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 monthslong bidding war to Tishman Speyer. They include a joint venture of The Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust.
The Durst/Vornado team had bid just under $40 million less than Tishman's $1 billion for the 99-year lease to the rail yards.
The nation's largest transit agency desperately needed a lucrative deal to help plug budget holes and pay for delayed, over-budget projects like a downtown transit hub and subway lines on Manhattan's east and west sides.
Durst spokesman Jordan Barowitz said the developer remained interested in "an exciting and important project for New York City."
Durst/Vornado had proposed much less commercial space and had promised an anchor tenant, Conde Nast Publications, if it was chosen. Related Cos. was also a leading contender but dropped out after its anchor tenant, News Corp., opted out.
The rail yards have been considered one of the city's best development opportunities, despite the $2 billion cost of constructing platforms to build over them.
The Bloomberg administration has pushed for years to transform a neighborhood dominated by warehouses and the Jacob Javits Convention Center into a business district resembling Rockefeller Center, which Tishman Speyer owns.
In a statement, the mayor said he was disappointed in the deal's collapse and said the city would work with the MTA to "ensure the potential of the area is realized."
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