Has NYC's Development Agenda Stalled?

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Hudson Yards: Five months after five different teams of developers and architects unveiled their schemes for developing Hudson Yards, to be located over a 26-acre rail yard fronting the Hudson River, in March the MTA chose developer Tishman Speyer's $1 billion bid for a 99-year-lease (with several options to buy and sell). The site, known as Hudson Yards, represents Manhattan's largest and last remaining undeveloped area. Tishman Speyer's master plan, by Murphy/Jahn and Peter Walker Landscape Architects, had been widely panned by the press since it was unveiled. During the March 29 announcement that his bid had won, company chairman Jerry Speyer said that the design could end up changing as the site evolves. The developer has committed $2 billion to build a platform over the rail yards' eastern portion, but everything else—including the timely expansion of subway service to the area—depends on an unstable economy. Tishman Speyer must also persuade the city to rezone portions of the site to allow taller, denser towers.

Jacob K. Javits Center: Lord Richard Rogers signed on with the state in 2005 to expand the city's riverfront convention center, originally designed by I.M. Pei, located north of Hudson Yards. The project stalled during the last years of George Pataki's governorship, as the original $1.4 billion cost projection proved unrealistic. Spitzer, Pataki's successor, declared that the budget was at least $1 billion short and scrapped the expansion in favor of an onsite renovation that would cost under $200 million. His replacement, David Paterson, has not yet signaled his intentions. Mayor Bloomberg, meanwhile, mentioned in February that exploration of other sites closer to the city's airports could make better sense for the state.

Moynihan Station: During the 1990s, New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposed that federal, state, and local authorities make a joint effort to replace Pennsylvania Station, a subterranean hub dating to the 1960s, with a soaring new station inside a Beaux Arts post office across the street, designed by McKim, Meade & White, who created the original, oft-mourned demolished station. Since then, the project has taken on the late statesman's name but none of his enthusiasm. Its most recent iteration would have partially financed infrastructure improvements by allowing private developers Vornado and The Related Companies to construct 7 million square feet of office space nearby, and by moving Madison Square Garden into the post office along with the new rail hub. Spitzer had started cramming to shore up $2 billion in crucial funding—but when he departed, momentum did, too. The Garden's owners announced on March 28 that they were breaking off talks to join the plan and would instead renovate the current arena. New York Senator Charles Schumer is now urging the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which holds $2 billion in assets for an unspecified regional project, to take the lead in negotiations.

World Trade Center PATH Station: Santiago Calatrava earned acclaim in 2004 for imagining an avian form for the lower Manhattan station of a commuter rail line that connects the city to New Jersey. After costs threatened to exceed a budgeted $2.2 billion, in February 2007 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began a value-engineering study. Agency spokesperson Steve Coleman says it will be finished "soon" and that it will recommend to hold costs as close to the budget as the design allows—which might mean the station gets smaller. The project should open in 2011, Coleman adds, close to its original schedule.

Provided by Architectural Record—The Resource for Architecture and Architects