New Developer Signs $1 Billion Deal to Transform West Side Railyards

Less than two weeks after the collapse of a billion-dollar deal to develop the railyards on Manhattan’s Far West Side, a new developer has agreed to salvage the plan and help keep alive the Bloomberg administration’s campaign to transform the area into a major business district.

It was a welcome turnabout for the authority, which is counting on the railyards deal to provide hundreds of millions of dollars for new trains, stations and rail work. The speed of the new agreement, occurring 10 days after the collapse of the authority’s earlier deal with Tishman Speyer Properties, is also a measure of how much Mr. Ross, one of the city’s most prolific developers, wants control over the railyards.

Mr. Ross, who had bid on the yards before and clearly suffered loser’s remorse, essentially agreed to the same tentative $1.054 billion deal that Tishman had signed in March. The deal requires the approval of the authority’s board, which will vote on the agreement at a special meeting on Thursday. The two sides will take the next four months to complete a contract to buy the development rights.

“We knew we had this one opportunity,” said an elated Mr. Ross, who sealed the deal with an $11 million deposit. “We weren’t going to start negotiating.”