After years of planning, the MTA has unveiled competing proposals to convert the West Side rail yards into a complex with parks, housing and, in some cases, office towers rising as high as the Empire State Building.
Five developers are vying for the right to build on the 26 acres of rail yards west of 10th Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets.
They’ve been asked to come up with a project that would spark the city’s growth much the same way Rockefeller Center or the World Trade Center did in the last century.
Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff called the proposals “the culmination and the catalyst” for developing the far West Side into a district of office towers, high-rise residential buildings, cultural centers and parks that has been dubbed Hudson Yards.
“This is the market speaking,” Doctoroff said of the competing proposals from some of the city’s biggest developers. “It’s clearly telling us we have a special opportunity in Hudson Yards.”
Each developer had to adhere to basic guidelines, which called for including a cultural center, construction of a public school and a large swath of public space.
Doctoroff, whose bid to build a football stadium on the western half of the rail yards was defeated by a vote of the state’s Public Authorities Control Board, predicted this latest effort on the West Side would fare better.
“In the previous case, money was contributed to the project by the city and the state. In this case, money will be contributed from the project to the city and the state,” he said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the rail yard, is hoping to raise $1 billion from the development deal – money that can be put toward capital projects, including the Second Avenue subway.
City officials expect the development to generate new revenues that will be used to help cover the $2 billion cost of extending 7 train service to 11th Avenue and 34th Street.
MTA Chief Elliot Sander said that unlike the stadium, the rail-yard development will not have to go before the PACB.
Final approval will rest in the MTA board’s hands, he said. The City Council will also be needed to approve zoning changes.
A team of MTA officials will make recommendations to the transit agency’s board on which proposal should be selected. That recommendation is expected in late February or early March. A vote of the board is expected shortly afterward.
Several of the developers have lined up corporate anchors for their proposals. Development firm Related’s plans include a new headquarters tower for News Corp., which counts The Post and Fox News among its varied media holdings.
Tishman Speyer would build a headquarters for Morgan Stanley. And the Durst Organization and Vornado Realty are proposing a new tower for Condé Nast publications.
All five developers have proposed keeping a northern section of the High Line railroad trestle intact as part of their plans, allowing for pedestrian access from the site to the High Line park that is being built on another section of the elevated track running south through Chelsea.
A major hurdle for any developer will be the construction of a platform over the rail yards that will have to be built as train operations continue. The cost of a platform has been estimated at $1.5 billion.
All the projects are slated to be eco-friendly, with the Durst-Vornado venture calling for a cogeneration plant that could supply a large chunk of the development’s power.
The five proposals will be on display at an MTA storefront at the corner of 43rd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Dec. 3.