Save the Spur Video and Rally Recap!

The turn-out of High Line supporters for Monday’s Eastern Rail Yards Public Forum was great: more than 200 people rallied at Midtown’s Red Cross in favor of preserving the entire High Line, including the Spur over 10th Avenue. Supporters wore red “Save the Spur” T-shirts and held signs during a presentation by The Related Companies, [...]

High Line Horticulture Walk: Only a Few Spots Left

It’s not too late to join us and Alex Feleppa, director of horticulture for the Horticultural Society of New York, for a naturalist walk on the rail yards section of the High Line. The walks are this Saturday, June 7 (there are three sessions.) We’re not usually able to bring people up to the High [...]

Related is Selected as Rail Yards Developer

Another big Rail Yards announcement this morning: the Related Companies have stepped in where Tishman Speyer dropped out earlier this month. Related’s original proposal included the preservation of the entire High Line, including the spur over Tenth Avenue and the entire 30th Street section, which might have been demolished in Tishman Speyer’s plan. Though we haven’t [...]

It’s Official: MTA/Tishman Speyer Talks are Dead

After a last-ditch effort to get their West Side Rail Yards negotiations back on track after Thursday’s announcement, Tishman Speyer was unable to sway the MTA. The MTA’s statement today was short and sweet. In its entirety: The MTA met today with Tishman Speyer. Despite the best efforts of both sides, a final agreement could [...]

Breaking: Tishman Speyer Rail Yards Deal Falls Through

Negotiations between the MTA and Tishman Speyer have collapsed, according to the MTA, following a request from the developer to change the terms under which the project would be financed, as well as the project schedule. An agreement on the 26-acre site could not be reached. Tishman Speyer was selected to develop the rail yards last month, after an [...]

I Sketched the High Line

… And so can you! There are still a few spots remaining for the remaining Sketching the High Line classes with artist Ann DeVere. Last Saturday was the first class, and it was a really wonderful experience. Ann led us through a series of warm-up exercises to get our creative juices flowing, and then we [...]

Gangs of Hell’s Kitchen

The indispensable WPA Guide to New York City — a neighborhood-by-neighborhood survey from the the 1930′s Federal Writer’s Project — is one of my favorite sources of NYC nerdistry. The chapter on Hell’s Kitchen reveals some of the colorful characters that once inhabited the area around the West Side rail yards- “a district that bears [...]

Tiffany & Co. Employees Get the High Line Ready for Spring

Last week, a group of twenty Tiffany & Co. employees removed their jewelry and donned gardening gloves to clean up trash on the rail yards section of the High Line in anticipation of our High Line sketching classes which starts this weekend.  The employees are all part of TIffany ‘s TeamBuilders Manhattan, a group of staffers that get [...]

Photo of the Week: Summer Sunset

[Click to enlarge] Summer is just around the corner, or so this 80-degree day would have us believe. Above, sunset at the rail yards, last summer. It’s hard to beat that golden light filtering through the smog over New Jersey. Last Week’s Photo of the Week

Ouroussoff on Truth-Bending Rail Yards Renderings

Yesterday, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussof used Tishman Speyer’s winning rail yards bid as an example of a problematic trend in urban development. He explains that misleading renderings are designed (or censored) to prevent public objection, so projects can slip easily through the public review process. Tishman Speyer, or course, is only one example of this, but when [...]