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June 17, 2006
Atlantic Yards Lite?
Village Voice
Neil deMause
Secondly, the indigestible lump in the plan is the Nets basketball arena: Remove the requirement for a superblock large enough to fit an arena, and suddenly there's no need to seize buildings by eminent domain, you can leave 5th Avenue open, and Ratner's "Miss Brooklyn" skyscraper can be slid east so it no longer blocks views of the Williamsburgh Bank clock tower. ("Brooklyn's wristwatch, so I'm told," noted MAS architect John West.) Ratner and his celebrity architect, Frank Gehry, have certainly shown a willingness to adapt their plan to curry public favor, going through what seems like a new crumpled-paper-and-balsa-wood model a week, but whether he'd consider ditching the arena depends on whether you believe that the hoops-fan-come-lately Ratner is really committed to bringing the NBA to Brooklyn, or merely has his eyes on the prize that is Brooklyn's last undeveloped prime real estate.
Posted by amy at June 17, 2006 10:15 AM