MTA Takes Step Toward Hudson Yards Deal

At a meeting held yesterday, the board of directors of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took the first step toward ratifying its tentative deal with Related Companies and Related's financial backer, Goldman Sachs. The board voted to approve a $1.054 billion deal with the Related Companies to develop the 26-acre West Side rail yards site. The MTA's chief financial officer, Gary Dellaverson, said that once the MTA reopened negotiations with Related, Extell Development, and a joint venture between Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust after their tentative deal with Tishman Speyer fell apart, Related was able to pull ahead because they were "persistent and aggressive" and because of their willingness to more or less accept the same terms of the deal that Tishman Speyer had originally agreed to with almost no additional conditions.