The company's 138,000-square-foot training center about seven miles east of downtown, which will be vacant in March, is on the market along with 12.2 acres of underdeveloped land.

The area started out as underdeveloped land lined by three gas stations, and Sheridan was unpaved.

Kings and great magnates who had once made over to the Church huge chunks of marginal and underdeveloped land were no longer able to do so.

Although gas stations are shutting down with increasing frequency throughout the city, the closures are particularly acute in Manhattan, where real estate developers, as always, are racing to acquire underdeveloped land.

With 60 acres of vacant or underdeveloped land, River North has been the target of increasing attention from developers and city officials.

For the bank, which tries to draw private investment to underdeveloped lands, the logic was simple.

"Our objective is to preserve the underdeveloped land adjacent to Mianus River Park," said Mr. Moss, referring to a popular gathering place for hikers and mountain bikers.

The municipal governments are also authorized to levy special taxes on vacant and underdeveloped land to encourage development, and to raise and spend money in to promote local economic development.

Big lots of underdeveloped land at a close proximity to the capitol prompted Saseka to start a zoning and building process to increase the value of land there.

The competition underscores the intense interest surrounding the rail yard site among architects, who consider it one of the world's most important big-city tracts of underdeveloped land.