« Ratner starts to build | Main | Developer gets the ball rolling on Nets arena construction »
February 20, 2007
B'KLYN ARENA TIP-OFF
BREAKS GROUND TODAY
NY Post
By Rich Calder
Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner is expected to finally break ground today on his controversial $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, The Post has learned.
Preliminary work on the 22-acre Frank Gehry-designed development - which is to include an NBA arena for Ratner's Nets and 16 skyscrapers filled with residential and commercial space - will quietly kick off without fanfare along the Vanderbilt Rail Yard off Atlantic Avenue, sources said.
...
The first job calls for building a temporary parking area for trains on the east side of the yard so that existing LIRR trains could be moved from the west end, which must be cleared so that construction on the $637 million Barclays Center basketball arena could begin in September.
...
The first work on Brooklyn's biggest development in decades includes more than $600,000 in contracts awarded to minority- and women-owned companies as part of a Community Benefits Agreement reached by Ratner and government bosses.
NoLandGrab: "Will quietly kick off without fanfare?" That must be what "sources" said, because there's nothing quiet about this very calcuated pr barrage.
Some reporters really resent being used as an advertising medium, but Barclays Bank is starting to get its money's worth when the Post reporter uses the bank's name for a building that doesn't even exist.
Also, the Post reporter really gets it wrong when he gives credit to "government bosses" for the Community Benefits Agreement. The government has nothing to do with the CBA other than Mayor Bloomberg signing as a "witness." But the Post is just a newspaper, so we don't expect them to know facts.
Posted by lumi at February 20, 2007 7:17 AM