winning bidder

With the combination of Hudson Yards, Brookfield Properties' Midtown West project and the Moynihan Station development, "You would see a district emerge" based on transit-oriented density, said Vishaan Chakrabarti, president of Moynihan Station Venture, a joint venture of Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust. The three projects are in close proximity to one another.

Mannarino and Chakrabarti expressed confidence that their multibillion-dollar projects would reach fruition, notwithstanding obstacles such as the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Cablevision's plan to renovate the existing Madison Square Garden rather than move the arena across Eighth Avenue to Moynihan Station West. Another potential roadblock is the upheaval in the financial services industry: the office components of both Tishman Speyer's Hudson Yards project and Brookfield's Midtown West would seek to accommodate the need for large trading floors. "This too will pass," said Mannarino, adding that the three projects were intended to attract a variety of tenant classes.

Joshua Sirefman, Brookfield's SVP of US development, noted that corporate tenants still have their future space requirements in mind.