The board of directors of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey authorized the sale of about 7,300 square feet of vacant land on Tenth Avenue between 30th and 31st Streets to the Extell Development company, which is headed by Gary Barnett, for $17,155,000.

The board also authorized granting Extell a perpetual light-and-air easement over an adjacent parcel of land of about 4,300 square feet for $500,000 and another easement for the construction and maintenance of a pedestrian skyway over an adjacent parcel owned by the authority for an amount to be negotiated of not less than $500,000.

Extell is developing a mixed-use commercial and residential high-rise building of 600,000 to 650,000 square feet on the adjacent lot and as part of the transaction authorized yesterday Extell would be granted a 30-foot-wide light-and-air easement over a portion of the Lincoln Tunnell Access road, and a sliver of land between the property and such access road, for $500,000.

The Extell site is adjacent to the new High Line Park.

Extell Development had acquired the low-rise building occupied by Stuart Dean, the building facade restorers, at 366 Tenth Avenue between 30th and 31st Street for $23 million.

The site lies within the Hudson Yards district.

The city rezoned much of the Hell's Kitchen area to accommodate a plan by the Bloomberg Administration to build a new football stadium over the exposed train yards that run into Penn Station. The plan, which was promoted by Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, was designed to tie into an expansion of the No. 7 subway line, an expansion of the nearby Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and the creation of a new north-south boulevard with high density development of both offices and apartments. The stadium plan fell through, but the rezoning was enacted and it permits the highest development FARs (floor-to-area ratios) in the city: 21.6. (In contrast much of the development on the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side is limited to a maximum of FAR of about 10 and in downtown areas like Chelsea and TriBeCa FARs are considerably lower.

Extell has become one of the city's most aggressive acquirers of property in recent years. It is converting the former Stanhope Hotel at 995 Fifth Avenue to residential condominiums and nearing completion of the 60-story condo tower known as the Orion on West 42nd Street and two high-rise towers on Broadway at 99th Street and it has several projects along Riverside Boulevard and a couple on West 57th Street.