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February 13, 2007
New school at AY would add 100,000 square feet
Atlantic Yards Report
Even the Mad Overkiller misses something once in a while. When a clue turns up in a Request for Proposal, Norman Oder tracks down the lead.
Though it's yesterday's news to Ratner, Oder just learned that a new school at Atlantic Yards would add another 100,000 square feet to the project:
There's a curious passage within a Request for Proposals (RFP) from the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) for an Environmental Monitor to oversee construction activities, mitigation measures, and "certain other activities associated with the Atlantic Yards Land Use Improvement and Civic Project."
It reminds us--in a passage that I and others had missed when first announced in November--that the project got a little bigger with the addition of a school.
Given "the projected significant adverse impact to the supply of elementary and intermediate school seats within ½ mile of the Project," developer Forest City Ratner, if requested by the New York City Department of Education (DOE) prior to January 1, 2010, would convey or lease "to allow for the development of an approximately 100,000 gross square foot elementary and intermediate public school." The likely location: Building 5, which would be east of Sixth Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street.
Here's the news:
The space provided for the School shall be in addition to the Atlantic Yards program described in Table S-1 of the FEIS and shall not replace or result in a reduction of any part thereof. (Emphasis added)
...
That's an increase of only 1.25 percent. Then again, a projected 6 to 8 percent decrease made the front page of the New York Times, so maybe the school is news. (The decrease, ultimately about 8 percent, had been mostly on the table for months.)
The same RFP also adds some details to how the State will be monitoring Ratner's compliance to the Environmental Guidelines and who gets to decide who pays for additional traffic enforcement agents.
NoLandGrab: Stated plainly, if Ratner builds a school, it won't come out of his square footage, or his pocket book.
Politicians charged with representing the public's interest really put the screws to Ratner in extracting this "concession."
Posted by lumi at February 13, 2007 8:28 AM