Increased Rapid Transit For Commuters Today Or Some West Side Office Workers Forty Years From Now?

It’s obviously all about priorities. As large projects falter all across the city, one that may take decades to build is contingent on extending the 7 train, in effect forcing the MTA’s hand to commit billions for a project that will help exactly no one for years to come:

Transit officials have designated a worldwide developer to transform dismal rail yards on Manhattan’s far West Side into a resplendent commercial center of office towers, dwellings parks, shops and a school. The deal also includes an aspect meant to ensure that the No. 7 subway extension does not falter.

Tishman Speyer, which has interests in many countries and owns Rockefeller Center, won the bidding competition by offering slightly more than $1 billion — $39 million over its closest competitor.

Tishman Speyer received a 99-year lease on the Hudson Yards, which at 26 acres is the largest piece of undeveloped space left in Manhattan. The space actually includes two sections of rail yards, one on each side of 11th Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets

The project is to include four, possibly five, office towers; more than 3,000 housing units in seven buildings; 15 acres of parks; and a school. It would also include an unspecified cultural institution.

. . .

Planners have long said the development of the area was heavily dependent on extending the No. 7 line from Times Square to the Javits Convention Center area.

[MTA CFO Gary] Dellaverson said that to that end the deal between the MTA and Tishman included granting the developer the right to withhold lease payments to the transit agency in case of construction delays on the No. 7 extension.

With deals like this, it’s no wonder that some have criticized the congestion pricing plan’s lack of specifics.