MTA talks with other developers about West Side

The transit agency that owns 26 acres of prime real estate on Manhattan's far West Side reopened conversations Tuesday with other developers after last-ditch talks failed to resurrect a deal with builder Tishman Speyer Properties.

Tishman Speyer executives had met Monday and Tuesday with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and developers Jerry and Rob Speyer met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg in London last week after the 6-week-old agreement fell through.

MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said Tuesday that the latest talks failed, despite both sides' "best efforts" to reach a pact on plans for Hudson Yards, an expanse of rail yards near Penn Station.

Tishman Speyer had tried to delay payments for rights to half the property until the other half was rezoned to allow skyscrapers, apartment buildings, parks and cultural space, officials said.

The developer also couldn't secure an anchor tenant, and community groups had promised a fight over the proposal. Residents said it favored commercial development over affordable housing.

"We have negotiated in good faith with the MTA for the last several weeks regarding Hudson Yards and could not come to a final agreement that was satisfactory to both of us," Rob Speyer, the firm's president, said in a statement.

The MTA has renewed discussions with developers who lost a months-long bidding war to Tishman Speyer. They include a joint venture of The Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust.