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NEW YORK, NY February 02, 2005 —The controversy surrounding a West Side Stadium grew noisier yesterday, as the MTA and the Jets released WILDLY competing estimates of how much money the "building site" is worth. WNYC's Beth Fertig has more.

Jets President Jay Cross must have known his team was on the defense when he invited reporters over for a breakfast briefing to explain why 13 acres on Manhattan’s west side are worth just about 35 million dollars.

That number came from an appraisal conducted for the Jets by Cushman Wakefield. The real estate firm said the whole site was worth about 350 million dollars. But developing a stadium over an active rail yard requires a building a platform. And even though the state and city have already agreed to bear the cost of that, the appraisal knocks off 315 million dollars in platform construction to arrive at a net value of 35 million dollars. Still, Cross said the deal was good business for everyone.

CROSS: I would argue and I think I can do a very convincing case of this that we are the highest and best use for that site. We can start construction tomorrow. We’ll build over 2 million square feet. Year one we’re effectively 100 percent leased because we’re going to play football. And when we’re 100 percent leased we’re going to generate 70 million dollars in sales tax and income tax and new jobs to the city and the state.

The Jets’ offer was roundly criticized by stadium opponents. Yesterday the MTA released its own appraisal which put the full value of the site at 900 million dollars. That’s in line with what some stadium opponents predicted. But the MTA noted that a stadium would only use about a third of the potential density, reducing the value to less than 300 million.

Real estate experts are fond of saying appraisals are an art not a science. But Westchester State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky – who is planning a hearing on the matter this week - says even that can’t explain the difference between yesterday’s competing numbers.

BRODSKY: The questions are not trivial or picky. They go to the heart of the question of whether the MTA’s assets should be used for non MTA purposes. Especially at a time when the Governor is starving that system, that’s going to be a hard question for them to answer in the affirmative.

Meanwhile, the Jets have offered the MTA 100 million dollars for the site and former Senator George Mitchell is preparing to serve as a mediator. For WNYC I’m Beth Fertig.