IF only Assembly Speaker Sheldon Sil ver hadn’t killed the proposal for a Jets stadium/convention center above the West Side rail yards, the MTA and city wouldn’t be in the pickle they’re in over the site.
Talks broke down the other day between the MTA and Tishman Speyer over a deal for the developer to lease the air above the train yard between 30th-33rd streets and 10th and 12th avenues, and to build a huge complex of office towers, apartment buildings and parkland.
Both sides agreed to meet again next week, but MTA and real-estate sources fear the deal is dead for good – a sad development for the entire city.
Silver (with an assist from Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno) nixed the “stadium” because its main role would have been as an entertainment arena, posing a threat to the Dolan family’s Madison Square Garden; Silver has often done the Dolans’ dirty work in Albany to stifle competition.
The so-called New York Sports & Convention Center didn’t have the greatest design, but it solved at a stroke the biggest problem at the rail yards: It would’ve been built above the more remote western yard, making future development atop the more accessible eastern yard inevitable.
Since the scheme died two years ago, the MTA and the city have hoped to build on top of both yards at once. Unfortunately, they only got around to seeking proposals just as the credit crunch was strangling the development scene, leaving the world’s biggest real-estate companies unable to borrow peanuts.
It’s to be hoped that the MTA and Tishman Speyer can still come to terms. Both sides are ruthless negotiators and might just be jockeying for position.
But there never was a guarantee they’d strike a deal, despite the much-ballyhooed “designation” of Tishman Speyer earlier this year. It was an invitation to start talking – but little more.
Tishman Speyer blames the talks’ breakdown on uncertainty over rezoning the western yard, which the city must do before any building can start there.
Maybe company boss Jerry Speyer, feeling the credit squeeze like everyone, got cold feet and is looking for a face-saving way out.
Or maybe he has good reason to avoid the risk of buying even the eastern yard until the western yard is rezoned – maybe because he has doubts about the city getting it done.
Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn supposedly endorse the rezoning. But Speyer is surely aware that, just a few blocks from the yards, the city has failed to rezone the antiquated Garment Center more than a year after it pledged to do so.
Without a miracle, we’re going to have two exposed train yards – no platforms, no buildings, no parks – for a long time to come.
Thanks again, Shelly.
scuozzo@nypost.com