High Line Blog

Negotiations between the MTA and Tishman Speyer have collapsed, according to the MTA, following a request from the developer to change the terms under which the project would be financed, as well as the project schedule. An agreement on the 26-acre site could not be reached.
Tishman Speyer was selected to develop the rail yards last month, after an eight-month [...]

Filed under: Rail Yards | Tagged: MTA, Rail Yards, Tishman Soeyer | No Comments »

… And so can you! There are still a few spots remaining for the remaining Sketching the High Line classes with artist Ann DeVere.
Last Saturday was the first class, and it was a really wonderful experience. Ann led us through a series of warm-up exercises to get our creative juices flowing, and then we sat [...]

Filed under: Community, Events | Tagged: Art, Community, Events, Rail Yards | No Comments »

The indispensable WPA Guide to New York City — a neighborhood-by-neighborhood survey from the the 1930’s Federal Writer’s Project — is one of my favorite sources of NYC nerdistry.
The chapter on Hell’s Kitchen reveals some of the colorful characters that once inhabited the area around the West Side rail yards- “a district that bears one [...]

Filed under: Historical | Tagged: Hell's Kitchen, History, New York Central, Rail Yards, WPA | 4 Comments »

Last week, a group of twenty Tiffany & Co. employees removed their jewelry and donned gardening gloves to clean up trash on the rail yards section of the High Line in anticipation of our High Line sketching classes which starts this weekend.  The employees are all part of TIffany ’s TeamBuilders Manhattan, a group of staffers that get [...]

Filed under: Community | Tagged: Clean-Up, Community, Rail Yards, Tiffany, Volunteers | 2 Comments »

[Click to enlarge]
Summer is just around the corner, or so this 80-degree day would have us believe. Above, sunset at the rail yards, last summer. It’s hard to beat that golden light filtering through the smog over New Jersey.
Last Week’s Photo of the Week

Filed under: Photo of the Week | Tagged: Photos, Rail Yards, Summer | 1 Comment »

Yesterday, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussof used Tishman Speyer’s winning rail yards bid as an example of a problematic trend in urban development. He explains that misleading renderings are designed (or censored) to prevent public objection, so projects can slip easily through the public review process. Tishman Speyer, or course, is only one example of this, but when [...]

Filed under: Media, Rail Yards, Tishman Speyer | Tagged: Architecture, NY Times, Rail Yards | No Comments »

For the very first time that we are aware of, the High Line was featured in a New York Times Editorial. In it, America’s paper of record challenges the City and Tishman Speyer to seize the opportunity provided by the development rights to the West Side Rail Yards and to do the right thing and [...]

Filed under: MTA, Media, Rail Yards, Tishman Speyer | Tagged: Media, New York Times, Rail Yards, Tishman Speyer | No Comments »

 
The MTA announced today that it has selected Tishman Speyer as the developer for the West Side Rail Yards. This announcement ends a 6-month bidding process, which originally involved 5 competing developers. Tishman Speyer outbid the only other remaining contender– a joint venture between the Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust– by $112 million, offering to pay $1.004 billion for [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Press, Rail Yards | Tagged: Advocacy, MTA, Neighborhood, Rail Yards, Tishman Speyer | 5 Comments »

The development process for the West Side Rail Yards could be on the verge of an important milestone, which comes as a surprise to many who assumed this process would be slowed in the wake of economic uncertainty and the recent shakeup in state government.
The New York Times reported this weekend that the MTA is [...]

Filed under: Advocacy, Rail Yards | Tagged: Media, New York Times, Rail Yards | No Comments »

 
It’s award season for Amanda Burden, Chair of the New York City Planning Commission  — and one of the High Line’s earliest, most passionate champions.  Earlier in February, we saw her glide up to the podium to accept a New York City Cititzens Committee award, presented by Charlie Rose (right photo, and check out [...]

Filed under: Community, Design | Tagged: amanda burden, Photos, Planning, Rail Yards, West Chelsea | 1 Comment »