July 13, 2007
By Paul Rosta, Senior Associate Editor
The chase is on for one of New York City’s richest-ever real estate prizes--the opportunity to develop as much as 12 million square feet of commercial and residential projects above 26 acres of rail yards on Manhattan’s Far West Side.
In a statement this morning, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn termed the rail yards (pictured) “the last major undeveloped publicly owned parcels in Manhattan.” Quinn was among the officials, including New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who formally unveiled the request for proposals for two 13-acre parcels owned by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority MTA’s Eastern Rail Yard, bordered by 10th and 11th Avenues on the east and west and 30th to 33rd Streets to the north and south, is zoned for 6.3 million square feet of mixed-use development, including office, residential, retail and hotel. The RFP also stipulates that proposals must incorporate a 200,000-square-foot-cultural facility.
For the companion Western Rail Yard directly across 11th Avenue, design guidelines allow for a buildout of up to 5.7 million square feet. The Western Yard awaits rezoning, but the guidelines call for rental units to include a 20 percent affordable component, space set aside for a public school, low-cost space for community and cultural groups and five acres of open public space.
Top locally based developers expected to compete for the development rights are a joint venture of The Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust; Brookfield Properties; Tishman Speyer Properties; and Extell Development Co. Proposals are due in 90 days, and the MTA board is expected to review the proposals in February or March 2008.
As part of the multibillion-dollar investment, developers would have to spend approximately $1 billion to construct a platform over the rail yards, according to reports published by the New York Times. Among other challenges, redevelopment will have to allow the rail yards to continue operating during construction.
The RFP arrives two years after the city’s failed attempt to win state approval to use the rail yards for a sports and entertainment venue that would house pro football’s New York Jets. The yards are a central part of the Far West Side’s redevelopment. Nearby projects already in the pipeline include the expansion of the Javits Convention Center and the transformation of an historic post office on Eighth Avenue into a new rail hub. Also planned is a subway project linking the Times Square transit hub to 11th Avenue.
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