« Eminent domination without representation is... | Main | At the start, it was 80/20 affordable housing, not 50/30/20 »
July 5, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Curbed, Fun With Hard Numbers at Atlantic Yards
Here's one we missed from Monday (all of the post-this nudges must be on vacation).
A big NYT story questions the risk of the project based on analysis of previously unseen internal documents. The nub of the issue: that Ratner & Co. may be underestimating construction costs, and overestimating future sales prices, which could make building out the entire project untenable. ...what most intrigues us in the NYT piece are the detailed construction cost numbers that make it clear Ratner & Co. see nothing but boom times ahead for Downtown Brooklyn.
Matthew Lysiak Resource Guide, Brooklyn Deserves Atlantic Yards
Though the Brooklyn Paper columnist has a penchant for using "Bruce Ratner" as a metaphor for complicated backroom deal, that doesn't stop him from bellyaching about those who bellyache about Ratner.
We only wish that the columnist pay more attention to the facts: that's over $2 billion in subsidies, the deal for tenants seems to be conflated with the deal Ratner made with condo owners a couple of years ago [A million-bucks to leave your apartment? Heck you could buy a place, right?], and to compare the extreme, historic density of Atlantic Yards to "the future and the progress that comes with embracing technology" is a wild leap of the imagination.
However, Lysiak makes a few good points — perhaps Brooklynites are reaping what they sow and "Bruce Ratner" and "Atlantic Yards" have only become the symbols of all the little things that upset the gemulichkeit fantasy of a Brooklyn-gone-by.
Posted by lumi at July 5, 2007 6:42 AM