[STERNyc]

NYGUY its wishful thinking that any of these projects will go forward. The finance sector which is based in NYC and one of its strongest driving forces has all but collapsed. GS survived, Chase and Citicorp are in the gutter, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and AIG are shot. There's no longer hedge funds to lease premium space as they were 5 years ago. Times Square Plaza is almost finished and has zero tenants, tenants at the recently completed former Verizon Building on Bryant Park that signed on when times were good are rushing to back out of their leases. And we're no where near the bottom, the auto companies haven't collapsed yet, no one has purchased our most recent 700 billion debt yet, the sure to be awful holiday shopping numbers haven't been released yet, and about half the government subsidized modified mortgages that are still expected to default, haven't yet. That's the most important reason why other than the WTC none of these projects will go forward, then there's the financing issue. Lenders are in disarray, they're being crippled by foreclosure costs and the fact that the homes they own have a market value half the value of the mortgage, no one will buy their notes. Even if a developer came to a lender with a building pre-sold 100% they would be unable to finance it because they simply don't have the money for several hundred million dollar projects right now. And last but not least, many of these projects are in Hudson Yards, with MTAs doomsday budget and their mismanagement and subsequent dire straits I would not expect the 7 itself to be done anytime soon.