Lawyers vs. real-estate developers? It's a fight almost everyone else wins. Boston Properties, the real-estate empire of U.S. News publisher Mort Zuckerman, has given up on a 39-story tower in Hell's Kitchen.

The all-glass office building in a formerly residential Manhattan neighborhood was to cost $980 million and house two major law firms, Gibson Dunn and Proskauer Rose. Last week, Boston Properties executives said they'd reached agreement with Proskauer; since then, the lawyers have backed out. Without leases in hand to make the project viable, Boston Properties has suspended construction-leaving the lot at 250 W. 55th as another highly visible relic of the boom.

(Photo via Google Maps)

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