So everyone had to put their cards on the table, and would you believe it? The Jets happened to have about 600 million more cards than everyone thought they did (that’s some Gaultier-like sleeve they were wearing).
Before the MTA starts counting chicks, there is the issue of the platform. Aside from the fact that the platform itself is a bad idea, it also needs to be constructed and funded. When the Jets made their original offer of $100 million, it was only a footnote. After Cablevision got in the act, words from the mayor indicated the that the platform construction was going to be funded by the Jets, making the $100 million a net offer. Cablevision was offering $600 million gross, which, less the estimated $250 construction cost, was only $350 million net. Bloomberg took pains to explain all this to underscore that the Cablevision offer wasn’t all that generous, merely three times as much.
As of yesterday, the Jets are the big dog, gross (maybe: Cablevision didn’t release numbers — but if they did top the Jets, you can be sure we would have heard about it by now) and net, with a $720 million net offer on the table, meaning if the Cablevision offer did not increase, the spread between the two is $480 million. That’s a nice bit of change for the MTA. However, that is not any great sacrifice on the part of the Jets, since almost all of the increase comes from other developers in exchange for increased air rights on adjacent parcels. And this is still offset by $600 million of city subsidy (which City Council is taking a whack at) and city-guaranteed bonds to finance the Jets’ contribution.
The addition of new development is a problem, since it may require a ULURP, a process the stadium has been thus far able to avoid, since it is under state control. This is crucial, since this is one of those annoying good government check-and-balance requirements that allows opposition to fairly heard. Presumably, by detaching the additional development, the Jets are proposing the stadium construction move forward while the land review is underway for the new housing (Cablevision, by restricting its development to the yards proper, would be able to avoid ULURP just as the stadium did). It’s not clear if the Jets want this offer to encompass all of the use rights for the yards. You will recall that the justification for their underwhelming bid was that they were only securing use rights for one-third of the site.
Meanwhile, Cablevision is offering a socialist paradise in the form of a gargantuan mixed-use development — housing, schools, library, performance space, a needle exchange, abortion clinic, and gay marriage chapel. It’s the sort of project only an urban studies professor could love, which makes sense, since that’s exactly where it came from. The Daily News seems to be in the business of promoting GSD staff (that’s Alan Altshuler who is the dean, not Alex Krieger), but hey, a Harvard guy is a Harvard guy, right?
Sure, the renderings are a little scary, but no more so than those from the Jets, who didn’t provide a model of what the new housing will do to an already overcrowded West Side plan (which the Timeshelpfully points out will be bigger than downtown Cleveland when all is said and done). Whenever you try and build a model of 5,800 apartments it can be a little daunting. Comparative studies of recent projects such as Trump Theme Park up on 72nd Street or Battery Park might be instructive. If Cablevision could promise that a substantial (30%, say) portion would be low-income, it would end up being one the most progressive large-scale developments since Stuy Town — and that turned out okay, didn’t it?
Most distressing is that adding six thousand housing units won’t even make dent in the housing shortage up and down the economic scale. Even though this superheated market has made renting finally the better deal — so yeah, take a look at your hyper-expensive shoebox and tell yourself that you are getting the long end of the stick — that fact only underscores that we are in desperate need of a long-term housing policy that is citywide. And it will produce ideas that look much like the Cablevision bid. Given the timetable and circumstances in which the bid was mandated, it could be much worse. And, after years of being nothing but a pox on the city, several of its sports teams, and cable subscribers all over Long Island, it is ironic that a deal that evokes the spirit of the Dolans would be the catalyst to provide them a moment of possible redemption.
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It’s time for the obvious ‘Show me the money’ reference.
So everyone had to put their cards on the table, and would you believe it? The Jets happened to have about 600 million more cards than everyone thought they did (that’s some Gaultier-like sleeve they were wearing).
Before the MTA starts counting chicks, there is the issue of the platform. Aside from the fact that the platform itself is a bad idea, it also needs to be constructed and funded. When the Jets made their original offer of $100 million, it was only a footnote. After Cablevision got in the act, words from the mayor indicated the that the platform construction was going to be funded by the Jets, making the $100 million a net offer. Cablevision was offering $600 million gross, which, less the estimated $250 construction cost, was only $350 million net. Bloomberg took pains to explain all this to underscore that the Cablevision offer wasn’t all that generous, merely three times as much. As of yesterday, the Jets are the big dog, gross (maybe: Cablevision didn’t release numbers — but if they did top the Jets, you can be sure we would have heard about it by now) and net, with a $720 million net offer on the table, meaning if the Cablevision offer did not increase, the spread between the two is $480 million. That’s a nice bit of change for the MTA. However, that is not any great sacrifice on the part of the Jets, since almost all of the increase comes from other developers in exchange for increased air rights on adjacent parcels. And this is still offset by $600 million of city subsidy (which City Council is taking a whack at) and city-guaranteed bonds to finance the Jets’ contribution. The addition of new development is a problem, since it may require a ULURP, a process the stadium has been thus far able to avoid, since it is under state control. This is crucial, since this is one of those annoying good government check-and-balance requirements that allows opposition to fairly heard. Presumably, by detaching the additional development, the Jets are proposing the stadium construction move forward while the land review is underway for the new housing (Cablevision, by restricting its development to the yards proper, would be able to avoid ULURP just as the stadium did). It’s not clear if the Jets want this offer to encompass all of the use rights for the yards. You will recall that the justification for their underwhelming bid was that they were only securing use rights for one-third of the site. Meanwhile, Cablevision is offering a socialist paradise in the form of a gargantuan mixed-use development — housing, schools, library, performance space, a needle exchange, abortion clinic, and gay marriage chapel. It’s the sort of project only an urban studies professor could love, which makes sense, since that’s exactly where it came from. The Daily News seems to be in the business of promoting GSD staff (that’s Alan Altshuler who is the dean, not Alex Krieger), but hey, a Harvard guy is a Harvard guy, right? Sure, the renderings are a little scary, but no more so than those from the Jets, who didn’t provide a model of what the new housing will do to an already overcrowded West Side plan (which the Times helpfully points out will be bigger than downtown Cleveland when all is said and done). Whenever you try and build a model of 5,800 apartments it can be a little daunting. Comparative studies of recent projects such as Trump Theme Park up on 72nd Street or Battery Park might be instructive. If Cablevision could promise that a substantial (30%, say) portion would be low-income, it would end up being one the most progressive large-scale developments since Stuy Town — and that turned out okay, didn’t it? Most distressing is that adding six thousand housing units won’t even make dent in the housing shortage up and down the economic scale. Even though this superheated market has made renting finally the better deal — so yeah, take a look at your hyper-expensive shoebox and tell yourself that you are getting the long end of the stick — that fact only underscores that we are in desperate need of a long-term housing policy that is citywide. And it will produce ideas that look much like the Cablevision bid. Given the timetable and circumstances in which the bid was mandated, it could be much worse. And, after years of being nothing but a pox on the city, several of its sports teams, and cable subscribers all over Long Island, it is ironic that a deal that evokes the spirit of the Dolans would be the catalyst to provide them a moment of possible redemption.