« Frank Gehry and a West Coast patron make up. Sound familiar? | Main | The Week The Neighborhood Saw In the Footprints »
December 6, 2010
Vote Could Mark End of Long Quest for Project
The Wall Street Journal
by Eliot Brown
Extell Development, which offered the MTA more money for the Vanderbilt Yard than Forest City Ratner did, but lost the bidding anyway, is hoping to start a big Manhattan project soon.
After years of planning and public tussle with the Upper West Side community, a giant set of apartment towers planned to rise by 59th Street and the West Side Highway is nearing approval from the City Council.
But between now and then, key issues need to be resolved between the developer, Extell Development, and the community. While the size of the project is likely to be close to what Extell wants, the two sides are still debating the amenities that Extell will put into the neighborhood like a school and park.
...One of the largest privately-held development sites in Manhattan, the project marks the latest of a string of multi-thousand-apartment megaprojects planned in recent years to seek public approvals.
Those projects, including Atlantic Yards, the West Side rail yards, the development of a former Con Edison site on the East Side, and the conversion of the Domino Sugar factory in Brooklyn, all have yet to start construction of the housing.
NoLandGrab: Better change that slogan to "Hoops, Jobs & Housing."
Posted by eric at December 6, 2010 8:32 AM