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March 22, 2007
Coming demolitions mean "urban room" at crucial corner
Atlantic Yards Report notices that, as Bruce Ratner is poised to demolish buildings in the Atlantic Yards footprint, it would create lots of "urban room," as in "publicly detestable open space."
No, it's not the grand 150-tall Urban Room, the gateway to the "Miss Brooklyn" skyscraper, planned at a short distance to the west. But as developer Forest City Ratner proceeds with demolitions over the next few months, the western segment of the project site is shaping up to become vacant, a distinct vision of "urban room."
Should Forest City Ratner follow through on the planned demolitions over the next weeks and months, that corner will be vacant. Notably, vacant lots--except for that gas station--will partly surround two buildings, on Lots 21 and 27, occupied by plaintiffs in two separate court cases. (Plaintiffs also occupy lots 50, 46, 43, and the square above 43. )
There may be more "urban room" coming soon. The tenants of Lot 29, the Community Benefits Agreement signatory BUILD, recently vacated their space.
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Perhaps the court cases will be resolved and Forest City Ratner will be able to proceed apace with construction of the planned Brooklyn arena (aka Barclays Center). But if those cases linger, or the plaintiffs win, the lots likely will linger as well.It may, indeed, start to look a little like Norwood, OH, where three property owners won a case resisting the use of eminent domain. "Many people who live near the site are tired of looking at the desolate piece of land surrounded by a chain-link fence," the Cincinnati Enquirer reported in a recent article.
Posted by lumi at March 22, 2007 7:36 AM