New York’s bid to become the U.S. candidate for the 2012 Summer Games may be a catalyst for a new subway extension and a sports and entertainment complex.
The New York Times reports that the Jets are quietly circulating a new plan for an imaginative $1 billion sports and entertainment complex over the rail yards in the same neighbourhood that would be part of the 2012 Olympic bid.
And a $1.5 billion extension of a subway line west from Seventh Avenue and south to 34th Street should bolster New York’s bid.
Community activists and some city officials agree that the city’s 2012 bid brings urgency to the city’s redevelopment plans.
In recent weeks, L. Jay Cross, president of the Jets, has been showing off plans for a sports complex on the West Side to state and city officials that features a 75,000-seat stadium that could be converted to a 23,000-seat arena for basketball and hockey, rather than two separate structures.
According to the New York Times, the plans show that a rectangular sports complex, with an exoskeleton of steel and glass. The billion-dollar complex would function as an Olympic stadium and a football stadium. With the retractable roof closed, the bowl-like stadium could be transformed into Madison Square Garden, a home for the Knicks and the Rangers.
