May 9, 2008
A Tale of Two Cities, Only One With Sewers
The New York Times
by Susan Dominus
When Gordhandas Soni, the owner of an Indian food company, agreed to relocate his warehouse and factory to Willets Point, Queens, back in 1990, it never occurred to him to ask about some of the more basic amenities — the sewage system, for example. “You never ask, ‘You have sewers here?’ ” said Mr. Soni, whose business is called House of Spices. “In America, right here, in the heart of New York City? No! It never occurred to me to ask. It would be silly to ask.”
...Now Mr. Soni has banded together with 11 other businesses in Willets Point, filing a suit charging that the city has neglected to repair potholes and provide basic services like sewers and snow plowing, in an effort to devalue the property and ease the path to redevelopment.
Put in the sewers, and fix the potholes, he and his allies contend, and Willets Point will redevelop itself. The city, in reply, concedes that might be true — but because the area is on a flood plain, the city couldn’t provide sewers without removing the businesses, creating an unfortunate but intractable chicken-and-egg situation.
...Even if the city could make him whole, Mr. Soni wonders, why shouldn’t he get some additional compensation for the inconvenience of losing his property? As he put it, why should the city “take away from the small guy like me and give to a billion dollar company just so he can make another billion dollars?”
...Although it’s never easy for American manufacturers to compete with their counterparts in India — especially when it comes to something like an Indian food product — Mr. Soni says that he would be thrilled with his prospects were it not for this major uncertainty hanging over his head, and the threat that the city could invoke eminent domain to take the property.
“I always thought India would be my competition, that India would run me out of business,” he said, watching a machine fill jars with a dark, rich tamarind paste. “I didn’t think it would be New York City.”
Posted by eric at May 9, 2008 12:45 PM | Permalink
‘Miss Brooklyn’ Renamed & Reconsidered
NY Sun
by James Gardner
The Sun's architectural critic thinks the new renderings of Atlantic Yards (or at least a portion of the project) are an upgrade over the previous version.
Forest City Ratner has this week released the latest plans for its contentious development of the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, more specifically for the parcel of its 22 acres that faces the southwest, looking past the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. In an architectural context that tends, over time, to drag all things down in the direction of safe and unassuming mediocrity, these plans, from the studio of Frank Gehry, have the distinction of being even bolder than the initial ones and, in some senses, a little better.
But...
With the release of these latest renderings, we finally have some sense of what the Atlantic Yards might actually look like completed. But a great deal could happen between now and then, and the plans could change dramatically in the next few months.
Posted by eric at May 9, 2008 9:40 AM | Permalink
Site 5 "central" to AY goal, but delay was expected, says ESDC
Atlantic Yards Report
The new renderings produced by Frank Gehry do not include Site 5, the tower on the wedge of land between Pacific Street and Atlantic, Flatbush, and Fourth avenues, currently home to P.C. Richard and Modell's. Previous renderings (right) did include Site 5.
The General Project Plan approved by the Empire State Development Corporation in December 2006 suggested that Site 5 was a priority:
The development of both Site 5 and Building 1, with high density buildings, is central to the goal of the Project to transform this very public and prominent area by creating architecturally significant buildings that would ring, and be connected to, the transit hub, and by developing uses that would activate and create a vibrant streetscape experience for the public.
Based on the renderings, my surmise is that either the building has been dropped, or its construction has been postponed. I asked ESDC spokesman Warner Johnston for information.
He responded, "Site 5 was never contemplated to be one of the first buildings and will be done in a future phase."
Posted by lumi at May 9, 2008 5:38 AM | Permalink
May 8, 2008
Increasingly Cautious Lenders Delay Mixed-Use Development
Investor's Business Daily
by Brad Kelly
Shy lenders are trying to avoid mingling with "mixed use." They're putting brakes on developments that blend offices and stores with condominiums, apartments and hotels.
Before the housing bubble's pop and a crunch in credit, developers drew up many mixed-use plans. They were a way to enliven urban blocks and use space economically.
But now it's harder to find lenders who'll back all parts of a project. They vary in which parts of mixed-use they fear.
Some consider office and residential aspects to be higher-risk, says Scott Lynn, a principal at Dallas investment bank Metropolitan Capital Advisors. It's far tougher today, he says, to get financing for mixed-use plans that are part residential, vs. a sole-use retail property.
"Banks are terrified of the residential market and see retail or hotel projects as a safer loan," he said, citing better assurance of income in the latter categories.
...Developers across the U.S. are delaying mixed-use projects as lenders back away, concerned that risks outweigh returns. High construction costs and worsening fundamentals are jeopardizing major plans.
...Two months ago in New York, Forest City Ratner Cos. warned of difficulties with office and residential parts of Atlantic Yards, a $4 billion, 22-acre Brooklyn project. Given lack of demand in both niches, the firm said, it would be hard to get enough leasing commitments to secure financing. This week it issued new designs and outlined a 10-year construction schedule that does include offices and residences.
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 10:01 PM | Permalink
It came from the Blogosphere...
Jeremiah's Blog, Imminent Domain
My project is called Imminent Domain. This essay will explain why there is such a rush to build so much- if even to build at all. My project exposes a third side to the ongoing dilemma of why so many building projects are being planned in the city, and more importantly, why aren’t they happening. It reveals why in the current time it may be perceived as best to plan as much as possible and get the land (while others can’t afford to keep it), and then to decide what to do with it later, and in the mean time throw up the most extravagant ideas. Imminent Domain explores new projects such as the West Side Stadium, Atlantic Yards, and our very own City Tech Tower project. It explains why the only true sense of imminentness is to get the land—not to build it.
Union-Sackett Block Association, May Event: David vs. Goliath: Neighborhood Planning in the Face of Large-Scale Development
Many observers opine that community-driven plans—official and approved through a city process or unofficial but widely recognized—are no real hedge against unwanted development. But in the cases of West Harlem, Midtown East, and Atlantic Yards, would developers have had carte blanche without community plans? How do community planners believe alternative plans can be more effective? How can alternative plans guarantee that future development will fit consensus-based neighborhood visions? We’ll look at some recent cases—West Harlem, Midtown East, and Prospect Heights/Fort Greene—where developer-driven plans threaten to undermine community vision, and examine the place of community-based planning in these struggles.
The Knickerblogger, McCain on Eminent Domain
Not that I believe, well, anything he says but its got to be embarrassing to be on the wrong side of John McCain on any human rights issue ....'progressive' Bruce Ratner and his Atlantic Yards supporters are just that. Maybe we could ship them to Gitmo bay...and brother Michael will come to their aid.
From the Burrow, BQE
Sufjan's honesty about the highway, not the hula hoops, is what made me a BQE fan-girl. While acknowledging that the BQE represents "bad planning, congestion, and pollution," he sees its more important role in social and economic development:
"[The BQE] is a good way to read the history of Brooklyn from pre-war to World War II to the postwar era. Originally, it was built for transportation purposes, but during the war it served defense purposes. After the war, it was there to create jobs. I think it's much more relevant now than ever, with the building boom around the city, and the Atlantic Yards project. It's hard to imagine we're living in an era with hundreds of projects going on simultaneously."
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 9:40 PM | Permalink
As Residents Gear Up for Fight, Economy Slows Projects
NewYorksSixth.com
Jersey City blog New York's Sixth draws some parallels between Atlantic Yards and development battles in that city's Powerhouse District.
While residents of the Powerhouse District are lawyering up to fend off the Toll Brother's development, preservation efforts across the river are getting some added help from the economic downtown. Sort of.
One victim of the recent economy downtown might very well be the ailing Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. That redevelopment plan lead by Forest City Ratner called for constructing massive towers in a mixed use development centered around a new basketball arena. Area residents fought the plan in court, delaying construction on the project during the real estate boom. Now the economy is collapsing, credit is drying up, and the project may never be fully realized.
...As the lawsuits began tipping in Forest City Ratner's favor, the developer seized on the opportunities to begin leveling properties owned by the company, ostensibly in preparation for construction. However, Ratner's early demolition may actually be a scorched earth tactic in the war between new development and preservationists.
NoLandGrab: The blogger, and the commenters, warn that opponents of large developments, by delaying projects via lawsuits, have helped (no pun intended) pave the way for the creation of parking lots that blight the landscape. However, if courts granted the injunctions against unnecessary demolitions sought by project opponents, the landscape would still be populated by many perfectly usable buildings, rather than developer-created empty lots.
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 9:25 PM | Permalink
Second Development-Related Rally in May Expects Hundreds
Brownstoner.com
by Sarah Ryley
Brooklyn is expected to see its second massive development-related rally this month on May 17, when hundreds are expected to march to Albee Square protesting the "lack of community involvement in upcoming development plans," according to a press release from Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE). Last Saturday, hundreds of Brooklynites clashed in a protest and counter-protest over Atlantic Yards. This rally addresses a myriad of other, less publicized effects of Downtown Brooklyn's development boom that have perhaps been overshadowed (pun intended) by the massive arena and high-rise project, or at least its opponents' more forceful media efforts.
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 6:48 PM | Permalink
What Might You Eat at a Brooklyn Nets Game?
Grub Street [New York Magazine]
When the basketball arena opens on the Atlantic Yards site in 2010(ish), Nets fans can expect a mythic Brooklyn foodscape. "There will be counters and stands with knishes, pizza, hot dogs, egg creams, cheesecake — the goal is really to provide a distinct Brooklyn flavor," promises arena spokesman Barry Baum. Never mind that Levy Restaurants, a Chicago-based subsidiary of a British company that plies the USTA Center in Queens, is running the concessions. (Tennis fans now enjoy such traditional Flushing dishes as “Blistered Corn Soup” and “Pan-Seared Amish Chicken.”) An on-site kitchen (and separate kosher kitchen) will maintain local flavor, promises Baum.
NoLandGrab: Does Barry Baum mean "local flavor" like that of the "exclusive carbonated soft drink and bottled water provider" to the Barclays Center, locally Seattle-based Jones Soda Company?
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 5:29 PM | Permalink
New Port Authority Chief Not So Sure About This Atlantic Yards
Daily Intel [New York Magazine]
by Alec Appelbaum
Chris Ward, due to take over the Port Authority this month, suggests to us that he thinks Bruce Ratner should consider recruiting architects other than Frank Gehry for the Atlantic Yards.
“Flatbush and Atlantic is a totally underused area and a major transportation hub, and I hope we don't lock ourselves into a design that does not allow other architecture or public space,” says Ward. That design is entirely Gehry's; even after Ratner admitted his multi-tower vision might not attract financing, public officials have kept the architect front and center.
“Bruce, with his optimism, is probably feeling that he doesn't have to worry about those contingencies,” Ward continues. “But it would be worthwhile to pay attention to the real-estate risks there.” And, yes, he called him "Bruce": Ward worked under Ratner when the he ran Consumer Affairs in the Koch administration. Still, this warning should hearten the project's opponents: Ward will have a lot of influence over state spending if the developer needs a cash influx.
NoLandGrab: Chris Ward may be totally pulling our legs, but we already like him better than ex-Port Authority honcho (and ex-ESDC chief) Charles "The Ambassador" Gargano.
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 3:21 PM | Permalink
Jefferson Charged With Assault
The New York Times
Nets forward Richard Jefferson was charged in a Minneapolis court Wednesday with choking a man who said Jefferson crashed his private birthday party in January.
Jefferson was in Minneapolis for an N.B.A. game against the Timberwolves. The accusation came from Lyle Fox, who, according to a police report, said a hotel area had been roped off for the party. He said Jefferson entered the area, and when he was asked to leave, threw or pushed Fox onto a bench, grabbed him by the throat with both hands and began to choke him.
On “The Mike and Murray Show" on satellite radio, ESPN reported, Jefferson gave a different version of events, saying that he had been approached by someone who was rude and disrespectful and that no punching or choking took place.
Jefferson is charged with assault in the fifth degree-harm. He is scheduled for a court hearing June 18, although Matt Laible, a city spokesman, said Jefferson did not have to be present if his lawyer was there. The charge was a misdemeanor, and if Jefferson is found guilty, he will face a sentence of up to 90 days or a fine up to $1,000 or both.
NoLandGrab: Does that mean plans for Bring Richard Jefferson to School Day are on hold?
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 12:08 PM | Permalink
McCain on His Judicial Philosophy
RealClearPolitics.com
While the candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination are beating each other up over Jeremiah Wright and spurious gas-tax holidays, the presumptive Republican nominee is speaking out against eminent domain abuse.
The year 2005 also brought the case of Susette Kelo before the Supreme Court. Here was a woman whose home was taken from her because the local government and a few big corporations had designs of their own on the land, and she was getting in the way. There is hardly a clearer principle in all the Constitution than the right of private property. There is a very clear standard in the Constitution requiring not only just compensation in the use of eminent domain, but also that private property may be taken only for "public use." But apparently that standard has been "evolving" too. In the hands of a narrow majority of the court, even the basic right of property doesn't mean what we all thought it meant since the founding of America. A local government seized the private property of an American citizen. It gave that property away to a private developer. And this power play actually got the constitutional "thumbs-up" from five members of the Supreme Court.
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 11:10 AM | Permalink
When will Olin's new open space designs be released? (Soon)
Atlantic Yards Reports
Norman Oder wonders when we might get new renderings from Atlantic Yards landscape architect Laurie Olin.
First Frank Gehry's new designs, then more from Laurie Olin? That sounds like developer Forest City Ratner's new Atlantic Yards strategy.
...As I pointed out Tuesday, Olin's somewhat stale designs, curiously enough, remain in the Atlantic Yards Image Gallery.
However, as Gehry's new graphics suggest, the Urban Room would be quite different. Thus Olin's designs surely will be updated--but when?
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 8:49 AM | Permalink
Brooklyn Downtown Star Twofer Thursday
Residents Call Time Out on Net’s Stadium
by Jeffrey Harmatz
A large demonstration was held in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards development last Saturday to urge the new governor to put a hold on further demolitions at the site and reconsider the entire project in light of new statements made by Bruce Ratner, CEO of Forest City Ratner, about the project’s hazy future in a recent interview with The New York Times.
One counter-demonstrator gave this novel reason for his support of the project:
“We’ve got big problems with parking in this neighborhood,” said Wayne Joseph, who came out in support of Atlantic Yards. “The building is great, and it looks like it will make parking a lot easier around here, and that’s something that’s very important to me.”
Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?
by Shane Miller
A team of architects commissioned by the Municipal Art Society released a set of renderings this week that reveal a “lot” about the potential future of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights.
The architects, who wished to remain anonymous, predict a situation where actual construction of Phase 2 of the project – which contains the majority of the buildings and the affordable units – takes decades to complete. In the meantime, they suggest, the land would be used for parking.
Forest City Ratner, in its plans filed with the state, has said that all of the land needed to build the 11 towers would be cleared and used for parking until construction begins.
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 7:58 AM | Permalink
Atlantic Yards Reboot Poll: Miss Brooklyn or B1?
Curbed.com
Curbed lets you play American Idol, Starchitecture edition.
On the left, we have Frank Gehry's original Miss Brooklyn, released almost exactly two years ago. On the right, is the new contender, the unfortunately named B1, released this morning. Whether B2 or Mr. Flatbush are coming in 12-24 months is unknown, but B1 is the latest Atlantic Yards thinking.
Which is better, Miss Brooklyn or B1?
NoLandGrab: Commenter #7 had this to say: "B1! The name harks back to the bomber that never worked, and the perfect defense against a terror attack is a building that already looks blown up!"
Posted by eric at May 8, 2008 7:52 AM | Permalink
Closing Bell: Gehry's Arena Turns Blue
Brownstoner
The arena has been altered as well, and now it's blue! Per a press release from developer Forest City Ratner's people: "The Barclays Center, the future home of the NBA Nets franchise, has also received an updated design. Frank Gehry’s swooping blue metallic exterior surrounds the Center and is in keeping with his world-renown distinctive style."
We've posted some of those other world-renowned buildings. Notice that Brooklyn's metal is the least bend-y.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 6:36 AM | Permalink
FCR, at least, says there's $205 million from NYC for AY
Atlantic Yards Report
Is a mouth organ for Atlantic Yards making a finer distinction than the house organ?
Remember that Crain's New York Business article this week quoting anonymous sources (presumably city officials) who said that critics mischaracterized the $105 million in infrastructure funding added to the city's initial $100 million subsidy:
Though listed under Atlantic Yards in the city budget, the work is not part of the development.
Well, Forest City Ratner's recently updated official Atlantic Yards FAQ doesn't make such fine distinctions, adding the city's $205 million to the state's $100 million subsidy.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 6:28 AM | Permalink
MetroTech Campus: ‘More Interest Than Available Office Space’
Quarterly Real Estate Roundtable Hears From Forest City’s Gilmartin
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Linda Collins reports that a Forest City VP publicly stated that construction on the Atlantic Yards signature tower (affectionately redubbed, "B1 Bomber") won't begin until 50% of the space has been leased:
“We have more interest than we have space,” said MaryAnne Gilmartin about the MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn. “We have no space that’s vacant. We have space that is rolling, but spoken for.”
Gilmartin, of Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), was speaking at the Brooklyn Real Estate Quarterly Roundtable before a “record crowd” at the Brooklyn Historical Society Tuesday about the different kinds of commercial tenants the company is seeing now.
...
Gilmartin was also quizzed about the Atlantic Yards project. (Gehry’s updated designs were published in the Eagle on Tuesday.)“The project is moving forward and work on the [Barclay] arena will begin in the later part of 2008,” she said. “It is one of the most beautiful arenas ever designed, ever built, and will be a big plus for Brooklyn.” She added that she is certain the Nets will be playing there in the 2010-2011 season.
Work will begin on the new office building, formerly known as Miss Brooklyn but now called B-1, when an anchor tenant has been secured, according to Gilmartin. At least 50 percent of the 650,000-square-foot building must be leased before construction can begin.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 6:20 AM | Permalink
Comptroller Thompson on Atlantic Yards: "I'm not sure what that project is any longer."
DDDB.net [Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn]
It is really worth repeating, since none of the mainstream media organizations picked up this little tidbit reported by Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report, regarding some guy who is making a run for Mayor.
Here is an astounding quote by City Comptroller (and mayoral candidate) William Thompson made at a panel discussion at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs titled "Maintaining Momentum: Can New York’s Ambitious Development Agenda Survive an Economic Downturn." Norman Oder, on his Atlantic Yards Report was the only one to report it:
...Moderator Greg David, editor of Crain’s New York Business, and City Comptroller (and mayoral candidate) William Thompson urged that the project proceed, while Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute (who called the project "corporate socialism") and Brad Lander of the Pratt Center for Community Development endorsed a rethink, albeit for somewhat different reasons.
Still, Thompson acknowledged, “I’m not sure what that project is any longer” and even dangled the hint that it might be revived by bringing in additional developers, as the city comes to the belated realization that single-developer projects pose certain dangers.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 6:05 AM | Permalink
Castle Watch Daily land grab coverage
Brooklynites tell city officials: “Time Out!”
Councilmember Letitia James summarized the goal of the protest when she spoke to the crowd:
“I remain steadfast in my opposition to Atlantic Yards. The project has definitively proven itself to be a classic bait and switch. For this reason, the demolitions need to stop, the subsidies need to stop and eminent domain must be taken off the table. It’s time to stop blighting my district. I’m calling on Gov. Paterson to put a halt to the project. Then, my city and state colleagues and I, along with the Governor, can start over with a new plan to develop the rail yards that works for the people of Brooklyn.”
Meanwhile, the project’s developer, Bruce Ratner, now says that the project will not be completed for another decade.
Looking for another “preferred developer” in New London
The latest on that all-important land grab that went all the way to the US Supreme Court because the City of New London's economic redevelopment plan hinged on the ability to seize peoples' homes to make way for new ones:
May 29 is the date New London preferred developer Corcoran Jennings is supposed to have financing to begin construction on the site. So far, there has been no building, none of that revitalization, no increased tax revenue–just dead, vacant land, aside from the transformation of naval building into office space. The plan for new housing looks like it may never happen.
NolandGrab: You can't make this stuff up — New London's legislators went all the way to the US Supreme Court in order to raze an entire neighborhood and now it might end up with persistent blight for years to come. Not only is this shameful and sick, it's a waste all around and, some would say, immoral.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 5:53 AM | Permalink
NY Court of Appeals Doesn’t Want To Hear Atlantic Yards Case
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Ryan Thompson
The Eagle expresses low expectations for the remainder of the lawsuits that stand in the way of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project:
With five lawsuits having now been brought by the opponents of the $4 billion project, the state and federal courts at all levels so far have issued denial after denial, dismissal after dismissal.
The latest court that failed to be persuaded by the plaintiffs was New York state’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals. The high court, which includes Brooklyn-born Judge Theodore T. Jones, who was once the administrative judge of the Kings County Supreme Court on Adams Street, denied leave to appeal and granted $100 in court costs to the Empire State Development Corporation, which is largely behind the 22-acre development project.
This means the end of the line for this one particular case, Anderson, et al v. New York State Urban Development Corp., et al. Other appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and state appellate courts are perhaps just as unlikely to win. They do, however, continue to exist in the legal realm for the time being.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 5:50 AM | Permalink
Lotsa "Atlantic Lots"
StreetsBlog, Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?
With development projects across the city threatened by an uncertain economy, critics of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project believe that a slowdown in construction could burden Prospect Heights with decades of blight. A slide show by the Municipal Art Society, called "Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?," offers a bleak look into the future, like this rendering of neighborhood blocks destroyed for "temporary" surface lots that would accommodate some 1,400 cars.
MAS is calling on Governor David Paterson to suspend demolition in order to prepare an interim development plan, and has a link to a web form through which members of the public can contact Paterson directly.
The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, Atlantic Yards = Atlantic Lots?
Following up on this weekend’s Call Time-Out on Atlantic Yards rally, the Municipal Art Society has released renderings of what the area might look like as demolitions continue and only a small piece of the proposed project is actually built. Visit atlanticlots.com for a slide show.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 5:42 AM | Permalink
Defying an Uncertain Market
The Cooperator
By Raanan Geberer
Build it, and they will come:
All over the country, one hears about “the real estate bubble bursting,” but that metaphor doesn’t seem to have reached New York yet.
Whether looking at online or print listings, one sees hundreds of pages of new condos for sale in Williamsburg, Harlem, Tribeca, Bushwick, Prospect Heights and other areas. Prices can range from about $270,000 to tens of millions of dollars, and the names associated with new projects in the city read like a who’s who of real estate investment and development. Developers with projects on-deck for occupancy this year and 2009 include Gary Barnett (Extell), Richard Meier, Mario Percedo, Steven Ross (Related), Jeff Levine (Douglaston Development), Ron Moelis (L&M Equities), Toll Brothers, Veronica Hackett (The Clarett Group), Bruce Ratner (Forest City Ratner), Joe Moinan (the Moinan Group), Ed Minskoff (Minskoff Equities), The Albanese Organization, The Sheldrake Organization, LCOR, SJP Properties, Alchemy Properties, Boymelgreen, Don Capoccia (BFC Partners) and ARC Development.
“It’s not like anyone has stopped [building],” says Frank Percesepe, vice president of residential sales for The Corcoran Group in Brooklyn, and some companies have multiple projects in the works, or recently completed and ready for buyers.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 5:37 AM | Permalink
Weil, Gotshal Grows, in Brooklyn
The AM Law Daily
By Brian Baxter
[See headline for how the overused literary reference grows in Brooklyn.]
Fictional corporate lawyer Miranda Hobbs turned her nose up at Brooklyn in the HBO television series Sex and the City. But today Brooklyn real estate is so hot that Weil, Gotshal & Manges--ranked tenth in this year's Am Law 100--is opening a Kings County office.
Weil is relocating staff members from its finance, operations, and IT departments into 35,000 square feet of new space at 15 MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn. Weil real estate cohead Philip Rosen says the move across the East River, which is scheduled for August, is the first for a major firm. ...
Asked if the move has anything to do with the proposed Atlantic Yards development project, Rosen says Weil has "not yet" been retained on the downtown Brooklyn venture.And while there are not yet plans to migrate lawyers to MetroTech--a stone's throw from the federal and state courts that ring Cadman Plaza--Rosen says not to "rule that out as a future possibility."
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 5:26 AM | Permalink
Tough times call for oracle's return
NY Daily News
By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn oracle is making a comeback.
After a four-month absence, the Park Slope prophet will soon be returning to answer questions at the special antique phone outside Pintchik's hardware store.
"Oracle Returns. Are you ready with a question?" flashed the blinking billboard in large neon red letters outside Pintchik's on Flatbush Ave.
Brooklynites can use some answers.
"Can the oracle tell me if [developer Bruce] Ratner is still going to take my building," said Joseph Pastore, 64, who fears his Dean St. building will fall to the Atlantic Yards project.
NoLandGrab: Maybe others would like to answer Pastore's question. Ask Governor Paterson here.
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 5:21 AM | Permalink
there goes the water tower
Photo of the deconstruction of the Ward Bakery water tower by horsecraze, via Atlantic Yards Photo Pool
Posted by lumi at May 8, 2008 5:13 AM | Permalink
May 7, 2008
Another win for Ratner; state appellate court denies appeal on relocation case
Atlantic Yards Report
In November, as I reported, a state appellate court unanimously upheld the relocation plan for 13 residential tenants due to be displaced by the Atlantic Yards development. The attorney for the tenants wanted to appeal that case to the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, but that appeal, which is at the discretion of the appellate court that upheld the relocation plan, has been denied.
The case, known as Matter of Anderson v. New York State Urban Development Corporation (the latter now doing business as the Empire State Development Corporation, or ESDC), was the second brought by attorney George Locker on behalf of 13 tenants (12 in rent-stabilized units) at 624 Pacific Street and 473 Dean Street. He has since filed a third case challenging the timetable for the project.
...Locker had said that this case was the only one formally blocking the ESDC from moving to condemn properties. Still, it’s likely the agency wouldn’t proceed against plaintiffs in the eminent domain case until the latter case--currently on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court--is resolved.
NoLandGrab: Norman Oder has once again scooped the mainstream media, who'll likely catch on when Forest City Ratner issues the inevitable press release erroneously claiming that they're now 19-0 in court decisions.
Posted by eric at May 7, 2008 9:36 AM | Permalink
Frank Gehry's new Miss Brooklyn- B1
Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass
The litany of Frank Gehry's real-world design bloopers sets the stage for one critic's pan of the latest designs for three buildings in the 17-building Atlantic Yards complex.
“B1” is a monstrosity- it looks like a child was building a diorama for a school project when someone bumped into the table before glue set. How the public is even supposed to tell what is what amazes me- I have a trained eye and I can’t make out what the mass of toothpicks at the base of the structure is. I am insulted that Gehry is attempting to use vapid, hollow artist statements to justify a design that he clearly wasn’t expecting to have to defend.
Gehry's defense of the red and pink horror (B2) that towers beside the gold cardboard-box was one of the most patronizing statements I’ve heard issued from the FCR/Gehry camp. The pink and red is supposedly there to “speak to the residential fabric of the neighborhood.” And we, as Brooklynites, are not supposed to know any better, because clearly we do not understand art, and this is great; the man understands our residential fabric! Clearly he understands it better than myself, because last time I looked around the Atlantic Yards footprint, I saw brownstones, row houses, limestone and granite facades and accents. But then again, I’m not even sure if Frank Gehry has even been in Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at May 7, 2008 6:43 AM | Permalink
Missing green roof joins list of promises broken; will it impact EIS lawsuit?
Atlantic Yards Report
In the list of Atlantic Yards promises broken, the newly-revealed loss of a green roof (3+ acres) on the arena follows 1) the decision to make promised publicly-accessible open space on the arena private and 2) the decision to move the project's flagship tower (then called "Miss Brooklyn"), promised to not block views of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank's clock tower, so it would block such views, even with a reduction in height.
The difference might be that the green roof was relied on significantly in the Empire State Development Corporation's environmental review because it would help with stormwater management and thus help prevent against CSOs (combined sewer overflows).
Does its loss invalidate the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which has been challenged in state court? Unclear. The case was dismissed and is now on appeal, with arguments to be heard in September.
Norman Oder excerpts Matthew Schuerman's report on WNYC and highlights the numerous citations in the Environmental Impact Statement of the mitigating effect of the "green roof" on the adverse impacts of the project.
Posted by lumi at May 7, 2008 6:33 AM | Permalink
Forest City Ratner VP's white lie(?) about white-shoe tenant
You'd think that Forest City Ratner would tell the truth, just once in a while, for funzies. Apparently The Brooklyn Paper did too.
The Brooklyn Paper ran with a report that "white-shoe law firm" Weil, Gotshal was relocating to Brooklyn, on the apparent say-so of a Forest City Ratner executive:
Forest City Ratner Vice President Mary Anne Gilmartin made the announcement at the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable on Tuesday that the 500-lawyer white shoe firm would soon relocate to Metrotech.
“It’s a paragon shift from back-office to more-discerning tenants,” she said.
Norman "the Mad Overkiller" Oder promptly oderized the Brooklyn Paper, after reading the Weil, Gotshal press release and doing some more research.
A press release from the law firm states:
[The firm] will expand from its New York City headquarters by opening a new office in Downtown Brooklyn's MetroTech Center... The office will house several of the firm's staff groups, including employees in Information Systems, Finance and Operations.
The press release states that the firm will lease 35,000 square feet of space. That's only ten percent of the amount of space the firm has in Manhattan.
As Real Estate Weekly reported in 1996, the firm renewed its lease for 350,000 square feet of office space, occupying approximately 11 floors in the General Motors building located at 767 Fifth Avenue. The new, 21-year lease term will commence in 1998...
In the subsequent revision, Brooklyn Paper editor Gersh Kuntzman expressed dismay at Gilmartin's wild exaggeration, in which she bragged about MetroTech's new-found caché by upgrading "back office space" to "front office space."
Kuntzman didn't give credit for the exposé to the wily Oder, who made the point in the "discussion" section of the online article.
NoLandGrab: "Paragon shift?" Someone better drop Gilmartin a "paradigm."
Posted by lumi at May 7, 2008 5:40 AM | Permalink
Atlantic Yards Loses Green Roof for Arena, 2016 Completion Date
WNYC reporter Matthew Schuerman has focused on the removal of the "green roof" and the new completion date in his coverage of the latest architectural renderings released by Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner:
The news came during a roll-out of a redesign of the first phase of the Atlantic Yards, which includes the basketball arena, and two buildings. WNYC's Matthew Scheuermann discusses the changes with All Things Considered host Amy Eddings.
NoLandGrab: To be clear, this redesign is of the arena and two buildings in Phase 1. No details were released on the two other high-rises surrounding the arena and Site V, across Flatbush Ave, is totally absent.
Posted by lumi at May 7, 2008 5:20 AM | Permalink
Slowed Atlantic Yards Project Could Mean Empty Lots
Gothamist
As a counterpoint to the new renderings of Frank Gehry's redesign for the Atlantic Yards flagship tower, here's a different perspective on the project's future look. The Municipal Art Society [MAS] has assembled a compelling slideshow that serves as a sort of dystopian crystal ball, depicting what could come come if Bruce Ratner moves forward with his development on 22-acres of land in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
The MAS renderings take as a starting point Ratner’s recent admission that the economic downturn will stall most of the proposed construction for the time being. But since he still intends to raze everything in the project’s footprint and break ground on the stadium and one building, the MAS slideshow envisions a desolate expanse of vacant lots surrounding a lonely arena for decades to come.
Posted by lumi at May 7, 2008 5:10 AM | Permalink
Federal probe into approval of Forest City Ratner's Ridge Hill project continues
WNBC.com, Corruption Probe Focuses On $630M Yonkers Project
Scrutiny, sources said, has fallen on City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi, who had opposed the $630 million Ridge Hill project in 2005 but subsequently changed her position and voted for it the following year. Her attorney, Murray Richman, had no comment Monday.
Prosecutors, sources said, have also been asking about the role of veteran lobbyist Al Pirro, whose Web site for his firm, The Pirro Group, lists the Ridge Hill developers among his clients. Pirro, husband of former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, said he has done nothing wrong.
...
Ridge Hill, a project of Forest City Ratner, is slated to bring 1,000 apartments, 1.3 million square feet of retail space and a movie complex to 81 acres near Sprain Lake."We're cooperating with the investigation," said Loren Riegelhaupt, spokesman for Forest City Ratner, developers of Ridge Hill as well as the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
The Journal News, Forest City Ratner lobbying campaign for Ridge Hill detailed
Details are surfacing about Forest City Ratner's lobbying campaign for the approval of the development company's other controversial regional megaproject. The exact purpose of several meetings are unclear, so unclear that targets remain certain that nothing untowards happened, though they still have no idea why Forest City asked for the meeting.
Posted by lumi at May 7, 2008 4:03 AM | Permalink
May 6, 2008
Atlantic Yards Rally Urges for Time Out
GlobeSt.com
by Natalie Dolce
Real estate web site GlobeSt.com covers the recent developments in the battle over Atlantic Yards, including a rather outlandish claim about the size of the Forest City Ratner-orchestrated counter-demonstration.
Developer Bruce Ratner says the Atlantic Yards project is moving forward--and he's vowing to break ground on a basketball arena this year. On Saturday afternoon, hundreds of people came together both to support and to protest the $4-billion project. A Forest City Ratner Cos. spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that "we had about a three to one ratio, at least, of people in support to those opposed."
NoLandGrab: Opponents of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project are quite used to the developer's obfuscations and prevarications, so it's no surprise that the company's spinmeisters would claim vast superiority in the number of protesters; neutral observers estimated that the respective crowds were much closer in size. And if you were to subtract those "supporters" who stand to benefit financially from the project, you might get an altogether different ratio.
Posted by eric at May 6, 2008 3:57 PM | Permalink
New Designs for Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards Project Revealed Amid Controversy
Commercial Property News
by Barbra Murray
Forest City Ratner Cos., developer of the $4 billion mixed-use Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, just unveiled the most recent renderings of the development. The presentation of the new renderings by celebrated architect Frank Gehry were accompanied by Forest City's reiteration that it will build the project in its entirety with over 2,250 affordable housing units, despite claims from angry groups that the project is detrimental to the city and will not produce the benefits promised.
...Despite Forest City's promises, numerous groups are crying foul, and they made their stance known just prior to CEO Ratner's public confirmation of the company's plans and development timeline. Last Saturday, hundreds gathered at the Atlantic Yards site to protest the development and to call for the Governor to halt the project until issues are addressed, with community input. Among the protestors' issues is the fear that, given the credit crunch, increased construction costs and the downturn in the real estate market, Forest City will not retain certain key aspects of the project it has promised to deliver. In response to the rally, Bruce Bender, Forest City executive vice president for government and public affairs, issued a statement noting that continuing site work for the planned groundbreaking is essential to keeping the project's delivery on schedule and making available affordable housing residences as soon as possible. Additional concerns about Atlantic Yards abound. Additionally, the Municipal Art Society of New York recently revealed architectural renderings that demonstrate the negative impact the developer's planned temporary parking lots will have on the area. The organization claims that what Forest City deems temporary parking will likely exist for over 10 years and add to the blight the project is designed to replace.
NoLandGrab: The article concludes on this curious note: "Atlantic Yards, however, still has its backers; among them are Brooklyn Endeavor Experience Inc. and the Atlantic Yards CBA Executive Committee."
Indeed.
[UPDATE: Commercial Property News has emended this story, removing the sentence we highlighted above in response to a message from author and Atlantic Yards critic Steve Ettlinger, who pointed out the "backers" cited are supported financially by Forest City Ratner.]
Posted by eric at May 6, 2008 3:39 PM | Permalink
Give heave-ho to 'Lego' building, say Atlantic Yards critics
NY Daily News
by Jotham Sederstrom
Call it a scrap heap, a life-size land of Legos or, as one critic described it, a post-apocalyptic nightmare - just don't call it fit for Kings County.
One day after the release of scaled-back new designs for the controversial Atlantic Yards project, New Yorkers took a bite out of the spiraling, Lego-like remake of the signature 620-foot Miss Brooklyn building.
"You're kidding, right?" said Anthony Lomastro, 62, when shown renderings of the wild-eyed, glass-and-steel skyscraper, now called Building One. "That looks like it's falling down instead of going up. It's awful."
Posted by eric at May 6, 2008 11:19 AM | Permalink
Atlantic Lots and today's media roundup
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder ponders the new renderings from the Municipal Art Society, looks at news coverage of the very recent developments in the battle over Atlantic Yards, and asks what's becoming a predictable question:
Where's the Times?
The New York Times ignored the AY story completely. Baffling.
Posted by eric at May 6, 2008 11:07 AM | Permalink
Nets owner-builder says team grows in Brooklyn, not Newark
Newark Star-Ledger
by Maura McDermott
New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey isn't buying the tale that the Nets will be playing in Brooklyn in 2010.
State Senate President Richard Codey said he did not believe the Brooklyn arena could open in two years, given the delays it has faced so far and the turmoil in the real estate market.
Ratner bought the team in 2004 with plans to move it to New York City.
"Four years later, we're getting a rendering?" Codey said yesterday. "It's becoming ridiculous. They're not going to be playing in Brooklyn in 2010."
Posted by eric at May 6, 2008 10:52 AM | Permalink
Decoding the FCR press release on Site 5, the arena, and "Building 1"
Atlantic Yards Report
Who killed Site 5?
The Forest City Ratner press release that followed yesterday's Daily News exclusive confirms some things only hinted at in the coverage.
Notably, the building at Site 5 seems to have vanished, the arena would be surrounded with more metal than glass, and the billing of Building 1 (formerly called Miss Brooklyn) as slimmer still doesn't obscure the fact that it would be nearly twice as bulky as the Williasmburgh Savings Bank, one foot taller at 512 feet.
And Frank Gehry, under the control of the developer's p.r. department, gushes about the potential for the flagship tower, though he avoids calling it, as he did two years ago, "my ego trip."
Also, despite developer Bruce Ratner's statement in a press release that "we mark a significant chapter in Atlantic Yards’ progress," the new image gallery released yesterday is significantly less ambitious than the one released nearly two years ago, in May 2006, given that it includes only three buildings, omits Site 5, and omits any designs for Phase 2.
The failure to produce any more images casts further doubt on the developer's plans for the project at large.
Posted by eric at May 6, 2008 10:15 AM | Permalink
More press coverage of the new renderings
NY1, Atlantic Yards Project Is Redesigned For An Opening By 2018 [dialup/broadband]
WNYC News Radio, Ratner Extends End Date for Atlantic Yards Project
First developer Bruce Ratner blamed market conditions, but that caused a panic, so now the problem is "land acquisition?"
Developer Bruce Ratner is giving himself two more years to finish the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, from 2016, to 2018, because he's having trouble acquiring the land for the massive project.
MetroNY, Ratner’s plan remains alive
Metro reporter Amy Zimmer was one of the few reporters who included critical reaction to the new architectural renderings and statement from developer Bruce Ratner:
Rather than this “interim step,” Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute wanted the developer and city officials to take “a pause to think” not about simply downsizing but “address the underlying problems.” She said, “The problem smacks of traditional 1950s, 1960s urban renewal” where a large project is proposed and pushed even if “the market is not ready for it.”
“The new designs raise more questions than they answer,” said Brad Lander, executive director of the Pratt Center for Community Development. “Will Forest City Ratner continue to demolish buildings in Phase II to construct a giant parking lot that separates our neighborhoods?”
Posted by lumi at May 6, 2008 6:22 AM | Permalink
Not ‘Miss Brooklyn’ Anymore; Now, It’s Just ‘Building One’
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle basically ran the Forest City Ratner press release (PDF) with a few minor changes (in italics):
During the approval process, as the Eagle has previously reported, Forest City agreed to reduce the height of B1 to ensure it was not taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank (now One Hanson Place), the tallest building in Brooklyn, across the street. “Building One” will now stand 511 feet and 34 stories tall.
Posted by lumi at May 6, 2008 6:03 AM | Permalink
Newark a Good Backup Plan for Nets
The NY Sun
By Evan Weiner
Moving the NJ Nets to Newark sounds like a sensible idea to a lot of people, especially the fan base, but is it feasible and how would the deal be financially structured?
Moving to Newark, on the other hand, is not necessarily going to be easy, and it may be a very tough sell. The way the NBA and NHL work financially may mean that Ratner will have to sell his team or become a part-owner of the Devils.
Getting the Nets into Vanderbeek’s building is simple on paper, but it is also extremely complicated, because of how revenues generated inside his building are distributed. Ratner would need access to monies from luxury boxes, club seats, and in-arena concession areas. Vanderbeek would theoretically have to give up lucrative revenue streams from NBA games that he would normally keep from non-Devils events in the building. But Ratner could not financially survive without getting the lion’s share of those revenues.
Vanderbeek and Ratner would have to create a partnership along the lines of those in Chicago, Dallas, or Washington to succeed. In 1988, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and the late William Wirtz, owner of the Blackhawks, decided to build jointly a new Chicago arena, sharing in its cost and sharing the revenues generated in the building. The partnership has grown over the years to include a share in a Chicago sports channel that is owned by Comcast, Reinsdorf (who also owns the White Sox), the Tribune Company (which owns the Cubs), and the Wirtz family. Reinsdorf and the Wirtz family are also cross-promoting the White Sox and Blackhawks, with events at both the arena and at U.S. Cellular Field, the White Sox ballyard.
Posted by lumi at May 6, 2008 5:51 AM | Permalink
AY Image Gallery 2006 vs. Image Gallery 2008
Atlantic Yards Report
Is the Atlantic Yards project really progressing? The current Image Gallery has the exact same renderings by landscape architect Laurie Olin that were unveiled in May 2006 (bottom). Also, it's a smaller gallery because it lacks any images of Site 5, Phase 2, or neighborhood perspectives, flawed as they may be.
Posted by lumi at May 6, 2008 5:48 AM | Permalink
The new ‘Miss Brooklyn’
The Brooklyn Paper
By Gersh Kuntzman
“Miss Brooklyn” is dead — but Bruce Ratner has released new renderings (above) of the 511-foot tower that he hopes will take her place.
Ratner has said he won’t build the Frank Gehry–designed tower, now called “Building B-1,” until he finds an anchor tenant. And he told the New York Times last month that the entire Atlantic Yards project consists of the publicly financed basketball arena (which has taken on even more of Gehry’s signature look) and two smaller buildings around it.
But this weekend, he did an about-face an op-ed in the Daily News (and suggested that our recent front page was inaccurate, despite the fact that Miss Brooklyn is, indeed, dead and that Ratner himself admits that the Atlantic Yards that was approved in December, 2006, has, indeed, been significantly altered).
Ratner’s op-ed claimed that Atlantic Yards was right on target, though it repeated that the Miss Brooklyn tower had been eliminated until an anchor tenant is found.
NoLandGrab: You can include the name of the signature tower in the recent vacillations from Bruce Ratner. Speculation is that the moniker "Building 1" is a placeholder for "[Insert anchor tenant] Tower."
Posted by lumi at May 6, 2008 5:39 AM | Permalink
It came from the Blogosphere...
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Gowanus Lounge, New Gehry Atlantic Yards Renderings vs. “Nightmare Vision”
Interesting comment:
johnnyate
Gehry has used the image of a fish many times in his buildings. Look! A giant red herring.
Gowanus Lounge, Atlantic Yards “Time Out” Rally: A Few Words & Many Pictures
Gowanus Lounge, At the “Pro-Atlantic Yards Demonstration”
Who are the people who make up Ratner's pr patrol?
Brownstoner.com, Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?
A local I-heart-Atlantic-Yards support group is forming in the comments section of this news roundup.
Curbed.com, The Atlantic Yards Reboot: Battle for Hearts & Minds Rages
Coverage of the "War for the Hearts & Minds of Brooklynites."
Runnin' Scared [The Village Voice], Exclusives Roundup: John Gotti, Atlantic Yards and Dog Poo
The Daily News has an exclusive photo of the revamped "Miss Brooklyn" building, the crown jewel of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. The skyscraper, designed by Frank Gehry, has been redesigned and is 100 feet shorter than originally planned. Instead of having commercial and residential space, the building now known as "B1" will be strictly a commercial space. The Post has some renderings of what the controversial project might look like if these delays continue. The prospect is grim indeed, with too much parking and not enough buildings.
Posted by eric at May 6, 2008 4:36 AM | Permalink
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: New Frank Gehry Atlantic Yards Design:
"Ridiculous" Design Has No Impact on Stalled Project
Renderings Only Show Phase 1 of Project
Leaving Out Bulk of "Affordable" Housing
BROOKLYN, NY— Today Forest City Ratner and its architect Frank Gehry released new designs for a portion of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards proposal in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. The architectural renderings show a new design for the project’s proposed arena and 2 other buildings in Phase 1 of the project. But the developer shows no rendering at all for Phase 2--the larger part of the project--which is planned to encompass about 78% of the 2,250 "affordable" units. A State Funding Agreement provides no timeline whatsoever for Phase 2 and the developer has not provided a credible timeline for Phase 2.
"The new design from Frank Gehry is no better than the last--in reality it has gone from the absurd to the ridiculous aesthetically and programmatically," said Ron Shiffman, Professor, Pratt Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment and a New York City Planning Commissioner [1990-1996]. The fact that there isn’t a new design released for Phase 2 concerns me greatly. It seems like there is no plan for the bulk of the affordable housing, which would be in Phase 2. To destroy buildings of significant quality that could house people and jobs for what looks like an open-ended series of parking lots, rather than housing that could be affordable to low and moderate income area residents, is terrible planning and policy."
The New York Daily News published the Frank Gehry renderings as an exclusive. The paper reports that the so-called "Miss Brooklyn" signature skyscraper, is now called simply "Building 1." The reduction of that tower from 620 feet to 511 feet was announced as a "concession" on December 20, 2006 when the project was approved by the Public Authorities Control Board. Today marks the first time the reduction has been shown in a rendering. The rendering does not show the project’s massive scale as it relates to the surrounding neighborhood; its only context is a dark void explaining nothing about the projects context.
The NY Post published exclusive renderings from the Municipal Art Society (MAS) which show the project fully built out within the existing neighborhood context, as well as built only in part (an arena. and one building) surrounded by newly demolished, blighting parking lots. Apparently the MAS renderings were motivated by the March 21 NY Times interview with Mr. Ratner where the developer described the trouble he was having getting his project off the ground.
"Mr. Gehry and Mr. Ratner can release redesigns of Atlantic Yards’s buildings every week if they’d like, but that wouldn’t respond to the core reasons for the widespread opposition to the project," said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. "The new designs are a fantasy. The project lacks committed financing (including tax-free housing bonds and a bond for the arena), an anchor tenant, and the land needed for the project, while Ratner faces vigorous litigation, a frightening credit market and exponential increases in construction costs. His project is in serious jeopardy. So when he says he ‘anticipates’ it will be completed in 2018, it's simply not credible. It means nothing."
Posted by lumi at May 6, 2008 4:18 AM | Permalink
May 5, 2008
Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?
www.atlanticlots.com
The Municipal Art Society has created a nifty web site featuring an animated slide show of the renderings unveiled in today's New York Post, showing how the partial construction of Atlantic Yards could blight Prospect Heights for decades.
Between this morning and this afternoon, MAS managed to redo their images to align "Building 2" with the location shown in updated project renderings released this morning by Forest City Ratner.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 4:54 PM | Permalink
Time Out on Atlantic Yards
Video of several of the speakers at Saturday's Atlantic Yards protest rally has been posted to YouTube.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 2:39 PM | Permalink
ATLANTIC YARDS RATNERVILLE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
ATLANTIC YARDS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Weeks beginning May 5, 2008 and May 12, 2008In an effort to keep the Atlantic Yards Community aware of upcoming construction activities, ESD and Forest City Ratner provide the following outline of anticipated upcoming construction activities.
Please note: the scope and nature of activities are subject to change based upon field conditions. All work has been approved by appropriate City and State agencies where required.
In addition to the activities described below noise attenuation and vibration monitoring measures are underway in connection with the Memorandum of Environmental Commitments dated 12/08/06.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our project Ombudsperson at: 212-803-3233 or AtlanticYards@empire.state.ny.us.
Long Island Rail Road/Vanderbilt Yard Work
- Continue excavation, lagging and walers at SOE piles in Southeast Gas Station (block 1121, lot 47).
- Continue construction and debris removal from block 1121.
- Continue hauling soil from block 1121.
- Trench and install conduit in block 1120.
- Continue demolition of southern portion of Carlton Avenue Bridge.
- Prepare and begin foundation piles for cable bridge (in block 1120, parallel to 6th Avenue Bridge).
Abatement and Demolition Work
All work described below will comply with the additional oversight and protocols by the Department of Buildings (DOB) that were established on April 30, 2007.
- Demolition is underway at 800 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 25) and will continue throughout this two week period.
- Demolition is complete at 626 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 22); lot cleanup will continue.
- Demolition will begin at 642-646 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 30) within this two week period.
- Demolition will begin at 640 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 29) within this two week period.
- Demolition is complete at 645 Dean Street (block 1129, lot 62).
- Abatement is complete at 195 Flatbush Avenue (block 1127, lot 1); demolition will begin within this two week period.
- Demolition will resume at 585 Dean Street (block 1129, lot 81) within this two week period.
Utility Work
All utility work scheduled to take place in Flatbush Avenue will only take place at night (between 10PM and 6AM) as mandated by DOT.
- The first of three phases of upgraded water and sewer installations is underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year. Work will continue on Dean Street between Flatbush and Sixth Avenues and on Sixth between Pacific and Dean Streets. Night time work began on Flatbush Avenue at Dean Street and continued north along Flatbush. Work is underway on a new sewer chamber on Dean Street near Flatbush during the day.
- Transit ducts on Flatbush Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Dean Street will be relocated. This work is expected to continue over the next three months. All work taking place in the sidewalk will occur during the day. Pedestrian walkways will be maintained.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 2:19 PM | Permalink
Atlantic Yards Designer Revises Look For Miss Brooklyn
AHN.com
by Vittorio Hernandez
Aside from at least two new lawsuits, New York's Atlantic Yards project is again the talk of the town as the designer of the tower revised his masterpiece by lopping off 100 feet.
Miss Brooklyn, renamed as Building One, would be down to 511 feet from the original design by Frenk Gehry of 620 feet. The residential component has been removed also, leaving the development as a commercial office space venture.
Gehry explained the innovations he has introduced. "My enthusiasm for Atlantic Yards has grown and grown until arriving at our current design, which works better with the surrounding area that it ever had before," Gehry told the New York Daily News.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 2:17 PM | Permalink
Daily News Op-Ed: Building Atlantic Yards, More Important Now than Ever
AtlanticYards.com e-newsletter
The boys over at Forest City Ratner Companies wasted no time in sending out an email extolling the boss's debut as a Daily News guest columnist.
On Saturday more than 800 affordable-housing activists, union members, local leaders and community members from all across Brooklyn came out to rally in support of Atlantic Yards. Yesterday Bruce Ratner, CEO and Chairman of Forest City Ratner, penned an Op-Ed in the Daily News affirming FCRC’s commitment to build all of Atlantic Yards, including over 2,250 units of affordable housing. Mr. Ratner for the first time also provided an updated construction schedule for Atlantic Yards.
And today Forest City Ratner released new renderings showing Frank Gehry's beautiful redesign of the Barclays Center arena, the first residential building and the office tower now christened B1 (formerly known as Miss Brooklyn).
Mr. Ratner's entire Op-Ed follows.
NoLandGrab: B1? Catchy. We have to admit we already miss "Miss Brooklyn." And in actuality, Bruce Ratner for not-the-first time provided the old, not-remotely realistic construction schedule for Atlantic Yards.
Noticeably absent from the roster of luminaries who came out to shill for Atlantic Yards yesterday were all of the area's elected officials, most of whom were across the way asking the Governor to call "Time Out" on the controversial project.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 11:59 AM | Permalink
Nets hold court on luxury suites
Crain's New York Business [subscription required]
Next week, the Nets will debut a prototype of their Frank Gehry-designed, $300,000-a-year Barclays Center corporate suites at a splashy party in their New York Times Building showroom.
To entice 185 of New York’s top CEOs to attend—and buy—the organization delivered a series of gifts over the past month, including a Tiffany key chain with a key, one of which will open a door to a free suite for the team’s inaugural season. The arena is set to open in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards in 2010, if developer Bruce Ratner can clear all the legal hurdles in its path.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and rap star Jay-Z, a part-owner of the team, will be on hand for the May 15 event.
Already, 20% of the 130 luxury boxes have been sold to “friends and family,” says Nets Sports Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark.
So, why the full-court press? Mr.Yormark says corporate suites in the area will balloon to 950 from 350 as all the new stadiums come online, including ones for the Yankees, the Mets, and the Giants and Jets. “I can’t take anything for granted,” says the marketer, who will soon announce the advertisers buying rights to brand bars, corridors and other parts, of the arena.
NoLandGrab: "20% of the 130 luxury boxes have been sold to 'friends and family'?" Does that mean owners of the team and related corporate interests? The real test will be in selling suites in an arena for which ground has yet to be broken to unaffiliated companies, with new stadiums opening in the Bronx and Queens and Madison Square Garden embarking on a top-to-bottom renovation.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 11:45 AM | Permalink
Crain's defends the funding agreements, takes aim at "opponents"
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder takes a more in-depth look at today's Crain's scolding of "Atlantic Yards opponents," and fixes the article's fractured "facts."
A brief article in Crain's New York Business this week, headlined "Fine distinctions on Atlantic Yards," takes dubious aim at criticisms of state and city funding agreements raised first by AYR and later amplified by groups like Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.
The article begins:
Atlantic Yards opponents omit key details when criticizing the project’s city subsidies, supporters say.Well, maybe if state and city agencies had released the funding agreements with some explanation, we'd have a more enlightening discussion. Instead, the state agreement was released quietly by the Empire State Development Corporation and the city agreement was made available only after a Freedom of Information Law request, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation was hardly expansive in answering questions.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 10:47 AM | Permalink
Fine distinctions on Atlantic Yards
Crain's New York Business [subscription required]
Atlantic Yards opponents omit key details when criticizing the project's city subsidies, supporters say.
Developer Forest City Ratner Cos. can use the city's $100 million to buy but not condemn land,and only in tandem with its own investment. Officials say Forest City must repay the money if it doesn't finish the first phase on time, and would still be obligated to create 1,800 apartments, 35% of them affordable. Critics also mischaracterize $105 million in city infrastructure work as a subsidy. Though listed under Atlantic Yards in the city budget, the work is not part of the development.
NoLandGrab: So far as we can tell, the "supporters" cited by Crain's must be Crain's itself. And call us crazy, but we're betting that $105 million in infrastructure work that's "not part of the development" might not be taking place if Bruce wasn't razing the existing neighborhood in order to build his own.
Posted by eric at May 5, 2008 10:35 AM | Permalink
Monday-Morning Tabloid War??
Yikes, a tabloid war broke out this morning over, of all things, Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project!
So Miss Brooklyn shaved her head and changed her name, a couple of buildings seem to be missing from the new architectural drawings (including all of Phase 2), there's a rumble in the "temporary" surface parking lot, but is that any reason to go mano-a-mano over a bunch of buildings?
It is if the project includes the use of eminent domain, the most expensive arena (EVER!) and many high-rise towers on 22-acres nestled in the heart of Brownstone Brooklyn, and is facing an uncertain economic climate and mounting delays.
Never mind that Bruce Ratner, who truthfully has trouble telling the truth, is waging a serious publicity campaign, promising to build the entire project in a whopping ten years, flashing his self-proclaimed "progressive" credentials and staging counter-protests.
Does this smack of desperation and vitriol on Ratner's part? Are project critics sensing vulnerability and stepping up their own pr campaign to expose more of the underbelly of the project that's gobbling up Brooklyn?
All we know is that Brooklynites woke up today to two distinct visions of the controversial Atlantic Yards megaproject.
Forest City Ratner granted the NY Daily News the exclusive sneak peek at the latest designs by Frank Gehry, which only show a partially realized redesign of Phase 1.
[Since the "exclusive" is usually reserved for The NY Times, some readers will naturally conclude that the Times has somewhat fallen out of favor with the Ratner camp after the Ratner interview and accompanying architectural criticism touched off a shockwave of indignation over the admission that major portions of the project, including most of the affordable housing, will be delayed.]
The gleaming new renderings fill a black void that might represent the rest of Brooklyn. Frank Gehry described "Building 1," which replaced the inanely named "Miss Brooklyn," as more "festive;" the News likens it to "a spiraling Lego structure."
In the other corner of the tabloid duel, the Post got the exclusive on renderings released by the Municipal Art Society (MAS), which combine Bruce Ratner's admission that the project is facing delays (that's the admission before this weekend's assertion by Ratner to the contrary) with Ratner's long-standing plan to take down every building in the footprint to make way for a temporary surface parking lot (a particularly contentious issue for MAS).
It seems that MAS guessed wrong as to what residential building Ratner planned to build first (it would be the red-n-pink one instead), but the view from Vanderbilt seems to conform with Ratner's plans to use land in the footprint that is not under construction as a staging area and "interim surface parking lot" for arena goers and and construction workers.
Nearly a year and a half after the project's official approval by the NY State Public Authorities Control Board, who knew that the "done deal" would still be in play and that Ratner would wage a pr campaign as if he had his back against the ropes, or that so many of the questions about the public costs and benefits would remain unanswered?
LINKS:
NY Daily News, Atlantic Yards' Miss Brooklyn is slashed more than 100 feet in massive redo
Atlantic Yards Report, New renderings show Miss Brooklyn cut (duh), renamed, "more festive," but questions unanswered
NY Post, THE FUTURE'S 'BLIGHT'
Atlantic Yards Report, In Post, visions of blight at arena block, rest of AY footprint
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 7:21 AM | Permalink
THE FUTURE'S 'BLIGHT'
NIGHTMARE VISION OF B'KLYN ARENA
NY Post
By Rich Calder
Forget Atlantic Yards - try "Atlantic Lots."
Renderings commissioned by the Municipal Art Society and obtained by The Post reveal for the first time how Bruce Ratner's controversial project in Brooklyn could look - and remain for many years - should the developer continue facing massive delays.
And this vision of the state-approved project isn't attractive - unless parking spaces turn you on.
...
"If MAS thinks that this resembles our project in any way, they are not only greatly mistaken they're doing themselves and the public a great disservice," said Ratner spokesman Loren Riegelhaupt. "Frankly, this is so far from anything even remotely resembling what we are building that it's not worth commenting on further."
From the NYPost online slideshow, click thumbnails to enlarge:
[Renderings, Municipal Art Society; original aerial photos, Jonathan Barkey.]
Atlantic Yards Report, In Post, visions of blight at arena block, rest of AY footprint
The MAS renderings speculate that the first tower would instead be built at the northeast corner of the arena block, at Atlantic and Sixth avenues. That was a reasonable speculation--it's the farthest away from from low-rise Prospect Heights on the arena block--but it apparently was incorrect.
The MAS renderings, as the Post reports, suggest land surrounding the arena as paved with asphalt, but Riegelhaupt suggested that it would more likely be "tree-lined open public space." Come to think of it, that recalls the park space suggested in the revised UNITY plan.
Note that the announcement of such "tree-lined open public space" was made only in response to an inquiry by the Post; the developer had not previously described just what might appear in the empty lots around the arena block.
...
The MAS is on more solid ground when it depicts Block 1129, current home of the Ward Bakery and other buildings in the southeast segment of the project footprint, as the home of interim surface parking.The Post reports:
The MAS says the decision to show the land east of the arena and lone tower with temporary surface parking lots is based on the project plan on file with the state. In it, the company Forest City Ratner indicates it will clear all of this land needed to build 11 towers and use it for parking until construction begins.
To be clear, interim surface parking was never planned on the arena block. It was, however, planned on the 100-foot wide rectangle of land east of Sixth Avenue, between Pacific and Dean streets, currently occupied by five low-rise houses. That plot of land is also needed by the developer for staging to build the arena.
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 6:54 AM | Permalink
Atlantic Yards' Miss Brooklyn is slashed more than 100 feet in massive redo
NY Daily News
By Jotham Sederstrom
Say bye-bye to Miss Brooklyn. She has been dumped for "Building 1" in these new designs released exclusively to the Daily News:
Miss Brooklyn, now called Building One, has been slimmed down and has become more festive, resulting in a very unique office building," he said.
"I've tried to give it some energy and excitement as it meshes with the arena design."
The 34-story structure - once expected to rise higher than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank - will now be dwarfed by it. The sleek Miss Brooklyn is replaced by an asymmetrical design that rises like a spiraling Lego structure, edges askew.
The glass-and-steel-framed building, seen as the centerpiece of the oft-stalled 22-acre project, will no longer house condos and instead will offer 650,000 square feet of office space, officials said.
The condos will be shifted to a different building or be built as rental units instead, said Forest City Ratner Executive Vice President MaryAnne Gilmartin.
Meanwhile, "B2," which will be completed first, is a red-and-pink-hued, 340-foot building featuring 350 market-rate and affordable apartments, which Gehry said "speaks to the residential fabric of the neighborhood."
The Daily News's online slideshow of the new Phase 1 designs contains some images of previous versions of Gehry's Atlantic Yards designs. Here are thumbnails of the new images — click to enlarge.
Atlantic Yards Report, New renderings show Miss Brooklyn cut (duh), renamed, "more festive," but questions unanswered
Norman Oder is first out of the gate with commentary on the new project images released this morning in the Daily News:
A Daily News exclusive today shows new renderings of the flagship Atlantic Yards tower but hints at many questions unanswered, notably the apparent dumping of a Phase 1 tower at Site 5 (see building at far left below), the continuing role of architect Frank Gehry, the plans for the proposed Urban Room, and new designs--apparently with less glass, a potential security issue--for the planned arena.
...the news is that the tower would be cut to 511 feet and feature commercial office space only, but neither is a surprise.
After all, the agreement to keep the tower shorter than the 512-foot Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower was announced as a "concession" on 12/20/06, to coincide with the approval of the project by the Public Authorities Control Board. And I reported in February on developer Forest City Ratner's apparent plans to make Miss Brooklyn an office tower only.
Oder tries to answer some of the hard questions that the News left on the table:
The Daily News reports that the building would include 650,000 square feet of office space, which is more than the 528,000 square feet described last October. Given that the building was once supposed to also include a hotel with 164,652 square feet, it's a good bet that the revised plans trade hotel space for office space.
...
If 30% of the apartments are to be affordable, that means 105 affordable apartments, with 42 of them low-income.While the article doesn't specify the location, Building 2 is at the northeast corner of Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue, according to the official Site Plan. According to the General Project Plan appoved by the Empire State Development Corporation, its maximum height was to be 322 feet. (That refers to the last occupiable floor, so the 340-foot figure may refer to rooftop mechanicals.)
Building 2 is supposed to open at the same time as the arena; the developer says 2010, but that seems highly speculative. Nor was the developer asked if the project would contain 16 towers, as approved, or 15, as hinted by yesterday.
Read the rest of the article for speculation about the "missing buildings" and the urban room.
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 6:09 AM | Permalink
Opponents say Ratner's time line for Atlantic Yards is pie in the sky
NY Daily News
By Jotham Sederstrom
Local reaction to Bruce Ratner's Sunday Daily News Op-Ed:
Opponents of Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards panned the rosy picture described Sunday by developer Bruce Ratner, calling his 10-year timetable "a departure from reality."
"His project is in serious jeopardy no matter how he spins it," Daniel Goldstein of the anti-Brooklyn Yards group Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn said of Ratner's Op-Ed piece in yesterday's Daily News.
...
"When he says he plans to complete his project in 2018, it's simply not credible," Goldstein said. "It means nothing."Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) said Ratner offered no new explanation on how he plans to finance the increasingly costly project.
"It's the same plan without definitive financing," said James.
But the true believers are not swayed:
James Caldwell, president of the nonprofit Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development, said he continues to back Ratner and the development plan.
"I feel better, especially with the way the economy is right now, that everything is going ahead as planned."
NoLandGrab: The article neglects to mention that the nonprofit Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development receives financial support from project developer Forest City Ratner.
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 5:52 AM | Permalink
Has Bruce Ratner adjusted the official location of AY?
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder notes that Bruce Ratner's Sunday Daily News Op-Ed locates the Atlantic Yards project "near downtown Brooklyn," while the project's official web site still calls it "Vision for Downtown Brooklyn."
Why care?
Prospect Heights is not Downtown Brooklyn, as the New York Times finally acknowledged.
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 5:47 AM | Permalink
BUILD and the unions bond, at least with t-shirts
Atlantic Yards Report
At the counter-protest, where union members joined with signatories of the Community Benefits Agreement, the claims that developer Bruce Ratner will deliver thousands of units of affordable housing were joined by the need for "jobs" to jump start the sagging economy, in order to justify the project:
A related flier distributed at the event, headlined "Build Safe Brooklyn," was subtitled "Communities & Unions Working Together."
Support the Atlantic Yards Project, it read. "Tell your local politicians NOT to use this Project as a tool for their ELECTION! This project is $ Real Money $ for a sagging economy."
"Jump start Brooklyn's Economy by supporting this JOBSITE. Call these politicians and tell them, 'Support US or we WON'T support you.'"
The three politicians targeted: City Council Members David Yassky (running for Comptroller), Bill de Blasio (running for Brooklyn Borough President), and Letitia James (up for reelection). James was referred to as "Tisha."
It's another sign that Atlantic Yards is perceived to be very much in play politically. If Borough President Marty Markowitz runs for mayor, what will he say about AY?
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 5:38 AM | Permalink
Developer: Atlantic Yards 'moving forward in its entirety'
Associated Press via Newsday
Is the financing for Atlantic Yards looking shaky? Developer Bruce Ratner can't find an anchor tenant for his office tower? Opposition to the project is keeping things from moving ahead? Ratner shuts his eyes tight and proclaims: "No problem."
A developer says lawsuits and the wobbly economy have slowed his plan to transform Brooklyn with an NBA Nets arena and a slate of skyscrapers. But Bruce Ratner says he aims to break ground on the arena this year.
He says he'll build the entire $4 billion Atlantic Yards project by 2018.
Ratner writes in a guest column in Sunday's Daily News that "the project is moving forward in its entirety," though not "as fast as we would like."
The Nets initially hoped to move into the arena for the 2009-2010 season. They are now eying sometime in 2010.
Some tenants whose apartments would be destroyed to make way for Atlantic Yards sued this week to challenge a state agreement that gives Ratner's company at least 12 years to complete the project's first phase.
This item also appeared locally in:
MetroNY
am New York
Posted by steve at May 5, 2008 5:20 AM | Permalink
Bruce Ratner Claims Atlantic Yards Will Go On
Gothamist
By Dave Hogarty
He may have been gloomy about the mega-project's prospects last month, but now [Atlantic Yards developer Bruce] Ratner has an opinion piece in today's Daily News, pledging to forge ahead with his eminent domain plans to take over Atlantic Ave.
...
Given that Ratner has been trying to reassure investors that his plan to build up the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush, opponents could see this as essentially an advertorial.
MORE COVERAGE OF THE RATNER OP-ED:
WNYC Newsroom, Ratner Moving Ahead With Atlantic Yards Development
WNYC reiterated Bruce Ratner's spin:
[Ratner] says he aims to break ground on the arena this year.
In a guest column in today's Daily News, Ratner writes that he'll complete the entire $4 billion project by 2018. The Nets initially hoped to move into the arena for the 2009-2010 season. The team now expects that to happen sometime in 2010.
NoLandGrab: Though the goal of the Nets playing in Brooklyn in 2010 is dubious, that doesn't stop Bruce Ratner from saying so and the media from repeating it, despite Ratner's poor track record for straight talk.
NY1, Ratner Says Atlantic Yards Project Is On Track Despite Delays [dialup/broadband]
In an op-ed piece in Sunday's Daily News, Ratner dismisses rumors that the struggling economy and numerous court challenges have virtually halted the project.
...
Ratner blames the delays on the lengthy public review process, the high number of court challenges and the slowing economy.But he says he plans to start construction on the arena later this year, followed soon after by residential buildings and then the so-called "Miss Brooklyn" tower.
He says the entire project is on track to be completed by 2018.
NoLandGrab: The length of the public review process was mandated by NY State, when it took over the project and superceded all local land-use review processes and zoning. Ratner may have already forgotten that it took longer for the MTA board to get around to approving Ratner's low-ball bid because the state authority was bogged down with the West Side Stadium-Hudson Yards controversy.
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 5:13 AM | Permalink
Nets to Newark could be a blessing
MetroNY
by Neil deMause
This commentary marks the notable lack of excitement in Brooklyn over the prospect of the Nets making a home in our borough, and how there's little economic benefit to having them here. DeMause goes on to note how Brooklynites are much more interested in affordable housing, which Atlantic Yards will not deliver for a very long time, if ever. The logical conclusion is that now is a good time to rethink the entire project.
So what would the city, and the borough, really lose if the Nets never arrive? Nets fans’ spending money would go to Newark instead of New York, but then Newark would get the game-night traffic jams as well. It’s questionable how many Jerseyites would make the two-river-crossing commute to see the team that bolted their state. And if it’s only Brooklynites spending money on overpriced Thai food instead of Vince Carter jerseys, that’s no difference to the city economy.
Meanwhile, the city would regain something that’s not often talked about: The opportunity to develop a large swath of land at the edge of super-hot brownstone Brooklyn. Without an arena, you would not need superblocks, which means no need for seizing property by eminent domain — which would allow for a plan that provided housing and jobs without unduly disrupting existing neighborhoods. The Nets might be how Atlantic Yards got started, but getting them out of the way might just be how to make it work.
Posted by steve at May 5, 2008 4:57 AM | Permalink
U.S. Investigates Yonkers Development After Official’s Surprising ‘Yes’ Vote
The NY Times
By Alison Leigh Cowan
Could it be that the Feds are building a case against a Yonkers City Councilwoman for her deciding vote to approve Forest City Ratner's controversial Ridge Hill development plan?
For years, City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi of Yonkers was among the most vigorous critics of an enormous $600 million development proposal that called for 1,000 housing units, shops and a movie multiplex in the cliffs here over Sprain Lake.
She complained in late 2005 that the developer, Forest City Ratner, was “probably richer than God,” did not need tax breaks and was “robbing the city blind.” And she was the lead plaintiff in a 2005 lawsuit against the city, objecting to its approval process.
So the next summer, it stunned the Yonkers political and business establishment when Ms. Annabi provided the crucial fifth vote on the seven-member Council that the courts made clear Ratner needed to proceed.
Now, as bulldozers zip around the 81-acre parcel known as Ridge Hill, intended as an upscale oasis within a city looking to shed its past as a faded factory town, federal prosecutors are investigating the development deal and leaning toward indicting Ms. Annabi, a 37-year-old Democrat, on corruption charges or other misconduct, according to a person involved in the investigation.
Is Forest City Ratner at the center of a spreading corruption scandal?
To the political and legal cognoscenti in Yonkers, the length and breadth of the inquiry suggests that it must extend beyond Ms. Annabi’s about-face, and perhaps far beyond Yonkers’ 18 square miles to some of Westchester County’s leading power brokers.
Investigators have inquired about Zehy Jereis, the former chairman of the Republican Party here and a distant relative of Ms. Annabi’s — and subpoenaed his financial disclosure forms, though city officials said they had none to turn over. Prosecutors have asked about Albert J. Pirro Jr., a former lobbyist for Forest City Ratner and the estranged husband of Westchester’s former district attorney, Jeanine F. Pirro.
And they have also questioned whether former State Senator Nicholas A. Spano, whose ability to find money in Albany for Yonkers has long made him a Republican legend, or his brother Mike Spano, a Democratic assemblyman who worked as a lobbyist for Ratner between terms in Albany, exerted any undue influence.
NoLandGrab: This corruption scandal sounds serious, but is by no means the first for Forest City Ratner in Yonkers.
Early on in the planning and approval process the Ridge Hill Development Corporation was mired in controversy when it had sole discretion over the allocation of profits from the project and also had the twenty-something son-in-law of the former Yonkers Mayor on the payroll at a six-figure salary. A year later, the son-in-law showed up on Forest City Ratner's payroll as the "property manager" for the project.
Posted by lumi at May 5, 2008 4:52 AM | Permalink
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: Ratner Writes!
Bruce Ratner Continues Atlantic Yards Back Pedaling and Damage Control on the Atlantic Yards Stall
Developer of Jeopardized Mega Project Spins Daily News Column
Says Nothing New
BROOKLYN, NY— The New York Daily News today gave Forest City Ratner CEO Bruce Ratner a column in its paper along with an article promoting and regurgitating his column. The article doesn't include any context, countervailing evidence, questions for Ratner, or reaction from neutral parties, critics or opponents. Presumably that was part of the packaged "exclusive."
Denied a forum for reaction by the paper's preference for "exclusives" rather than solid reporting, we are here providing Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's (DDDB)