High Line Blog

Crain's has the latest on an increasingly complicated set of requirements for developers, as outlined by the MTA in their January 28 letter.

According to the article by Theresa Agovino, the winning developer will be contractually obligated to create a set of seperate funds that will go to the MTA for Rail Yards expenses and earmarks for other MTA projects (including a $9.2 million fund to improve the MTA's LIRR facility near Shea Stadium).

None of these expenses would be paid back if the deal should fall through. Given the uncertain economic climate and fear of a national recession, it looks like the MTA is raising the bar to safeguard the site against developers pulling out later. Essentially, the agency is transferring risk onto the developers.

The MTA will also require developers to front "transaction payments" to back any condo sale or other transaction on the site once it's built out. The tricky part is, the MTA doesn't specify a set amount for these payments-- bidders have to come up with their own maximum figure.

Full text after the jump.

The January 28 MTA letter to developers generated a bunch of speculation on what the new guidelines will mean for developers, and it's been a busy week for the various other developments around the Yards.

• MTA Likely to Narrow Rail Yards Field (NYO The Real Estate)


• MTA Wants Rail Yards Developer Designated By April 1 (NYO the Real Estate)

Canadian boutique retailer Ports 1961 is opening their US flagship store in the Meatpacking District (here.) If Racked is correct, Ports' February opening may be delayed. There is a lot more high-end retail on its way to the neighborhood. From  The New York Post :

The final piece of the retail puzzle has been filled at Taconic Investment Partners' 401 W. 14th St. in the Meatpacking District.  Italian fashion designer Moschino has signed a lease for its first freestanding Manhattan boutique there, with 2,700 square feet tucked between the new, tri-level Apple store at the Ninth Avenue corner and Hugo Boss's store to the west...The store will open this spring.

We went to the Ports 1961 runway show-- after the jump.

The New York Times ran a weekend profile on Dutch planting designer Piet Oudolf, who is now at work on plans for the High Line. The Home & Garden piece paints Piet as somewhat of a revolutionary in his holisitic approach to plant life cycle. He claims,“The skeletons of the plants are for me as important as the flowers," and picks plant species for their structural integrity, even in the leafless dead of winter.