of Times Square, leading Paul Goldberger of The New Yorker to say that the plan "has implications that go beyond the sentimental". Selection of developer and architect The Times selected Forest City Ratner Companies as the developer for its Eighth Avenue tower in February 2000. The following month, the Times began negotiating with the city and state. The Times wanted to pay $75 million and a two-thirds deduction in real estate taxes, but the state wanted $125 million for the site and the city wanted the Times to pay full taxes. Some commentators wrote about how the Times had opposed corporate tax relief despite seeking such relief for itself. The parties signed a nonbinding agreement in June 2000, wherein the Times agreed to pay $100 million. The Times was to occupy half of the planned tower, a single unit covering the second through 28th floors. The remainder of the space would be operated by Forest City and leased to office tenants. At the time, other media headquarters were being developed nearby, such as the Hearst Tower on 57th Street and the Condé Nast Building at 4 Times Square. Robert A. M. Stern, his colleague Paul Whalen, and Naresh Kapadia of the 42nd Street Development Project created a set of design guidelines in advance of an architectural design competition for the building. They also created a model conforming to ideals set by the chairman of the New York City Planning Commission. The design guidelines were printed in a 48-page program with a statement by Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp. Times Company vice chairman Michael Golden said of the design: "We need to contribute to the skyline of New York. We don't want to have people say, 'Gee, The New York Times built a four-story brick warehouse in Manhattan.'" In September 2000, four architects submitted bids for the new tower's design: Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, César Pelli, and the partnership of Frank Gehry and David Childs. Piano called for a rectangular tower rising from a large podium; Foster proposed a right triangle tapering toward the top; Pelli outlined a glass tower with several chamfers; and the Gehry/Childs partnership planned a structure with billowing sheets of glass on the facade. The Gehry/Childs partnership was widely speculated in the media to be the front-runner, but Gehry was worried that the integrity of his design would be compromised in later revisions. As a result, he