Hudson Yards Deal Inked

A joint venture of New York developer Related Cos. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has inked a deal to acquire the Hudson Yards, the largest undeveloped parcel of land in Manhattan.

The venture agreed to negotiate a 99-year lease to build atop an active rail yard on Manhattan's far west side. Over the term of the lease, the venture would pay slightly more than $1 billion in 2008 dollars, officials said. The deal comes despite a rapid slowdown in real estate development around the country, as the sluggish economy and the credit crunch weigh on the ability to finance construction.

Still, the pact is a coup for Related and its founder, Stephen M. Ross, who could end up presiding over a project that will take more than a decade to build and could generate substantial long-term profits. The Hudson Yards would include 13 buildings, including offices, apartments, hotels, shops and park space. There would be 12 million square feet of buildings, two million more than is planned for the rebuilt World Trade Center.

I'm glad this went through. It will no doubt take years and years before the land can be developed, but it will be great to actually utilize the space.

In another example of if you build it they will come, this should give more weight to extending the 7 train and building another tunnel connecting NY to NJ.

High Oil Prices are Good

High prices cause people to consume less oil. This means more of a push for renewable energy and less energy-intensive products and services:

Mass transit systems around the country are seeing standing-room-only crowds on bus lines where seats were once easy to come by. Parking lots at many bus and light rail stations are suddenly overflowing, with commuters in some towns risking a ticket or tow by parking on nearby grassy areas and in vacant lots.

“In almost every transit system I talk to, we’re seeing very high rates of growth the last few months,” said William W. Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association.

“It’s very clear that a significant portion of the increase in transit use is directly caused by people who are looking for alternatives to paying $3.50 a gallon for gas.”

With any luck, higher prices will encourage investment in more infrastructure. Many people shun investment in public transportation because it is perceived to come with a steep price tag, and, because it serves the public, is something that a large majority of people have to agree to fund (or else their elected officials who make those decisions will soon find themselves out of work). Furthermore, with public transportation people have to give up a certain degree of control that comes with private transportation (i.e. you can buy the car you want and drive it to the exact location you want in privacy, comforts that you relinquish with public transportation). However, the cost of public transportation in both dollars and carbon footprint is vastly cheaper than the sum of private transportation, and it comes with so many related benefits.

Things are scarce. Being less wasteful and more efficient are good things. Let's hope voters and their elected officials seize the initiative and build some infrastructure.

Hudson Yards Bid Collapses

Tishman Speyer Properties LP's $1 billion offer to buy 26 acres known as Hudson Yards from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority collapsed, frustrating efforts to develop one of Manhattan's most underused tracts of land.

"Negotiations between the MTA and Tishman Speyer over the development of the rail yards on Manhattan's Far West Side reached an impasse,'' transit agency spokesman Jeremy Soffin said by e-mail late yesterday. The MTA considered the transaction unworkable after the developer proposed delaying payment until the city rezoned an adjacent parcel of rail yard to the west, he said.

It's too bad. We could really use that area developed.