Council modifies zoning of MTA’s Western Rail Yard

Proposed development of the MTA’s Western Rail Yard site, including eight mixed-use towers, as envisioned by the Related Companies. Image: Courtesy of Related Companies.

The Council’s Land Use Committee approved the proposal after the developer agreed to provide permanently affordable on-site housing. On December 14, 2009, the City Council’s Land Use Committee modified and approved Goldman Sachs and Related Companies’ proposal to develop the Western Rail Yard site on the far west side of Midtown, … <Read More>


Robin Stout on the Future of the Moynihan Station Project

I n 2005, Robin Stout was appointed President of the Moynihan Station Development Corporation, the Empire State Development Corporation’s subsidiary charged with transforming the James A. Farley Post Office Building into a new train hall named for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Stout, a Columbia Law School graduate, spent nine years at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP before joining the ESDC as Senior Counsel to the 42nd Street Development Project in 1990. Transforming … <Read More>


City Planning’s General Counsel Talks of Emerging Planning Issues by Just Explaining What’s on His Desk

When asked to discuss current trends coming out of City Planning, David Karnovsky, General Counsel since 1999, offered to start the conversation with the matters sitting on his desk. From Broadway’s first air rights sale, to a new community board planning tool, to implementation of City Planning’s complex rezoning plans, the conversation revealed developing trends. Karnovsky, a Harvard Law School graduate, joined City Planning after serving as Special Counsel to the Deputy Mayor of Operations … <Read More>