site research
The two sites I focused on are quit different. One is a large, massive, soul-less train yard, the other a vibrant, always busy street corner that hosts one of the busiest food carts in the city.
This train yard is just south of Javits Center and takes up about two city blocks. The above picture an aerial view from google maps. I find it interesting because it takes up this huge piece of land within the city, obviously serving an important function, yet it is completely off limits to people for security reasons. The area is completely walled off and you can only see the inside from a few entrances that are secured with wired fences.
Here are a few links for the site. MTA's official development site with specs.
Official announcement of new development plans.
The second site I researched on is located at 53rd Street and 6th Ave - it is home of the busiest street food vendor in Manhattan. During the usual weekday you can find office workers lining up for some of their gyros and a variety of halal food, but the craziest time is on weekends when line is usually a hundred people deep!! Not bad for a street vendor. There are quite a few street vendors that sell similar food right around the corner, but they don't nearly have the same number of customers as these guys have.
A few links. This is the official fan site of the street vendor.
Reviews on yelp.com.