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Sep 28, 2006 2:49 pm US/Eastern
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MTA Approves West Side Rail Yard Deal with NYC
by Magee Hickey
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority unanimously approved a deal Thursday to sell 26 acres of vacant railyards to the highest-bidding developer in a partnership with the city, despite concerns that details of the deal involving a subway line expansion could be financially risky.
The MTA board voted a day after the transit agency agreed with the city to develop together land that had once been sought as a new home for the New York Jets, and then sought by the city for a new commercial and residential center along the Hudson River. The agreement still awaits City Council approval; no date for a vote was immediately set.
The city, which two months ago sought to buy development rights to the railyards for $500 million, instead will control development rights for half of the yards at a price of $200 million.
The MTA has said the sale of the property and additional city revenue will help finance a planned $2 billion extension of the No. 7 subway line, which starts in Queens and currently stops at Times Square.
But transit advocates have said the deal doesn't give the city enough responsibility for cost overruns in a city where construction costs have been rising 2 percent a month. A report issued this week by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi noted that a project to divert some Long Island Rail Road train routes to the city's east side is $2.4 billion over budget and years behind schedule.
"We have a a very good track record and are held in high esteem by both the state and federal governments in giving us these billions of dollars to do these projects," MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow said Thursday. "We're pretty confident that we're going to be able to do it."
A state board last year blocked the Jets and the Bloomberg administration's plan to put a new football stadium on the land as part of a failed bid to host the 2012 Olympics.
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