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August 9, 2006
At Con Ed Site, Solow Takes a Cue From His Peers
The Real Estate Observer
Matthew Schuerman's article about redevelopment plans for the Con Ed site in the East 30s makes the comparison to other grand redevelopment plans, including Atlantic Yards.
The Con Ed site is hardly alone. Ground Zero is crawling upward, and Bruce Ratner’s plan for a 22-acre site in downtown Brooklyn is struggling with vocal neighborhood opposition.
But while the masters of those sites have grappled with, paid off, charmed or waged P.R. campaigns against their critics, Mr. Solow—whose plans for the site include seven high-rises, between 3,000 and 4,000 apartments and about one million square feet of office space—has remained aloof.
...
Mr. Solow recently hired the lobbying and public-relations firm Geto & De Milly—the same firm that is handling Mr. Ratner’s project—to do his community and political liaising.
NoLandGrab: More empirical evidence that Bruce Ratner's "savvy use of state-of-the-art political tactics," as described by Chris Smith in this week's New York Magazine, is changing the way business is conducted in this town.
Schuerman locates Bruce Ratner's project in "downtown Brooklyn" — those who live across the street from the footprint will tell you that it is in Prospect Heights.
New York Magazine published a photorendering that illustrates why it is incorrect to state that the project is in "downtown Brooklyn" (neighborhood names added by NLG).
Why does this matter? Because a scaled-down version of Atlantic Yards (such as the 15% reduction envisioned by the NY Times editorial board), would be more appropriate for recently rezoned Downtown Brooklyn. In order to build in Prospect Heights, Bruce Ratner has had to override all sorts of zoning regulations, made possible by a NY State takeover of the project.
Posted by lumi at August 9, 2006 6:13 AM