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March 15, 2007
RATNER NOW WANTS BROOKLYN TECH!
As if the Atlantic Yards illegal land-grab wasn't enough, billionaire developer Bruce Ratner now has his sights set on acquiring the Brooklyn Technical High School building.
From The South Oxford Street Block Association:
Located in a short paragraph on page two in Ratner's gloating Atlantic Yards press release from last December were two ominous sentences: "FCRC will also work with the City, State and the United Federation of Teachers on the creation of a new 21st Century Brooklyn Tech High School, at a yet to be determined location in the borough." With this statement Bruce made his intentions clear; he wants the Brooklyn Tech site for residential development.
One could speculate that Ratner plans to build a new Brooklyn Tech from scratch at Atlantic Yards, or relocate the school to Metrotech. The NY Sun recently reported that “it is rumored that Forest City has plans to construct a residential condominium on the former site of Brooklyn Technical High School; the school would move to MetroTech.” In either scenario Ratner conveniently gets his hands on the current Brooklyn Tech building. He could then either tear it down and start a new residential development from scratch or convert the existing grand 1920's building into upscale lofts on the park. ...
With this Brooklyn Tech deal, like most of his efforts, there will be generous benefits alright – but mostly to him and his pals. Besides getting the school's prime property, Ratner would also get a much-needed long-term tenant for his monstrous office buildings nearby – our Brooklyn Tech.
Oh snap — last week NoLandGrab forgot to tie this topic into the fact that vacancies are up in Bruce Ratner's MetroTech campus. Thanks to South Oxford Street for connecting the dots:
With Downtown Brooklyn's office rentals falling, Ratner's 1980's office park Metrotech is not looking so good. It has steadily lost many of its coveted corporate clients. Unfortunately for us, keeping corporations in Brooklyn and creating jobs were the main reasons we paid for his soulless Metrotech in the first place. Bruce is now hoping to rent out his half-empty office buildings (and his planned new ones) to more city and state agencies, like his current tenants which include the DMV, the ESDC, Polytechnic University, 911 headquarters, and a still-in-the-works "new" New York Technical College, to name a few. By renting his publically-subsidized office space back to the city and state, like say for a high school, Ratner creates another sleazy win-win situation for him and his company. Its a great scam, just like the Yards': we pay for the buildings, Ratner owns them, and they collect the rent money.
And here's a good reason why this is a bad deal for the school:
In addition, Broooklyn Tech is currently in the midst of it's own alumni-funded multi-million-dollar upgrades. In late 2005 the school announced it had received a record $10 million in donations from their alumni. In their 11/05 press release they stated their commitment to the school: "Over the past 20 years, the Alumni Association has funded major projects in the school including a state of the art robotics laboratory, modernization of the school library, and the completion of a new athletic facility." Many alumni, as well as residents of Fort Greene share the belief that the school is a venerable gem and should be a protected as if it was a landmark.
Posted by lumi at March 15, 2007 9:02 AM