THE Post’s parent company, News Corp., is among the tenants vying for a new headquarters site in the Hudson Yards on the West Side.
The Post has learned that News Corp. has joined with the Related Companies’ Stephen Ross in a bid for both the western and eastern portions of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s railyard.
The Related bid comprises a swath of residential components as well as a technologically advanced tower for the global media conglomerate.
Ten years ago, Ross won the bid for the MTA’s Columbus Circle site by convincing Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons that what was needed wasn’t space, but, in fact, a headquarters for the 21st Century. That led to the iconic Time Warner Center.
Another bidder vying for the railyard is Jerry Speyer of Tishman Speyer Properties, who is working with Morgan Stanley.
Sources said the investment banking giant figured it couldn’t lose by taking a shot and can always opt out along the way.
TSP has hired architect Helmut Jahn for its proposal. Jahn had previously created sleek, modernistic twin towers for TSP’s losing Columbus Center bid.
Meanwhile, Douglas Durst has teamed up with his 4 Times Sq. tenant, Condé Nast, for an environmentally friendly railyard bid with partner Vornado Realty Trust.
The Durst-Vornado proposal also includes the International Center of Photography.
Brookfield Properties, which owns a large parcel near the edge of the yards, and Extell Properties, which also owns sites in the area, are the two other bidders.
The MTA is reviewing proposals and is not expected to make a choice for some weeks.
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The delicious Milk Studios Building at 450 W. 14th St. is ready to be churned to a new owner for upward of $200 million.
Corralled in the epicenter of the Meatpacking District with its back door opening to the Chelsea Market, the eight-story edifice is 100 percent leased with the likes of the luxurious retailer Jeffrey, and the auction house Phillips, de Pury & Co.
Current sellers, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Belvedere Capital, have re-tapped investment maestro Douglas Harmon at Eastdil Secured to sell this 300,000-foot bit of cream in their portfolio.
The sellers bought it through Harmon in December 2004 for a mere $55 million. They also own stakes in the Chelsea Market and recently sold 85 Tenth Ave. to Somerset, which sold it to Related for $430 million, or $750 a foot, also through Harmon.
“It’s the most vibrant neighborhood in the city right now,” said Keith Barket of Angelo, Gordon. “It’s going to be a long-term hold for another buyer because there isn’t a lot of lease roll over in the short term.”
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Merrill Lynch execs would prefer to be at Vornado Realty Trust’s Hotel Pennsylvania site opposite Madison Square Garden, sources told The Post.
While Brookfield Properties and Battery Park City officials have been able to enlarge their proposed trading floor addition by eating into the lobby of 2 World Financial Center, it would still mean relocating all of the employees for three to four years, as the investment bank doesn’t want to endure a disruptive floor-by-floor renovation job.
“What Larry [Silverstein] has decked up financially is not superior to [Vornado’s] Hotel Pennsylvania, and it’s not big enough,” our source said.
Top execs are expected to meet with city officials within a week to chomp the numbers and the land-use review time frame on the 3 million square-footer proposed by Vornado.
Neither Merrill Lynch nor Jones Lang LaSalle officials would comment.