March 19, 2004
Jets stadium to snag on air rights sale?
New York deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff may have figured out a way of getting his $5.7 billion Hudson Yards Jets-stadium-and-convention-center-expansion-and-subway-line-and-kitchen-sink plan without state legislative approval, but it still could be kayoed by one state assemblyman. The catch: Doctoroff's demand for a land swap with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where the MTA would give up an estimated $1.7 billion worth of air rights over its rail yards for free, in exchange for the city building an extension of the #7 subway line that the MTA doesn't want. This swap would require approval of both State Sen. Dean Skelos and State Assemb. Catherine Nolan, who wield vetoes as members of the MTA Capital Program Review Board. Nolan's boss - and if you doubt that he's her boss, you don't understand New York politics - State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, tells the New York Times: "I'm not convinced we need a stadium on the West Side and as such I don't think the 7 is the kind of thing that is important to development."
Now, in the same Times article, Jets stadium czar Jay Cross is quoted as saying that the stadium could go forward without the new subway line, but it's not as simple as that: Without the land swap, the city would need a way to pay for the air rights, since the stadium is set to be built over part of the rail yards. Given that the city still hasn't figured out how to pay for the stadium itself, this could get interesting.
