NY Gov: may lack dollars for NYC building projects

ALBANY (Reuters) - New York might not be able to afford all of the huge building projects planned in Manhattan, from Ground Zero to west midtown, Gov. David Paterson said on Monday, adding a new tsar may be needed to overcome delays.

"We might go back to having, either an individual or a committee oversee all the structural development in those particular areas," the Democratic governor told reporters at a news conference.

Paterson said it may be time to admit to the public that there may not be enough cash to pay for all of the projects in the pipeline, a list that includes Moynihan Station and the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center expansion.

The real estate slowdown that spread from speculative markets, such as Florida and Nevada, now has gripped New York City, with midtown's Hudson Yards apartment and office project one of its newest and biggest victims.

That $14 billion project fell apart Tuesday when developer Tishman Speyer tried to delay the deal's closing until the site was fully rezoned for much more dense mixed use, including apartments and offices, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which owns the 26-acre rail yards.

Postponing the closing until the western half was rezoned would let the developer drag out its payments to the authority, which stood to reap $1 billion.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he hoped that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will "expeditiously" pick a new developer. "We're plowing ahead," the independent mayor told reporters, noting the Hudson Yards was particularly valuable because it was vacant, a rarity in Manhattan. "Those who say you can't get things done have a pretty short-term perspective."

In addition to the collapse of the Hudson Yards project, in March a plan to honor the late U.S. Democratic Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan by naming a much-improved Pennsylvania Station after him fell apart when Madison Square Garden, decided to stay put. The arena, owned by Cablevision Systems Corp, sits on top of the train station.

And in February, former Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer scrapped plans to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, another west midtown project, because it cost too much.

Paterson applauded U.S. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer's proposal to put the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in charge of Moynihan Station though the mayor has called that a "terrible idea."

Bloomberg faults the Port Authority for not rebuilding Lower Manhattan more swiftly after the September 11, 2001 air attacks, though the bi-state agency was not put in charge until 2006, after a series of delays.