the Tishman plan, and here's Curbed's original take on it. Developing...
· MTA Leaning Towards Tishman Speyer Railyards Bid [NYTimes]
· Yardsmania: Tishman Speyer Calls a Forum [Curbed]

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Um, about that delay. Well, it looks like it was a very brief one. The Real Estate is reporting that the MTA may choose a winning bid for the Hudson Yards as soon as tonight, with the list being whittled down to Tishman Speyer's officepalooza and the joint Durst/Vornado High Line-destroying hippie lovefest. Yes, the early favorite—The Related Companies' News Corp.-loaded Rupert Murdoch playground, is doneski, at least per these anonymous sources. The problem is that Murdochville, oddly, doesn't have a firm commitment from News Corp., though that line of thought doesn't make much sense because Tishman recently lost Morgan Stanley as its anchor tenant, but that doesn't seem to be hampering the bid. Should a West Side Rail Yards selection be made, it would need to be finalized by the MTA board, perhaps at its Wednesday meeting. In the biggest sense of the word: DEVELOPING...
· Durst/Vornado and Tishman Speyer Lead as Decision Close on West Side Yards [TRE]
· The Other Big Rail Yards Thing is Also Kinda Screwed Up [Curbed]
· Full Curbed Hudson Yards Coverage [Curbed]

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The good news for MTA chief Lee Sander is no matter what depressing news he reveals about the Hudson Yards today, it's going to get overshadowed by the mess in Brooklyn. So ... how's that bidding process going? You know, the one that's supposed to be wrapping up right about now, with a celebratory announcement naming the developer who will reshape the Far West Side into a vibrant residential and commercial meganeighborhood? Oh, that. Yeah, not so good, it turns out. The Sun's Peter Kiefer quotes Sander as saying a March decision "will be an aggressive time frame for us to meet." Who knows how long the decision will be delayed, but blame the changes in Albany, the changes in the credit-crunched market and the changes in the bid requirements for the troubles. Blame it all! But at least Bruce Ratner has nothing to do with it.
· MTA Chief Signals Delay on Hudson Yards Decision [Sun]
· Yardsmania Getting Cultured? [Curbed]
· Yardsmania: Morgan Stanley Dumps Tishman Speyer [Curbed]

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Remember the glorious image above? Helmut Jahn and Peter Walker's vision of a "town square" surrounded by gleaming new skyscrapers, apartments and community facilities? It's the stuff dreams are made of, and in the end, a dream is precisely what it is. Charles Bagli reports in the Times today that Morgan Stanley, Tishman Speyer's anchor tenant in its bid for the development rights at the Hudson Yards, has dropped out of the plan over concerns that the company's new headquarters would not be built in time for a 2013 move-in. This comes on the heels of Brookfield Properties' departure from the Hudson Yards race, and the MTA's revised demands for the property. Tishman Speyer has not withdrawn its bid, but this could be a crushing blow. The latest series of events can be looked at in two ways: 1) The Hudson Yards are reeling due to the MTA's demands and the credit crunch, or 2) We're that much closer to Murdochville, baby! Wooooooooooo! MySpace! MySpace! MySpace!
· Morgan Stanley Retreating From Railyards Development [NYT]
· Late-Breaking CurbedWire: Brookfield Out at Hudson Yards [Curbed]
· Yardsmania Stunner: MTA Wants Bigger Piece of the Pie [Curbed]

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The West Side. The West Side, the West Side, the West Side. The West Side. Mm. It is not looking good over there, over on ... the West Side. The Javits Center expansion? Dead. The 7-Train extension? The MTA is trying to make the scaled-down version work. The Hudson Yards? Developers are griping. The Moynihan Station/new Madison Square Garden plan? Oh, just about $1 billion short, the Sun reports. In 10 years, the West Side will either be completely transformed and unrecognizable, or it will look exactly the same and serve as the biggest undelivered promise in the city's history. As of this moment, the winds seem to be blowing toward the latter. Said Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, "They need over $2 billion and they have maybe around $1 billion. They need maybe $3 billion for the 7 line, they have maybe $2 billion. They are trying to figure out what to do on Hudson Yards and it looks like that is not coming together. With Javits, it looks like they are wasting $800 million on a plan that does nothing. The West Side stuff is in really tough shape." Yikes.
· State at Least $1B Behind in Funding Moynihan Station [Sun]
· MSG as 'Light-Filled Glass Container?' Sure! [Curbed]
· Moynihan Station Wants the Miracle Off 34th Street [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]

Downtown may be buzzing with announcement of 99 Church Street, but all is not full of hope and joy in the land below Chambers. The Fulton Street Transit Hub, the MTA's high-end answer to the Port Authority's Santiago Calatrava-designed PATH station near the WTC, is royally fucked. Those darn rising construction costs, which have already derailed the Javits Center expansion, will probably end up canceling the project's splashy topping—the glass and steel dome-like "oculus" that had already been scaled back from the grand initial vision. Now, after all that suggestive destructoporn, the MTA has no clue what will go on top. And ruh-roh, the MTA is also looking for ways to cut about a billion dollars in costs from the Second Avenue Subway, the 7-train extension and the Long Island Rail Road link to Grand Central. In the Post, Steve Cuozzo is in rare form, ripping the MTA a new one. He writes: "The best the MTA can now hope for is to slap up some sort of low-rent shed over the block it leveled." Low-rent shed? We know a rabbi who can assemble a nice sukkah if that's what it'll take to get this thing done.
· Higher Costs May Curtail M.T.A. Work [NYT]
· You Read It Here First: A Disaster From the Get-Go [NYP]
· Fulton Street Transit Center Plan Announced [Curbed]

Oh, No. 7 question mark graphic, how we hate to trot you out, with your loaded symbolism of dashed dreams and bureaucratic incompetence. Sniff. But while the Hudson Yards celebrates its own 7-train stop on the line's 1.1-mile extension, word now comes that the 41st Street and Tenth Avenue station—abandoned by the MTA due to cost concerns—may be revived. The Times' Charles Bagli reports that a group of high-ranking politicos fired off a letter to Dan Doctoroff saying that the 41st Street 7-train stop is "imperative" to repopulating the Far West Side. To get it done, they suggest putting other projects on hold, such as a tree-lined boulevard between Tenth and Eleventh Avenue from 34th to 39th Street. It's just a letter, and Doctoroff already has one foot out the door, but at least there's a pulse.
· City Urged to Restore Stop on Extension of No. 7 Train [NYT]
· Times Square Tourists About to be Really Confused [Curbed]
· MTA to Western Trailblazers: Neener Neener [Curbed]

Do our eyes deceive us, or did we really just see Mayor Bloomberg unveil a Hudson Yards 7-train sign in Times Square on the local news? We snapped a quick picture to prove that, in fact, we are not crazy. Today is the MTA's groundbreaking on the $2.1 billion No. 7 extension, which as of this very moment only includes a new station at 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue, between the Hudson Yards and the Javits Center. Don't get the politicians started on that whole Far West 42nd Street thing. That war still has some battles left in it. So, now more than ever (yay signage!), we believe the Hudson Yards will actually get built. But, uh, is that thing just going to be hanging there and leading tourists to a ghost train for the next six years? If so, awesome.
· MTA starts work on No. 7 train extension [AMNY]
· MTA to Western Trailblazers: Neener Neener [Curbed]

[Hudson Yards photo via Flickr/seth_holladay]

To us, it seems like the redevelopment of the Hudson Yards is moving at a glacial pace. To some of those involved, it's happening way too fast. Eliot Brown reports in The Sun that at the end of the month, the city will unveil its preliminary plan for the 26-acre site, which was the cornerstone of the failed Olympic bid/Jets stadium proposal. Then, throughout May, major developers will pitch the city and MTA on how much they'd love to build that gigantic mix of residential and commercial buildings. The Hudson Yards site is four acres bigger than the Atlantic Yards, so you have to expect at least a little controversy, despite the industrial wasteland feeling of the area. Said REBNY prez Steven Spinola: "It's an extremely ambitious project in terms of its size, and it's also ambitious in terms of its time frame. The MTA is anxious to have the deal done, and done quickly." Sad note: a chunk of the High Line may have to come crashing down, so there may be fewer super-luxury condos built with private access to the so-called "public park."
· Colossal Plans for Hudson Yards [NYSun]
· Half a Billion for the West Side Seat of Controversy [Curbed]
· What's Up Out West [Curbed]