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January 31, 2008
AY vs. MSG: a larger tax break, but not for the arena
Atlantic Yards Report
AYR uses yesterday's unanimous City Council vote on a resolution asking the state to do away with Madison Square Garden's ridiculous property-tax exemption, and the amendment introduced by Council members Letitia James and David Yassky seeking to pull a similar tax break for Atlantic Yards before it starts costing the City even more money (it was tabled in committee), as a jumping off point for a comparison of the two corporate-welfare packages.
"If the Council thinks subsidizing MSG is a bad deal for the City and State, they should take another look at the tax breaks and subsidies being offered to the proposed Atlantic Yards Development: they are even worse," James and Yassky said in a statement. It didn't make it past a council committee, but it may recur in the future.
Such tax breaks and subsidies may indeed be much larger, as MSG pointed out, but they are not quite comparable. In fact, the tax exemption that now saves the Garden some $11 million a year is much larger than the exemption anticipated for the Atlantic Yards arena, mainly because much of the land would be tax exempt for decades whatever was built on the arena site, thanks to an as-of-right tax break. And if MSG builds a new arena, well, some new subsidies likely would be on the table, as Metro reported today.
NoLandGrab: While Oder does his best to shed light on the differences between the two, the net result is still enough to make one's eyes glaze over, which is undoubtedly just what developers and their political patrons want when the taxpayers' money is being dished out.
Posted by eric at 10:09 AM
AY "on rail yards"? Error recurs in the Times
Atlantic Yards Report
The New York Times, which appears to suffer from some rare learning disability, yet again repeats one of Norman Oder's (and our) pet peeves:
From an article in today's New York Times, headlined Scaffold Falls, Killing Worker in Brooklyn:
It is in a section of Brooklyn that is being swept up in new development, with the huge Atlantic Yards entertainment, residential and commercial complex planned on rail yards a few blocks to the west.
(Emphasis added)I thought we'd resolved that the 22-acre project would be built only in part over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 8.5-acre Vanderbilt Yard. After all, when the Times had a beat reporter assigned to Atlantic Yards, he wrote that the project "would rise over a railyard and adjacent land...."
Posted by eric at 9:04 AM
Council takes a shot at MSG
MetroNY
By Patrick Arden
The City Council unanimously passed a resolution yesterday calling on the state Legislature to end the biggest, longest tax break in New York history. Since 1982, MSG has been exempted from nearly $300 million in property taxes. Now owned by the corporate behemoth Cablevision, MSG will get a 2008 break worth $11.3 million.
...
MSG has justified its open-ended exemption by citing recent subsidies the city has provided to new stadiums for the Yankees, the Mets and the Nets. The Yankees, for example, are receiving almost $700 million in public support.But the Independent Budget Office has pointed out that MSG’s break is much greater than similar tax subsidies granted to the Nets ($140 million) and the Yankees ($162 million). At a hearing of the Council’s Finance Committee this month, IBO senior economist Theresa Devine repeated the “consensus” view that “subsidies for sports facilities are not an effective use of scarce public resources.”
But don't worry, the City Council isn't pulling the plug forever; Council Speaker Christine Quinn added that the corporate welfare could return if and when MSG was ready to rehab the current arena or build a new one.
NoLandGrab: When will politicians get it through their thick heads that spending money on sports venues that NEVER deliver on their promises to the public is a waste of taxpayer money?
Posted by lumi at 4:18 AM
January 30, 2008
Who's Buried in Atlantic Yards?
A resistance movement drowning its sorrows during a pub quiz in Red Hook
The Village Voice
By Adam Weinstein
A report from Quiz Don't Destroy:
The contestants—anti-sprawl bloggers, neighborhood organizers, and a few Brooklyn newsies—came well-armed. "My head's been filled with this stuff for years," Urban said, "but I may have dumped a lot of it last Friday, after we lost the environmental lawsuit."
Posted by lumi at 8:54 PM
$HILL B.U.I.L.D.
Photo by Tracy Collins, via Atlantic Yards Photo Pool (flickr)
This message was brought to you by the building at 680 Pacific Street, just across the southern border of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards footprint.
Click here for more information about Forest City Ratner financing of B.U.I.L.D. (Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development).
Posted by lumi at 8:36 PM
CBA Blog
These days, every project with serious negative impacts seems to have its own Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), designed to make the project more palatable. It was only a matter of time before someone started blogging exclusively on CBAs.
Earlier today, we linked the entry on the Bronx Terminal CBA. Here are two other controversial CBAs from NYC:
The fundamental problem with the Atlantic Yards CBA is that it is not representative of the community. A significant portion of Brooklyn residents are opposed to the project due to the extensive impacts that it will have on Brooklyn, and they were not invited to participate in negotiations. Rather, the talks were led by community members already on the developer’s side. It can only be guessed what the CBA would have looked like had inclusive and transparent talks actually been held.
With Atlantic Yards and Yankee Stadium, New York City established a pretty bleak track record in coming up with CBAs that came anywhere near their Californian counterparts’ successes (like the Staples Center and LAX CBAs). Because of this, CBA supporters were hoping that an agreement concerning Columbia University’s expansion into West Harlem would provide a better model for future New York CBAs.
...
It seems that the Columbia CBA negotiations were begun in good faith, with intentions to be as inclusive of divergent community interests as possible. Regardless of the LDC’s continuing pledges of support for community interests, though, it has not succeeded in instilling much faith in its efforts among the public. The resignations and hastily drawn up agreement have not helped. Nor has the LDC’s continuing willingness to allow eminent domain to be used in the project.
Posted by lumi at 8:11 PM
Opposition to Taxbreaks for Ratner: Letitia James and David Yassky Team Up
Daily Gotham
Seems Councilmembers Letitia James and David Yassky are teaming up to oppose the massive tax giveaways to developer Bruce Ratner.
From the press release:
Today at the Finance Committee hearing, the committee will review and vote on Proposed Resolution 90, which asks the State of New York to end the twenty-year-old property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden. If the Council thinks subsidizing MSG is a bad deal fort the City and State, they should take another look at the tax breaks and subsidies being offered to the proposed Atlantic Yards Development: they are even worse.
Council Members Yassky and James will introduce an amendment to Res. 90 that includes language condemning public financing of the Atlantic Yards Development, and asking for these breaks and subsidies to be withheld. The arena component alone is slated to receive hundreds of millions in public funds: $100 million from both the City and State, as well as roughly $500 million in effective property tax exemption, and another $100 million saved from the issuance of tax-free bonds to finance the arena. These numbers do not include additional hundreds of millions of dollars that will go towards the residential and commercial components of the project.
NoLandGrab: It's amazing how some City Councilmembers oppose the property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden while shovelling money down Bruce Ratner's gullet.
What's the worst thing that can happen if the City reverses the deal for subsidies and tax exemptions for Bruce Ratner's Nets arena? It's not as if Ratner will threaten to move the team to New Jersey.
Posted by lumi at 8:01 PM
Atlantic Yards strain
Photo by Tracy Collins, via Atlantic Yards Photo Pool (flickr)
624 Pacific Street near 5th Avenue Prospect Heights
a gauge on the facade of 624 Pacific Street. i assume it's there to indicate if the crack is getting larger.
this building, which is still currently occupied, would be demolished for Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 7:50 PM
Doomsday? No Way
From the Institute for Justice:
Throughout the public backlash to the Kelo ruling, those who favor eminent domain for private development predicted—and continue to predict—dire consequences from reform for state and local economies: fewer jobs, less development and lower tax revenues.
This report tests those doom-and-gloom predictions. We examined economic indicators closely tied to reform opponents’ forecasts—construction jobs, building permits and property tax revenues—before and after reform across all states and between states grouped by strength of reform.
This report uses reality and facts to debunk the myth that urban redevelopment dry up and cities will stagnate without the power of eminent domain.
NoLandGrab: Keep in mind, Bruce Ratner and the Empire State Development Corporation's justifiction for using eminent domain is that without "blight clearance" the neighborhood would stagnate. Meanwhile across the street condos and townhouses are fetching seven figures.
Posted by lumi at 7:17 PM
Atlantic Yards, the E.I.S Game and the Destruction of Brooklyn
The Genius of the Development Industrial Complex
CounterPunch.org
by Christopher Ketcham
Journalist Christopher Ketcham, writing for the political newsletter CounterPunch, connects the dots among Bruce Ratner, the ESDC, Atlantic Yards, David Paget, Brooklyn Bridge Park, sprawl and subsidy-slinging politicians in an epic essay that's a must-read if you haven't yet had your daily fill of overdevelopment-driven outrage.
The game is called Developers Gone Wild. Non-sustainability, waste, carelessness, the privatization of public resources, and, of course, the packing of too many rats into too little space are its hallmarks. In New York City, a primary playing piece in the game, if not the queen on the board, is the ironically-named "environmental impact statement," or EIS, which for decades has greased the skids for development by creating the pretense of public environmental oversight. The artfulness and deceit of the EIS process underscores the fact that the most dangerous players in the game are not the private sector's array of bankers, mortgage lenders, construction companies, unions, big name developers, lawyers, consultants, investors, and speculators and elected officials-qua-boosters (think of the inane yet somehow insidious Marty Markowitz, porcine borough president of Brooklyn) that together comprise what we'll call the development industrial complex.
The threat, rather, arrives from public agencies that abet the private sector's predatory ways. The chief offender to sign off on the EIS process is the New York State boosterist agency known as the Empire State Development Corporation. The corrupt collusion of ESDC with developers has had predictable results: During a decade that saw a rush to re-zone or bypass zoning in favor of uncontrolled growth--the boom-time of roughly 1997 to the present--billions of dollars in new development was sausaged through the system without meaningful environmental review, without realistic assessment of impacts, and, by extension, without the public getting a fair understanding of the effect these megaprojects would have on the streets where people live, shop and play. As a political and corporate tool for profiteering, and also as a means of disarming the citizenry, the ESDC is indispensable--and in Brooklyn it has become the key to the kingdom.
NoLandGrab: Did we mention Ketcham's novel reaction to viewing "Brooklyn Matters?"
Posted by eric at 6:16 PM
Which City?
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Henrik Kroguis
There’s a tendency to overlook, or to forget, that Brooklyn once reached for greatness through projects like Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Bridge itself. Atlantic Yards could yet become a signature for Brooklyn. Is Brooklyn up to it?
NoLandGrab: Amongst project supporters, "there's a tendency to overlook, or to forget, that... projects like Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Bridge itself" were PUBLIC projects. Atlantic Yards IS a "signature project" — it's the largest single source private development project in NYC history.
But thanks for playing.
Posted by lumi at 5:34 PM
FCRC: "We remain completely committed"
Forest City Ratner spokesperson Bruce Bender apparently released the following statement in response to the rash of news reports about the company's claim in court that lawsuits by opponents were having a "chilling effect" on the project's financing.
"The opponents have lost over a dozen court decisions on the merits and have now decided to try to further delay this important project through appeals. While that's their right, we're confident that we will once again prevail in court.
"But let's be realistic here. Their goal is to delay project [sic] in the hope that they can damage it, eliminating along the way the benefits to the surrounding communities, including the much needed jobs and affordable housing. This scorched earth policy of anything goes to delay a development that has been reviewed, supported and approved by the state legislative leaders and an overwhelming majority of people in Brooklyn, is disappointing but not unexpected.
"FCRC has been part of Brooklyn's economic growth for over 20 years and we have successfully developed throughout many different market cycles. We remain completely committed to making Atlantic Yards and its numerous benefits a reality for everyone. Regardless of the opponents' delay tactics, we will continue to move forward as quickly as possible."
NoLandGrab: "Their goal is to delay the project?" Bruce Bender doesn't give project opponents enough credit. As far as we can tell, the goal of the lawsuits is to stop the project, send it back to the drawing board, and pave the way for a saner development based on real community input. There are also some home owners, tenants and business owners (and a host of people who support them) who believe that the Constitution should protect them from being forced out to make way for a private project.
Posted by eric at 11:10 AM
Nets to Stop Kidd-ing Around?
Remember how the Nets pledged to their current fan base that they would stay competitive in New Jersey while waiting for their move to Brooklyn? Looks like that pledge was about as solid as Bruce Ratner's promise of 10,000 new Atlantic Yards jobs.
With the 19-26 Nets going nowhere fast (they did manage to snap their nine-game losing streak last night), their clearly disgruntled star point guard, Jason Kidd, will almost certainly be an ex-Net by the February 22nd NBA trading deadline.
There was a time when Jason Kidd was hopeful of winning a championship in the Meadowlands (the Nets went to the NBA finals in 2002 and 2003). Then Bruce happened, and the bad karma of pretending that the Atlantic Yards deal was about bringing professional sports back to Brooklyn started working its magic. While the Nets haven't yet missed the playoffs in the Ratner years, they haven't been real contenders since the 2003-2004 season. And they appear headed for irrelevance, even if they manage to squeak into the post-season, with or without Kidd.
The combination of bad basketball and lame-duck status at the Izod Center does not bode well for a team that has always struggled to draw crowds. Even Brett Yormark is going to have a tough time selling tickets, and that will only add to the financial pressure that's having a real effect on The Brucester's Atlantic Yards megaproject.
FoxSports.com, Kidd forcing Nets' hand on floor
You expect a bonehead decision like that from a rookie or a journeyman reject, certainly not from a guy reputed to be among the five smartest point guards of all time.
That play said it all to me. Either Kidd was trying to show up Frank or he was making it obvious to owner Bruce Ratner and team president Rod Thorn they're wasting precious time and wins.
ESPN.com, Hit Or Miss: Kidd Deal Could Be Last-Second Deadline Shot
Another source, this one close to Nets owner Bruce Ratner, described him as increasingly frustrated and disappointed with the state of the franchise, whose move to Brooklyn has now been put off until 2010-11 while Ratner continues to wait for the first shovel to go into the ground at the team's future home.
Once upon a time, the Nets expected to make that move to Brooklyn with Kidd as the centerpiece of the roster, though aging.
Gothamist.com, No Kidding: Nets, Guard Near End of Road
Nevertheless, this Nets team has plateaued. In fact, it's on its way down. Carter probably isn't going to win a championship with the Nets, but at least he brings excitement and credibility to a team trying to make its way to Brooklyn.
...To make matters worse for the Nets, they may have some issues moving to Brooklyn. The poor financial market coupled with ongoing lawsuits, could be an obstacle preventing Forest City Ratner from securing financing for Atlantic Yards and new Nets arena.
Posted by eric at 10:21 AM
Ravitch: MTA obfuscates full cost of West Side Rail Yards project
Atlantic Yards Report
During a panel discussion last night, Richard Ravitch, former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, criticized how the MTA is going about planning for the Hudson Yards project and the West Side Rail Yards.
Norman Oder was there, and he applies Ravitch's criticism to point out shoddy practices in allocating civic resources for Atlantic Yards:
Imagine if someone like Ravitch had blown the whistle on the "extraordinary infrastructure" loophole in the Atlantic Yards Memorandum of Understanding, which opens the door for increased public spending. Imagine if anyone with civic responsibility beyond some Brooklynites criticized the Bloomberg administration for more than doubling its announced pledge of $100 million to support Atlantic Yards.
Oder also speculates as to how long it might actually take to build Atlantic Yards, based on estimates for the West Side rail yards:
Juliette Michaelson, Senior Planner, Regional Plan Association, suggested that the rail yards will take "two or three decades to be built out."
Given that the project would involve about 12 million square feet of development, as opposed to 8 million square feet for Atlantic Yards, a rough extrapolation suggests that AY would take not the announced decade but 14 to 20 years to build--which is what even those associated with the project acknowledge in unguarded moments.
Posted by steve at 6:32 AM
Pullout without penalty? Maybe, but not without pain
Atlantic Yards Report
Bruce Ratner will suffer no penalty from the state should he decide not to build Atlantic Yards, as reported yesterday by The New York Post. Norman Oder contemplates other financial pitfalls.
But the developer wouldn't exactly go away without pain. First, the Nets consistently lose money, and the loss of the Barclays Center naming rights deal would be huge.
And Forest City Ratner would be sitting on a patchwork of property for which it paid generously for under current zoning, but would be a bargain given the expected zoning override that allows for much bigger buildings. But the demise of the project would mean the demise of the bargain and a certain amount of pain.
There's surely much more to the potential scenario; if the project does come closer to stalling, we should expect public officials to be more forthcoming.
Posted by steve at 6:13 AM
Theater critics to review Atlantic Yards
NY Daily News
By Jotham Sederstrom
It's Atlantic Yards: the play.
A Manhattan theater company that has garnered rave reviews for previous performances on hot-button topics now has its sights set on the controversial Atlantic Yards project.
The Civilians, a performance group that combines investigative reporting with stories, song and dance, will tackle the $4.2 billion arena project for a play or musical that could be ready by the 2009-2010 theater season.
...
As soon as this summer, The Civilians expect to descend on Prospect Heights, where they'll attend civic meetings, interview Atlantic Yards movers and shakers and pour through news reports and other project information.From there, the group will have a better idea of what form the show will take and how it will be presented, said Cosson, who added that while he is critical of the project, the theater company's portrayal will be objective.
...
A spokesman for Ratner declined to comment.
NoLandGrab: How about a Bloggershop Quartet?
Posted by lumi at 6:06 AM
It's the crunch, stupid
Gumby Fresh gives a detailed explaination of how the credit crisis really does have an effect on Bruce Ratner's ability to secure financing for his Atlantic Yards arena and high-rise megaproject.
Here are some tidbits below, but you may want to surf on over to the original article to get the full picture of what Ratner's options are:
What happened when these stadiums became treated as bits of essential public infrastructure (with all the debatable claptrap about them being engines of economic development) was that they began to be eligible for tax-exempt treatment. Holders of bonds financing sports arenas stopped having to pay tax on the interest income, and the opportunities for financial engineering became much more interesting.
...
The most obvious of these is the use of monoline bond insurance. I don't have the time or the inclination to explain bond insurance in detail, but its premise is that bond markets do not necessary charge a reasonable rate of interest, and that for a fee that is less than the excess rate that that the bond markets charge they will guarantee your bonds. The holders of these bonds are now basically relying on the bond insurer for payment if something happens to the stadium, and get a pretty low rate of interest based on what the presumed risk of the bond insurer is.
...
Problem is, this system got all f*ed up. In another part of the market, for the insurance of bonds backed by subprime mortgages, the bond insurers priced risk pretty bloody badly, so monolines are now teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Not only are bonds with a monoline guarantee now viewed as much more risky, and thus have a higher interest rate, but any financing might have to go ahead without any insurance at all, at which point lord knows what interest rate you'll get.
Posted by lumi at 5:55 AM
Ratner Says Legal Delays Could Jeopardize Atlantic Yards Financing
Ratner Says Legal Delays Could Jeopardize Atlantic Yards Financing
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Sarah Ryley
Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner Companies acknowledged publicly for the first time, in an affidavit filed Friday, that delay caused by lawsuits could jeopardize the project’s financing. According to a financial expert, the company’s concern has merit.
...
A.J. Carter, spokesman for project sponsor Empire State Development Corporation, said the financing for the arena has not been committed. According to the General Project Plan, the basketball arena would cost $637 million to build.“The banks are closed. Nobody’s financing real estate, nobody is financing [Leveraged Buyouts],” said a prominent hedge fund manager in the bond market who asked not to be named. “There is a real credit crunch, the worst I have seen since 1987.”
Posted by lumi at 5:51 AM
MTA prefers leasing Hudson Yards
Crain's NY Business
By Theresa Agovino
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority would rather lease the Hudson Rail Yards to a developer for 99 years than sell the 26-acre site.
...
A source at one developer said the MTA was caving in to public pressure not to sell the property, which includes active MTA rail operations. But the MTA spokesman says that under a 99-year lease agreement the developer would still control the site.
Since the early days, just after Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner announced his arena and high-rise megaproject for Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, the comparison between the Vanderbilt Railyards and the Hudson Railyards has enabled New Yorkers to understand the MTA real estate giveaways. Uproar over the dispensation of the Hudson Yards led to a pro forma RFP for the Vanderbilt Yards, which led to Ratner's low ball bid coming out on top.
Yesterday, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn continued the "Tale of Two Yards" on DDDB.net.
Remember the "bidding process" over the Vanderbilt Rail Yards, the 8-acre MTA/LIRR property which comprises part of the Atlantic Yards footprint? Remember how the MTA appraised the Yards at $214.5 million back in 2005? Remember how Ratner bid $50 million and Extell Development Company bid $150 million? Remember how the MTA forced Ratner to up his bid to $100 million and then awarded him the winning bid?
Well, today Crain's reports that at least three of the bidders on the Hudson Yards on Manhattan's West Side offered "about $1 billion."
Posted by lumi at 5:42 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Curbed, Comment of the Day
So i guess in NY its no longer fashionable to build single, dominating buildings, but entire sections of the city get "developed" in one swoop. WTC, Hudson Yards, Atlantic Yards, East River Waterfront. That sound you hear is Jane Jacobs spinning in her grave like a top.
Found in Brooklyn, Rally for Down Zoning with Bill DeBlasio Tomorrow at 16 Court Street at 11 am.
City Councilmember Bill DeBlasio supports Cobble Hill downzoning, however:
Personally, I can't get past his pro-Atlantic Yards stance and view that an $80,000 income makes one qualify for "affordable" housing.
Pardon Me For Asking, Marty Switching Tactic In Fight Against Rats
Gratuitous link about RATS in Brooklyn Borough Hall, if you could imagine such a thing.
Community Benefits Agreement, Bronx Terminal Market CBA
Another controversial project, another Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) — this one seems to have drawn inspiration from the Atlantic Yards CBA.
The 2006 CBA concerning the Bronx Terminal Market mall development has been criticized (here and here) because the negotiation process did not truly involving any grassroots community organizations. While the agreement does include a number of valuable community benefits, the developer will only be fined $60,000 for failing to comply with the CBA (with a cap of $600,000 on the amount of fines that can ever be assessed), weakening the value of the CBA in the eyes of many stakeholders.
...
Like Atlantic Yards, this seems to be another CBA in which real benefits are going to be provided to the community, but the question is whether those are the benefits that the community really wanted.
NoLandGrab: To say that the community might not have wanted promises of jobs and housing doesn't quite describe the main problem with the Atlantic Yards CBA. Rather, there were large groups of stakeholders left out of the process, and their needs and concerns were not addressed.
Curbed, The Morning After: Atlantic Yards Money Woes & Musical
The little Brooklyn project known as Atlantic Yards has heated up again this week with news about new concerns over financing the project.
Posted by lumi at 5:22 AM
Eminent Reality
Wall St. Journal
Editorial
Does restricting "eminent domain" -- the power of government to seize private property -- harm economic growth? A new report from the Institute for Justice looks at the evidence and concludes the answer is no.
Since the Supreme Court sanctified eminent domain on behalf of private developers in the dreadful 5-4 Kelo ruling in 2005, 42 states have passed some restriction on the practice. Some reforms have been far-reaching, as in Florida, which barred public entities that seized property from transferring it to private hands for 10 years after the seizure. Other reforms are more modest, changing the definition of "blight" or throwing up other obstacles to overeager planners.
But one constant since Kelo v. New London has been the refrain, echoed by developers and politicians alike, that eminent domain is necessary for redevelopment. In 2006, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack vetoed an eminent-domain reform, arguing that it would harm the economy if the state restricted the power to expropriate private property. Groups such as the National League of Cities make similar arguments.
So the Institute for Justice, which spearheaded the original campaign to save Suzette Kelo's home, decided to crunch some numbers. First, the report assigns each state to one of three categories according to the level of reform implemented after Kelo: "strong," "moderate" or "none." Then it compares the data for construction jobs, building permits and property-tax revenue before and after the effective dates of the reforms for each state. The verdict: So far, there has been no discernable hit to economic activity from the restriction of eminent domain, even in those states with the broadest reforms.
This result isn't surprising. Developers love eminent domain because it's easier to snap up land when government forces owners to sell -- no unpleasant dickering over price, etc. Local politicians likewise believe they are best positioned to pick winners and losers and to shape the future of their cities.
But private development went along very nicely for two centuries before politicians began seizing one person's property for the benefit of another private citizen. Sometimes the marketplace adapted in amusing ways, as when major building projects were forced to go up around, or even on top of, older buildings. But in the absence of the coercive state, buildings still got built.
The most grandly conceived plans are also often those most likely to fail. If a project cannot proceed without government interference, it is reasonable to ask whether it is worth putting the hamfist of government on the scales at all. As the Institute for Justice's report notes, Baltimore's much-touted Inner Harbor redevelopment remains dependent on government handouts. At the same time, private redevelopments without eminent domain, such as in Anaheim's A-Town, are thriving.
The backlash against Kelo has had the healthy effect of limiting the hubris of local politicians, which is why they have resorted to these scary economic claims. We're glad to see them debunked on the merits.
Posted by lumi at 5:00 AM
January 29, 2008
Ratner Showing Fear, At Last?
New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer
by Chris Smith
New York Magazine political reporter Chris Smith offers his two cents (sorry, that's all he was able to finance) on Bruce Ratner's appeal for a speedy appeal:
Here's the argument Bruce Ratner's lawyers won't be making in court: "Please hurry up and make a decision on the lawsuits challenging Atlantic Yards, judges, because the delay is cutting into our profits." But while the sentiment goes unvoiced, that's what Ratner's current posturing is really all about.
Smith argues that any sympathy for the Brucester would be misplaced:
The developer and his lawyers want people to believe that the pesky protesters are costing Brooklyn a civic boon. But Bruce Ratner decided a long time ago that fighting it out in court was cheaper than submitting Atlantic Yards to a transparent public-approval process.
NoLandGrab: We imagine the talk at One MetroTech is going something like this: "Curses! If only those pesky Appellate Court judges were elected rather than appointed, we could have added them to the gift list."
Posted by eric at 2:35 PM
An Undone Deal, And Ratner Can Pull Out Without Penalty
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
DDDB offers its take on today's New York Post story, and enumerates the many ways in which Ratner's "done deal" isn't.
Ratner does not own the rail yard. The developer and the MTA have an agreement over the sale price of the yards (the low bid of $100 million was accepted) but the transfer agreement has not been signed and the MTA has not collected on the money;
The city, state and Ratner have not reached financial agreements on the arena bond;
The city, state and Ratner have not reached financial agreements on the Payments in Lieue of Taxes (PILOT);
The city, state and Ratner have not reached financial agreements on the "affordable" housing subsidies, credits and bonds;
The city has not transferred all of its $205 million in direct cash taxpayer subsidy to Ratner;
And of course, Ratner doesn't own the property he needs to build his arena and subperblocks.
Posted by eric at 9:35 AM
BUILDER CAN NIX NETS PLAN
New York Post
by Rich Calder
Bruce Ratner can pull out of his $4 billion Atlantic Yards project for Brooklyn without penalty, The Post has learned.
That's because the developer never signed binding contracts for the controversial state-approved project or drew on hundreds of millions in government subsidies, officials confirmed yesterday.
NoLandGrab: Go ahead, Bruce. We dare ya.
Posted by eric at 9:29 AM
Room for us all? Reading (and re-reading) Brooklyn Was Mine
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder reviews the essay collection Brooklyn Was Mine (the authors and editors donated their cut to DDDB's legal efforts) and concludes that:
The Brooklyn Paper suggested that “the sum of the collection does end up equaling more than its parts.” I'm not so sure. Yes, as the Eagle review pointed out, the book captures some new angles on the borough's multitudinous life. However, the development changing Brooklyn demands greater attention.
NoLandGrab: Oder laments the failure of "Brooklyn Was Mine" to dig more deeply into the angst of gentrification and the tumult surrounding the Atlantic Yards project in particular. While he may not yet be sick and tired of all things Atlantic Yards, we're more than happy to read about anything but.
Posted by eric at 8:43 AM
Legal Delays Tax More Than the Nets’ Patience
The NY Times
By Richard Sandomir
Choose the most pressing problem for the Nets:
a) Their 18-26 record puts them only three and a half games ahead of the Knicks.
b) Vince Carter finished fourth in a Sports Illustrated poll of N.B.A. players who get the least out of their talent, but he was seen by his 242 colleagues as just slightly more of an overachiever than the Knicks’ perennially underachieving Eddy Curry.
c) Jason Kidd would rather play for a team that is not three and a half games up on the Knicks.
d) The financial markets are a mess, which is not the fault of Isiah Thomas.
The right answer is (d), unless the Knicks overtake the Nets this season, which would be the supreme crisis of the ownership of Bruce Ratner.
If you chose (d), then you sensed that it will be riskier and more expensive than ever envisioned for the Nets to construct the Barclays Center arena that is part of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project proposed to be built near downtown Brooklyn.
Read about how the Nets' change of address cards won't be going out anytime soon; how the Devils, Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets got their done deals done before the global markets became constipated; Ratner's legal strategy; and Goldman Sachs' contention that they "cannot wrap up deals without the cessation of legal hostilities."
Posted by lumi at 5:42 AM
Credit whoa?
News of Bruce Ratner's claims of credit woes in court documents, as reported yesterday in the Post and Atlantic Yards Report, travelled fast.
Here are links from the local media and blogosphere:
Runnin' Scared (Village Voice), TABLOIDED: Political and Sports Battle Royale
From the daily tabloid round-up:
The Post also reports that Bruce Ratner is having trouble raising money for his controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.
NY1: Inside City Hall, A Delegate Count Looms As Bloomy Heads To Albany
From the NY1 daily news wrap-up:
Rich Calder reports: “Don't fork over money to reserve seats for the Brooklyn Nets just yet. Developer Bruce Ratner is running into trouble securing funding for his controversial $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, which would bring an NBA arena for Ratner's Nets and 16 skyscrapers with residential and commercial space to Prospect Heights, according to court documents obtained by The Post.”
Gothamist, Lawsuits and Recession Hobbling Atlantic Yards Project
Ratner’s lawyers are warning the court that the lengthy appeal process is putting the project in jeopardy because “the credit markets are in turmoil at this time . . . There is a serious question as to whether, given the current state of the debt market, the underwriters will be able to proceed with the financing for the arena while the appeal is pending.” If the appeal is not quickly resolved, developers “are likely to encounter significant difficulties and cost increases in concluding the bond financing that is essential to the arena's completion,” lawyers argue.
Brownstoner, Is Atlantic Yards Funding in Jeopardy?
An affidavit (see copy on jump) submitted by Andrew Silberfein, Forest City Ratner’s executive vice president and director of finance, sheds some light on the complicated web of financing for the “more than $4 billion project,” which involves having Goldman Sachs serve as the lead underwriter for bonds that will finance the Nets arena’s construction.
DDDB.net, Blogland Looks at Atlantic Yards Credit Crunch
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn corralled the early blog coverage.
Curbed, Your Morning Credit Crunch: Will Atlantic Yards Be a Victim?
The Real Deal, Questions raised on Atlantic Yards financing
Here's just the type of paradox that makes you realize that you can't believe what Forest City says:
"The credit markets are in turmoil at this time . . . There is a serious question as to whether, given the current state of the debt market, the underwriters will be able to proceed with the financing for the arena while the appeal is pending." Bruce Bender, a Forest City Ratner vice president, said in a statement that "regardless of the opponents' delay tactics, we will continue to move forward as quickly as possible."
[Um, we can't proceed with financing, but we'll continue to move forward? Give our brains a rest.]
Kinetic Carnival, Will The City Find Investors?
In the end, Ratner may have more to fear from the US's slumping economy than he does from activists like Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.
Daily Intelligencer (NY Mag), Neighborhood Watch
Prospect Heights: It looks like Bruce Ratner's worried that the slow process behind various legal challenges to the Atlantic Yards project could have a "chilling affect" on financing for the controversial, $4 billion high-rise project. [Gothamist]
Field of Schemes, Court papers hint at Nets arena finance woes
Take this with a big grain of salt, given that Ratner is claiming it in an attempt to get a lawsuit dismissed - the New York Yankees, don't forget, threatened to move out of the city if a similar legal challenge against their stadium wasn't dismissed. Still, there have been questions about how the softening housing market will affect the project for a while now, real estate experts have questioned both its cost and revenue projections, and Ratner's own finances aren't looking too great right now either. The big question then becomes, if Ratner clears away the lawsuits but can't come up with the cash, does he back out of the whole project, or just the housing component, leaving Brooklyn with just a basketball arena and a really ugly skyscraper?
The Knickerblogger, Ratner Admits Arena Funding In Peril.
They are essentially admitting that the project is financially risky. Why are taxpayers funding it?
Further, if the market is drying up for credit, its a reflection that both the real estate market is cooling and bankers are more temperate about financing questionable projects - if that is the case, then why would Forest City/Ratner want to build? Because WE Pay for it, and WE absorb the risks.
The Real Estate Observer, The (Big) Round-Up: Monday
Forest City Ratner admits it is having problems raising money for $4 billion Atlantic Yards Project. [NY Post]
Streets Blog, Today's Headlines
Atlantic Yards Running Into Financial Hurdles (Post)
Posted by lumi at 4:40 AM
January 28, 2008
ATLANTIC YARDS RATNERVILLE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (ILLUSTRATED)
ATLANTIC YARDS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Weeks beginning January 28, 2008 and February 4, 2008
Long Island Rail Road/Vanderbilt Yard Work
- Continue drilling SOE piles at Southeast Gas Station (block 1121, lot 47).
- Excavate soil at Southeast Gas Station (block 1121/lot 47).
- SOE piles adjacent to East Portal are completed.
- Drill piles at LIRR East Portal.
- Continue construction and debris removal from block 1121.
- Pour foundations for temporary access ramp to yard level in block 1120.
- Trench and install conduit in block 1120 (for future cable installation from cable bridge in block 1120, parallel to 6th Avenue Bridge).
- Relocate 3 fire hydrants on north side of Pacific Street, block 1121.
- Begin demolition of southern portion of Carlton Avenue Bridge.
Abatement and Demolition Work
All work described below will comply with the additional oversight and protocols by the Department of Buildings (DOB) that were established on April 30th.
- Mobilization for demolition will begin at 800 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 25) within this two week period.
- Abatement will be underway at 642-646 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 30) within this two week period.
- Abatement is underway at 645 Dean Street (block 1129, lot 62) and will continue throughout this two week period.
- Demolition is complete at 546 Vanderbilt Avenue (block 1129, lot 54). Back fill, clean up and fencing will take place during this two week period.
- Abatement is complete at 626 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 22). Demolition will be underway within this two week period.
Utility Work
All utility work scheduled to take place in Flatbush Avenue will only take place at night (between 10PM and 6AM) as mandated by DOT.
- The first of three phases of upgraded water and sewer installations is underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year. Work will continue on Dean Street between Flatbush and Sixth Avenues and on Sixth between Pacific and Dean Streets. In the next two weeks, night time work will begin on Flatbush Avenue at Dean Street and continue north along Flatbush.
- Transit ducts on Flatbush Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Dean Street will be relocated. This work is expected to continue over the next three months.
Transportation Update
- The B65 bus stop on Dean Street at the east side of Flatbush Avenue has been temporarily relocated further east on Dean Street between Carlton and 6th Avenues to accommodate utility work described above.
- On January 23, 2008, the Carlton Avenue Bridge, located between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street, was closed. Northbound traffic is being rerouted either west along Pacific Street to Sixth Avenue, which has been restriped as a two way street, or east along Pacific Street to Vanderbilt Avenue.
Posted by lumi at 7:56 PM
FCR official: lawsuit casts doubt on arena financing
Atlantic Yards Report
While NoLandGrab has been unable to confirm rumors that the speedy Norman Oder had posted his analysis of this morning's New York Post "exclusive" before the Post had actually published it, it's indisputable that Atlantic Yards Report adds some context and depth to the story:
Is the legal battle over Atlantic Yards having “a chilling affect” on Forest City Ratner’s ability to get financing? That's what a lawyer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said more than a week ago, according to lawyers for the 26 petitioners challenging the Atlantic Yards environmental review, though he denied it to the Brooklyn Paper.
Well, that kerfluffle is moot now that an FCR official has said essentially the same thing in legal papers, arguing for an expedited appeal of Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden's decision. (The New York Post has the story first today; the article's headlined COURT TROUBLE: RATNER ADMITS ARENA-FUNDING WOES.)
In an affidavit filed Thursday, Andrew Silberfein, FCR's Executive Vice President and Director of Finance, stated:
As the Court surely is aware, the credit markets are in turmoil at this time. Many lenders and bond insurers are facing financial difficulties, and are becoming much more cautious. It is not clear what the financial climate will be in several months, when the arena bond financing is made available to the public.
Although the decision that was issued by Justice Madden in this case on January 11, 2008 should be helpful in providing comfort to potential investors that there is no significant risk that the courts will annul the approvals for the Atlantic Yards project, there is a serious question as to whether, given the current state of the debt market, the underwriters will be able to proceed with the financing for the arena while the appeal is pending before this Court. (Emphasis added)
FCR wants the appellate arguments to be heard by May rather than held over until September; the developer would like to open the arena in 2010, even though the three-year bridge reconstruction clock, which started when the Carlton Avenue Bridge closed January 23, suggests that the earliest would be 2011.
Posted by eric at 9:31 AM
COURT TROUBLE
RATNER ADMITS ARENA-FUNDING WOES
The New York Post
by Rich Calder
Could the global credit crisis and sub-prime mortgage woes be the straws that broke Atlantic Yards' back?
Don't fork over money to reserve seats for the Brooklyn Nets just yet.
Developer Bruce Ratner is running into trouble securing funding for his controversial $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, which would bring an NBA arena for Ratner's Nets and 16 skyscrapers with residential and commercial space to Prospect Heights, according to court documents obtained by The Post.
The papers, filed Friday by Ratner's firm in an attempt to speed up the appeal process in a lawsuit by project opponents, reveal for a first time that the biggest development in Brooklyn's history is in jeopardy because of dragging litigation and a slumping fiscal market.
"The credit markets are in turmoil at this time . . . There is a serious question as to whether, given the current state of the debt market, the underwriters will be able to proceed with the financing for the arena while the appeal is pending," one affidavit says.
Read the affidavit from FCRC EVP and Director of Finance Andrew Silberfein [link opens a PDF].
NoLandGrab: The worse the economy gets, and the longer the court cases drag out, the more tenuous the Atlantic Yards project becomes. And with the city and state cutting hundreds of millions from education budgets and other programs that matter to voters, at what point do politicians start looking to cut non-essentials — like huge public handouts for Bruce?
Posted by eric at 8:47 AM
Among Us
If Heath and Michelle’s life in Brooklyn seemed like a wonderful dream, it was ours, not theirs.
NY Mag
From the "Intelligencer" rememberance of actor Heath Ledger:
Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams chose Brooklyn.... They could live wherever they wanted, but they chose Brooklyn. Ledger donned all that was good and laid-back about living here as if it were his best role, the most independent film yet, and we his happy extras.
When Brownstoner.com initially reported that Ledger and Williams had bought a home in Boerum Hill, one commenter posted that “roughly half the couples in the neighborhood with babies could be them.” But that’s not true, of course. They’d bought a fantastic corner brownstone. It was huge. There was a garden, soaring windows, an unheard-of three-car garage. The house shimmered as if they had a bit of Wyoming hidden behind that fence, loads of fresh air, mountains, horses, and gorgeous, gay cowboys who were, just then, saddling up to go give Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner hell. We imagined Ledger’s life. We lived it for him, and we didn’t even have to ask permission, because he was a celebrity. Here they could play at being regular people.
Posted by lumi at 5:47 AM
Nuttin' But Nets
While Bruce Ratner has been laying waste to properties he owns in the footprint of his Atlantic Yards megaproject, things haven't been going that well with the basketball franchise he bought to front his mammoth real estate scheme:
amNY, Nets' Big Three on downward spiral
The Nets stink. Even more stunning, a sound argument can be made that they're in worse shape than the Knicks.
...
Meanwhile, Thorn remains blindly loyal to coach Lawrence Frank, whose concepts are fine but whose substitution patterns and in-game adjustments are as brutal as you'll see. That's partly a nod to owner Bruce Ratner, who has been charmed by Frank the way James Dolan has fallen for Isiah Thomas.Thorn also is believed to have been following Ratner's marching orders when he re-signed Carter after the 31-year-old shooting guard opted out last summer. Knowing he still had at least two or three seasons left in New Jersey before moving to Brooklyn, Ratner didn't want to show fans in the swamp the surrender flag by breaking up the Big Three. Now the Nets are paying the price - both on the court and in the diminished trade value of those assets.
Yahoo Sports, Bryant gets nod over James for first-half MVP
And speaking about Bruce's "favorite son," Jersey sportswriter Adrian Wojnarowski just dubbed the flagging Vince Carter the league's LVP:
Least Valuable Player: Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets
Nothing predicts a Nets freefall better than a comfortable, well-paid and unmotivated Carter. Half-man, half-hearted. They are in the middle of a coach-killing, eight-game losing streak, and no one is playing softer than Carter. He has stopped going to the rim, stopped risking life and limb and declared his new four-year, $62 million contract fit for a suburban jump shooter.
As badly as Rod Thorn would love to trade him, there are no takers. Ownership wanted to overpay Carter last summer – not the basketball people – and they’re stuck with him.
NoLandGrab: Forest City Enterprises has experience in weathering market downturns, but company execs gotta be pissed off by the sound of the NJ Nets' giant money-sucking vortex and the effect that it has on the company's balance sheet.
Posted by lumi at 5:31 AM
Forest City in the News
Cleveland Plain Dealer, A green streak grows through traditional Forest City
Forest City Enterprises wants everyone to know that they are "going green" — like, what company isn't making token gestures towards green-ness these days.
A lesser-known fact: The 800 or so employees at Forest City's downtown headquarters produce more than 1,100 pounds of trash daily. More than 50 percent of that could be recycled. Here's another one: Executives estimate that the company could save roughly $70,000 by turning off or hibernating computers and monitors across the country at the end of the workday and during low-use periods.
This sort of thing really gets to Jon Ratner.
"Generally, waste bugs me. Inefficiency bugs me. And indifference bugs me," said the 36-year-old son of Forest City's chief executive.
That's partly why Ratner worked to have "sustainability" - in this case, the effort to balance environmental concerns and business goals - established as a key value at his family's company. And it's one reason that, in recent years, a shift has taken place in Forest City's corporate culture.
NoLandGrab: The shift towards sustainability hasn't trickled down to Brooklyn, where, at this very moment, in the footprint of Cousin Bruce's controversial Atlantic Yards plan, workers are taking down historic buildings that are crying out for redevelopment in a sustainable fashion. Instead, the site will persist as a wasteland (aka "temporary surface parking lot") for years to come.
Dallas Morning News, Forest City Enterprises buying Wilson Building in downtown Dallas
Another feel-good win-win story about Forest City Enterprises buying a historic building:
Considered one of Dallas' most important landmarks, the Wilson Building was converted into loft apartments in the 1990s.
The eight-story, 143-unit building is being sold by Atlanta-based Post Properties. Located at 1623 Main St., the building is valued for taxes at about $11 million.
"It's a neat building in a great location," Forest City executive vice president David Levey said Thursday. "We are going to spend a little money on improvements."
It's catty-corner from where Forest City is revamping the 65-year-old Mercantile tower into 216 apartments. Construction is also under way on an adjoining residential tower.
NoLandGrab: This is in sharp constrast to what the development company is doing in Brooklyn, where historic buildings are being demolished to make way for Forest City's 16-high-rise and arena megaproject.
It's outrageous that Forest City knows better, but doesn't feel the need to pay Brooklyn the same respect as they do Dallas, LA and DC, where the company is getting high marks for adaptively re-using older manufacturing and commercial buildings.
Reed Construction Data, SCHOTT Solar To Build Albuquerque Plant
Manufacturer to build plant at Forest City Enterprises Mesa Del Sol project in NM:
SCHOTT Solar is preparing to begin construction of a $100-million, 200,000-square-foot plant in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol to manufacture critical components for solar thermal receivers and photovoltaic panels.
Meanwhile, stock in Forest City (FCE-B) has been taking a beating, trading as low as $35 a share last week, off from the six-mo. high of $73 in August, 07.
Posted by lumi at 5:00 AM
January 27, 2008
The closing of Fort Greene's 4W, the demise of Bogolan, and the AY effect
Atlantic Yards Report
The story of the closing of 4W Circle of Arts and Enterprise at 704 Fulton Street, a unique incubator for artists and craftspersons from the African Diaspora is an "end of an era" in Fort Greene, and I told a good piece of the story in an article a few weeks back the Brooklyn Downtown Star. (Today from 4-9 pm 4W is holding "The Circle is Unbroken Celebration, Celebrate 17 years of Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Pride, Ujimma (Collective Work and Responsibility) and the continuation of People Power.")
...
It's impossible to assess how all the merchants of Bogolan feel about Atlantic Yards, but not all share [Errol] Louis's optimism. [Selma] Jackson, [a co-founder of 4W] commented critically on the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement:
For all the talk about what it will add to the community, including jobs, as a business owner I have seen very little benefit from the Atlantic Center development phase I or II. What it has done is decreased street parking for my customers, increased sanitation ticketing for small businesses—as one sanitation officer said to me “well the neighborhood has changed and we need to keep it clean”. Where was that philosophy when I opened in 1991? Why did it take until 2000 to be concerned about a “cleaner neighborhood? And finally it has given the landlords reason to increase the commercial rents based on the future potential of the neighborhoods, forcing small businesses out of the area now.
Posted by amy at 2:06 PM
January 26, 2008
Senator Montgomery on the Carlton Ave. Bridge Closing
Senator Velmanette Montgomery wrote a letter to Patrick Foye, Co-Chairman of the Empire State Development Corp. outlining concerns about the Carlton Ave. Bridge closing.
Among the concerns were the following:
-The Carlton Avenue Bridge connects several neighborhoods. It is a major thorough fare between Park Avenue and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE). The closing of the bridge will cut off a major connector between Park Slope/ Prospect Heights, and Fort Greene/ Clinton Hill; not only for cars but also for other modes of transportation.-It will create even more vehicle congestion than already exists on Flatbush Avenue. There is no indication vis a vis your map of the increases in congestion on Flatbush Avenue as a result of the Carlton Avenue Bridge closing.
-The map accompanying the “Community Notice” has arrows indicating redirected traffic onto Pacific Street. In addition, there are arrows that appear to direct traffic to several streets in Prospect Heights. That would mean that this neighborhood will experience increased congestion. However, there is no discussion about proposed mitigation for that and other areas, such as Boerum Hill, that will receive impacts.
-The map does not show where other construction and traffic rerouting is taking place such as a few blocks down at the intersection of Flatbush Avenues and Hanson Place and at Lafayette Avenue.
-Other plans and schedules that will affect traffic are the proposed narrowing of Vanderbilt Avenue, another link between Flatbush and Park Avenue.
-The Notice states that traffic will be rerouted to 6th Ave. which will become a two way street; however, 6th Ave is very narrow and is next to the 78th Precinct house where official police cars need to park.
-And, finally there is no mention how long the closing of the bridge will last.
Posted by amy at 11:02 AM
The magical vanishing of Pacific Street blight
Atlantic Yards Report
It seemed intractable, didn't it, the blight bordering the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard. As the Empire State Development Corporation declared in its Atlantic Yards Blight Study:
In contrast, as illustrated by Photographs H and I, the blocks south of Atlantic Avenue host a combination of vacant, underutilized, and physically deteriorating structures and vacant lots, and are lined with cracked and crumbling sidewalks that are overgrown with weeds and strewn with trash...
(Emphasis added)The ESDC punted on what agency was responsible for upkeep. But in the past couple of days, a clean-up has begun on the blocks. (Who's responsible? I'm not sure--I queried the ESDC and haven't yet heard back. I know it wasn't the same crew that blitzed Pacific Street one Sunday last September.)
Posted by amy at 9:09 AM
Game 42 - Warriors 121, Generals 119
nets net
[Rod Thorne] has an owner, a boss, who could CARE LESS about how that supposed basketball team in Jersey is doing. To him it's not a team, it's a big pawn in a real estate development scheme. Ratner was a client of mine in the 90s, and even 10 years ago Forest City Ratner had been trying to get the redevelopment of the Brooklyn rail yards for a decade, with no success and no momentum. Bringing Brooklyn its first professional sports franchise since the Dodgers left town in 1957 could be just the ticket to get the project going again, and done.
Posted by amy at 8:16 AM
Heath in Brooklyn
NY Magazine's Daily Intelligencer blog characterized Andrea Peyser's practically whiny NY Post column on the passing of actor Heath Ledger best:
Andrea Peyser, shockingly, is the first person to push the "Is it too soon?" boundary.
"Until the end, we had a love-hate thing for Heath," Peyser begins today's column. "In a neighborhood that previously was best known for its churches and Italian block-watchers, an area we loved for its anonymity, safety and fresh mozzarella, we suddenly had royalty." The cranky columnist goes on to complain that after the actor, his child, and girlfriend Michelle Williams (who is back in Brooklyn today) arrived, everything quickly became all about
"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!""Heath, Heath, Heath!" "Brooklyn grew expensive, but also generic," she gripes. "We loved it. We hated it. We dealt with it. Brooklyn was turning into Manhattan." Peyser, who admits she was grateful for the wealth that followed them into the neighborhood, also had a problem with Ledger and Williams's efforts to stop Bruce Ratner's development at the Atlantic Yards.
The Brooklyn Paper wrapped up its article about Heath Ledger, who took time to pitch in on the fight against Atlantic Yards, with a statement of condolence from Marty All-Things-Brooklyn Markowitz.
Posted by lumi at 3:58 AM
January 25, 2008
Not a waste of time
The Brooklyn Paper
Last Friday, during a court hearing to discuss scheduling the Yards opponents’ appeal of their recent loss in state Supreme Court, a lawyer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority apparently asked that the appeal be expedited because the long legal battle over the project is having “a chilling affect” on Ratner’s ability to get financing.
The lawyer, Steve Kass, later denied to a Brooklyn Paper reporter that he had made the comment, but two lawyers who were in the hearing confirmed that Kass had specifically cited Ratner’s financing woes as the reason for the request for an expedited appeals process.
...
We certainly share Kass’s sentiment that the legal battle over Atlantic Yards should be waged with all deliberate speed — but any delay at this stage is the fault of state officials, who circumvented normal planning review processes during their rush to approve Ratner’s mini-city before his old law shcool chum, Gov. Pataki, left office last year.
NoLandGrab: If Ratner IS having trouble financing his mega-deal, he'll surely lay blame at the feet of project critics, even though there is a global credit freeze and a glut of luxury housing on the market in Brooklyn.
It's nice to use the lawsuits as a scapegoat, but the truth is that Ratner created his own difficulties by proposing a plan that defies market conditions and the true needs of Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at 4:53 AM
Is NYC becoming a college town?
amNY
New York University, Columbia, John Jay, Hunter and Cooper Union are all mentioned as institutions looking to impose their will on the communities that surround them. To help make the point, the poster-child of bad development, Atlantic Yards, is used to illustration how much expansion these institutions desire.
Colleges and universities are forecasting unprecedented growth in the coming years, adding as much as 17 million square feet of space -- or more than either the World Trade Center or the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn -- and may begin to exert an even greater influence on the ebb and flow of life in the city.
Posted by steve at 4:41 AM
In Williamsburg, Vito Lopez wants "real" affordability
Atlantic Yards Report
Bruce Ratner's controversial subsidy-sucking Atlantic Yards plan creates an enormous warp in the local political space-time continuum — Brooklyn Democratic Chair Vito Lopez is the latest hypocrite to get sucked into its orbit.
Brooklyn Democratic Chair Vito Lopez, who represents Williamsburg and Bushwick in his Assembly district, is a strong proponent of affordable housing, so strong he's threatening to use eminent domain to ensure that the recently-closed Pfizer site would lead to truly affordable housing.
In a statement to the Observer, he said that the "company’s definition of affordability in no way matches the annual income of working class New Yorkers, nor the low and moderate incomes of Williamsburg residents."
Regarding Atlantic Yards, however, Lopez supported the "carve-out," ensuring a special break for Forest City Ratner and affordability that also departs from the incomes of working-class and average Brooklyn residents.
One commenter notes that it's all about eminent domain abuse:
If eminent domain abuse is used to give big developers, like Ratner, the chance to develop housing to be occupied by people at exceptionally high incomes (like with Ratner’s 421-a exception allowing him higher incomes than anyone else) then Mr. Lopez is in favor of it.
Posted by lumi at 4:38 AM
Bloomberg's Budget Cuts
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
These two items make the point that the sweetheart deal made with developer Bruce Ratner looks particularly foolish when the economy calls for belt-tightening.
Mayor Bloomberg proposes key service cuts and cutting $180 million from the Department of Education while handing over $205 million in direct cash subsidy to Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, as well as a blank check from city taxpayers for "extraordinary infrastructure costs."
Will the Council go for it?
Bloomberg: Economy is Highly Volatile
Bloomberg Proposes Budget Cuts Across City Agencies NY Times City Room Blog
...“No boom goes on indefinitely today,” the mayor said in a noontime news conference in the Blue Room at City Hall. “I think it’s fair to say that both the national and international economies are in a state of high volatility.”...
The Knickerblogger comments (correctly):
Yeah, Bloomberg, great time for the city and state to subsidize a billionaire developer with a poor track record's ill conceived attempt to build a highly speculative, poorly designed luxury condo/stripmall/arena complex.
Posted by steve at 4:30 AM
How Jacobs would view Yards
The Brooklyn Paper
By Michael Desmond Delahaye White
I went through the principles set forth in Jacobs’s book to create an Atlantic Yards report card (right). This report card covers all of Jacobs’s standards, such as the need for short blocks, a close mingling of buildings that vary in age and condition and even some of her more-obvious guidance: Don’t expect Jacobian endorsement of the mega-development’s 15-story illuminated electronic billboard.
Across-the-board, the mega-development earns almost entirely failing grades.
Jacobs pointed out that “big plans” lead to “big mistakes.” Her thinking also points out that when enormous subsidies are misdirected with disrespect for the city’s vital fabric, those mistakes are bigger and government is much more culpable for the harm.
The “F” grade that Jane Jacobs would have given this project speaks for itself.
Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report adds:
Would Jane Jacobs approve of Atlantic Yards? I've written before about how the planners behind the project Yards certainly were not unmindful of the Jacobsian qualities for a healthy city, but the project really wouldn't qualify.
Posted by lumi at 4:26 AM
January 24, 2008
Carlton Ave Bridge closing traffic
How does the closing of the Carlton Avenue Bridge affect traffic in the neighborhood?
NoLandGrab contributor and photographer Amy Greer took before-and-after photos (view flickr photoset) of traffic at the intersections of Vanderbilt and Atlantic Avenues and Vanderbilt and Fulton Avenues on Tuesday, the day before the Carlton Avenue Bridge closing, and Wednesday, after the bridge was closed.
Note, each pair of photos was taken at the same time of day.
View the slideshow
Posted by lumi at 5:10 AM
Atlantic Yards Report Tracy Collins took some photos today (and here's his photostream) of the bridge closing needed to accommodate a rebuilt railyard and a platform for construction. There's apparently potential for some traffic jams. That's Atlantic Terminal 4B in the background, across Atlantic Avenue, one sign of high-rise construction in contrast to more mid-rise and low-rise buildings on the south side of the project footprint. As I wrote, this starts a three-year reconstruction clock, given that the Carlton Avenue Bridge is supposed to take two years to rebuild, and the Sixth Avenue Bridge an additional year. That suggests that (assuming pending challenges fail) the arena couldn't open until January 2011, unless work speeded up and/or the developer and city agreed to open the arena with an adjacent traffic artery blocked.
Posted by lumi at 4:57 AM
Brit in Brooklyn Blogger and photographer Adrian Kinloch has revised his Google Map with photos of the footprint of Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards plan and is seeking collaborators, including fact checkers (Norman Oder?).
Posted by lumi at 4:44 AM
NY Newsday More on the death of Heath Ledger: [Michelle] Williams, who met Ledger on the set of the 2005 film "Brokeback," has a daughter, Matilda, 2, with him. The two returned from overseas to their Boerum Hill home last night, hopping out of a black Chevrolet sport utility vehicle in the driveway and entering through the garage, but Williams did not speak to reporters. In Brooklyn, community activist Daniel Goldstein remembered Ledger warmly, particularly because Ledger was on the advisory board of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, a group fighting the Atlantic Yards development. "He and ... Michelle were very gracious," Goldstein said. "Most of the world's famous actors don't get involved in neighborhood organizations and that meant a lot to us." NoLandGrab: In an attempt to get a sense of Heath Ledger's life outside of the movie biz and his A-list celeb status, reporters have been interested in his support for local community causes, like the fight against Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 4:28 AM
The New York Post, ONETIME IDYLLIC DAD IN UPSCALE BROOKLYN In return for the relative anonymity that Brooklyn afforded them, the big-screen power couple lent their names to a slew of social causes. For example, Ledger and Williams helped raise funds to fight planned high-rise condos in the proposed Brooklyn Bridge Park. "He was a real mensch . . . He and Michelle were engaged in all the big fights in Brooklyn," said Judi Francis, who heads a grass-roots group opposing the condo plan. Daniel Goldstein, the spokesman for a group opposing the borough's controversial Atlantic Yards project, said the actors also once hosted a fund-raiser for them. "The fact that he opened his home and gave his name to what we are fighting about was enough in itself," Goldstein said of Ledger. NY Daily News, Neighbors shocked by Ledger's death Ledger, who moved into Boerum Hill in 2005 after meeting Williams on the "Brokeback" set, actively opposed the proposed $3.5 billion Atlantic Yards development project that threatened to change the face of the neighborhood - one he'd come to cherish. "I like everything," he said in an interview. "I adore it. I love my neighbors and the coffee shop down the road. We're left [alone] there to live. That's the thing in New York City: You're protected by numbers in a way, particularly Brooklyn."
Posted by eric at 11:51 AM
This above, taken May 5th 2007 now looks like this below, taken at the weekend.
Posted by lumi at 5:12 AM
On this day in 1945: Birthdate of Bruce Ratner. Appointed by Ed Koch to the position of Commissioners of Consumer Affairs for New York City in 1978, he became a real estate developer in 1982. He is now the owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, his net worth now several hundred million dollars. Ratner is the developer charged with building the New York Times Tower He is a member of the board of the Jewish Heritage Museum. NoLandGrab: For the uninitiated, Birthday Bruce (62) is also the developer of the highly controversial eminent-domain-abusing subsidy-sucking historically dense Atlantic Yards arena and 16 high-rise tower project in But when you're slated to receive an estimated $2 billion in subsidies, it's like every day is your birthday.
Posted by lumi at 5:10 AM
Atlantic Yards Report Atlantic Yards has spawned several blogs, at least one documentary film, a book of photography (and other photographic work), and numerous songs. So why not some theater? In December, the Rockefeller Foundation announced that 16 cultural organizations were the first award recipients of the Foundation's $2.6 million New York City Cultural Innovation Fund, supporting “trailblazing initiatives that strengthen the City's cultural fabric." One of those grants, $150,000, was awarded to an innovative theater troupe called The Civilians, for “Development and Brooklyn Neighborhoods, a two-year theater lab exploring the Atlantic Yards Project.” The Civilians, in its self-description, “develops original projects based in the creative investigation of actual experience." Its grant application stressed, "The project is NOT a talking heads documentary about the various positions on Atlantic Yards. Instead, it will draw on the unique skills of theater artists to reveal the fabric of everyday life in these neighborhoods, and to discern how a community interacts with larger forces."
Posted by lumi at 4:56 AM
Photo by Tracy Collins, via Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
Posted by lumi at 4:50 AM
We offer our condolences to all of Heath Ledger's loved ones. Our heart goes out to his young daughter. His passing is very sad news. Heath was a member of our Advisory Board. He was not afraid to speak out against the entrenched power and corporate back room deals that the Atlantic Yards represents. He felt passionately that this project was wrong for Brooklyn. DDDB thanks him and celebrates his life. We are grateful that Heath chose to contribute to our efforts, and hope to honor his memory through our ongoing work. Gawker, The NY Press and amNY mentioned Ledger's stance against Atlantic Yards in their obits in reference to his relationship to actress Michelle Williams and his life in Brooklyn: In Brooklyn, with fiancee Michelle Williams, Heath Ledger became a Hollywood actor that the more sensitive among us could love, or at least tolerate. Why? Well, he lived in Brooklyn, wasn't afraid to kiss a dude in Brokeback Mountain, and showed us all that achieving (temporary, at least) domestic happiness was indeed possible. He and Williams went to community meetings to protest the Atlantic Yards development, hung out in the same places the rest of the parents in their neighborhood, took their kid to Prospect Park, and just generally behaved like normal people. After Michelle Williams left Ledger, he seemed to drift from the public eye for awhile after being quite vocal in protesting the Ratner Atlantic Yards development. But we chalked it up to being depressed and alone, and it fit that moody artist stereotype. New York a big part of Heath Ledger Ledger maintained a low-key lifestyle in the borough but joined an
advisory board for Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn in 2006. The group
opposed developer Bruce Ratner's plan to build a New Jersey Nets
stadium in Prospect Heights.
Posted by lumi at 9:22 PM
Daily Gotham, VOTE People and Norm Siegel fight Harlem Rezoning this Thursday As with Atlantic Yards, the Harlem development plan will displace lower and middle income families, driving them from the center of NYC and replacing them largely with luxury high rises. VOTE People is a community organization that, in its own words: ...works to manifest the needs and intent of the people of communities in which policy and legal reform is proposed, through a holistic approach including legal and political advocacy and social and cultural movements. ... HousingAndDevelopment.com, Brooklyn Housing Activists Rebuffed An organization battling developers over plans for Atlantic Yards along the East River in Brooklyn is dealt a defeat... NoLandGrab: There's another Atlantic Yards "along the East River?" This thing is bigger than we thought. For those of you who haven't been keeping tabs on The Gowanus Lounge, who has been keeping tabs on Atlantic Yards: The Daily News covers water works in Ratnerville. Bklink: Atlantic Yards Quiz Upset? The results from last night's Atlantic Yards Quiz competition are in.... It is also believed that the competition supplied Mr. Oder with libations before the start of the competition in order to soften him up. NoLandGrab: Mr. Oder managed to soften himself up at another event, which, thankfully, made him a really cheap date. Upcoming: (De)Construction of the Neighborhood Photos News of photo exhibit featuring photos by Tracy Collins, "the photographer who has been documenting the changes in the Atlantic Yards "footprint" and creating an invaluable visual record." Did Judge Believe That Part of Prospect Heights Really Stinks? If the truth be told, we've always felt that there were parts of the Atlantic Yards "footprint" in Prospect Heights that could have used a bit of a cleanup, particularly since the city and Forest City Ratner had been allowing conditions like dirty streets to get worse over the last couple of years....Yet, that's what the Empire State Development Corp's "blight study" said and what the Judge that ruled in the environmental review litigation accepted. Were residents living in "unsanitary and unsafe" conditions?
Posted by lumi at 7:46 PM
The Carlton Avenue Bridge closes (for two years)
Atlantic Yards Map Club: Collaborators Wanted
Ledger's death still mystery; Olsen twin was called
By Rocco Parascandola
...
Fans continued to leave bouquets, notes, candles and stuffed koalas outside the Brooklyn building, as well as at Ledger's Broome Street home.January 23, 2008
More on the death of Heath Ledger
Atlantic Yards Destruction Update
Brit in Brooklyn
Happy Bruce Day to You
This Day ... In Jewish History
Downtown Brooklyn Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.Atlantic Yards will (eventually) spawn some Jacobsian "investigative theater"
546 Vanderbilt nearly demolished
January 22, 2008
Our Condolences
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn on the death of Heath Ledger:
It came from the Blogosphere...
They are teaming up with civil rights attorney and former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (and candidate for Public Advocate) Norman Siegel to fight the Harlem rezoning. You can think of it, perhaps, as "Develop, Don't Destroy Harlem..."
Bklink: There Goes the Water
EMINENT DOMAINIA: The Big Apple Bites!
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Columbia Spectator, Possibility of Eminent Domain Worries Manhattanville Residents Bright orange brick reaches into the Manhattanville skyline, refusing to blend in. Though the business name painted on the wall reads “Tuck-It-Away,” the building’s owner does the opposite when expressing his thoughts about Columbia’s expansion. It is one of only three properties preventing Columbia’s full control of the campus footprint. But above “Tuck-It-Away” reads another message—“Stop Columbia! We Won’t Be Pushed Out!” |
Though the city approved the University’s expansion plan, a major aspect of the project remains uncertain—whether the state will invoke eminent domain on the University’s behalf.
NoLandGrab: You can be "certain" that "the state will invoke eminent domain on the University’s behalf."
The article also mentions Atlantic Yards, but gets developer Bruce Ratner's and NY State's official justification of the project totally wrong:
In two of the city’s recent eminent domain cases, developers proposed replacing private properties at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards and Queens’ Willets Point with commercial real estate. The state granted eminent domain for Atlantic Yards and is considering invocation for Willets Point. The Atlantic Yards decision, and apprehension about Willets Point, sparked a fury of opposition from local residents and community leaders who allege eminent-domain abuse.
Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner defended the construction by explaining that, although it would not be for public use, the project would be more economically beneficial than the existing properties.
The justification for the use of eminent domain is "blight." Initially Ratner used both reasons, blight clearance and economic development. However, after the Kelo *case was decided so closely, with one concurring justice describing an exception that sounded very much like Atlantic Yards, the developer and the State fell back on the old warhorse, BLIGHT."
Castle Watch Daily, The occasional irony of eminent domain
It was to complement the Pfizer facility that the city of New London invoked eminent domain on the properties of Susette Kelo and her neighbors. On January 5, Crain’s New York Business reported:
Assemblyman Vito Lopez, D-Brooklyn, has written a bill to condemn several acres in Williamsburg that Pfizer has owned since the 1800s. He wants the plot taken by eminent domain to make way for affordable housing.
But Pfizer denies Mr. Lopez’s claim that the drugmaker reneged on a pledge to give the land away for public use once it closes its plant there.
Duffield St. Underground, Duffield Street is the #1 story of the year
On Jan. 3, the Downtown Brooklyn Star published its countdown of the Top 10 Stories of 2007, and Duffield Street even surpassed the Atlantic Yards.
GroundReport.com, Presidential Candidate Defended Black Church Dispossessed By Eminent Domain
Local Libertarian Party leader Richard Cooper reports from the town of West Hempstead:
The town offered $80,000 for a property that the church paid $130,000 and held a $200,000 mortgage. A member of the zoning board said "We have enough churches here in New Cassel." Rev. Fred Jenkins and St. Luke's Pentecostal Church did not want to sell at any price. The Church wanted to renew the community and the building with "God's plan and their money" instead of "the Town's plan and the taxpayers' money."
2008 Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, MD (R-TX) heard our voice as reported in Libertarian Party News and acted. He introduced a bill with the cosponsorship of Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI) to bar the use of federal funds to seize houses of worship.
Posted by lumi at 7:12 PM
Perspective
When President Bush called for a $150 billion economic stimulus package on Friday, it got us to thinking about the Atlantic Yards economic stimulus package, a basket of tax breaks and subsidies that some say could be worth up to $2 billion to Bruce Ratner.
If $150 billion is really enough to re-start the economy and ease the pain for the entire country, then the $2 billion handout for Ratner could go a long way if it were redeployed to New York City residents who actually need it.
On the other hand, if the $2 billion in subsidies being handed over to Ratner is only expected to create 375 new permanent jobs, a $150 billion national package is highly unlikely to be sufficient to stave off a painful recession.
Put another way, either the American people aren't getting enough — or Bruce Ratner is getting too much.
Posted by eric at 7:09 AM
WE HEAR . . . WE HEAR
NY Post, Page Six
THAT Nets chairman Bruce Ratner will marry longtime companion Dr. Pamela Lipkin, a prominent plastic surgeon, on Sunday before a small family gathering at their Manhattan home.
NoLandGrab: Sources say that Bruce Ratner's Manhattan home is NOT under threat of eminent domain.
January must be the month for developers' nuptials — Donald and Melania Knauss Trump are celebrating their third anniversary today.
Posted by lumi at 5:31 AM
Before Gehry joined Ratner: "one architect" model was wrong way to go
Atlantic Yards Report
In February 2002, some months (presumably) before developer Bruce Ratner asked him to work alone on the Atlantic Yards project (and towers over the Atlantic Center mall), architect Frank Gehry suggested that a "one architect" model to build "sections of the city" was precisely the wrong way to go.
The video from the annual TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference has just been posted. Gehry's musings on the issue began at about 12:28, under the "City building" segment.
...
The question is why he agreed; perhaps the opportunity to build his first arena, and a "neighborhood practically from scratch" trumped Gehry's qualms about the "one architect" model.The Regional Plan Association, using a somewhat different gloss on the term Gehry used, argued last May that Atlantic Yards shows we must get much better at "city building."
Posted by lumi at 5:18 AM
City Council bills would cost owners who warehouse property
Atlantic Yards Report
In November, I wrote about how Boston, unlike New York, has changed tax policies to give owners of vacant or abandoned properties not in tax arrears a reason to sell or build, and how Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was pushing for new policies in New York.
Now, as the Daily News reported last Wednesday, such empty buildings north of 110th St. would lose a tax break under state law.
...
What might such changes have meant for the Atlantic Yards footprint? They would've provided some more revenue to the city, and might have pushed the owners warehousing property to sell or build. And such laws would've provided an alternative to declaring stagnant properties blighted, as the state has determined.In other words, eminent domain isn't the only tool to revitalize an area that has empty buildings or lots.
NoLandGrab: Interesting, though we're pretty sure that most ardent libertarian property-rights anti-tax activists are cringing at the notion of such legislation.
Posted by lumi at 5:09 AM
546 Vanderbilt demolition continues
Photo by Tracy Collins, via Atlantic Yards Photo Pool (flickr)
According to the most recent Ratnerville Construction Update (emphasis added):
Demolition is underway at 546 Vanderbilt Avenue (block 1129, lot 54) and will continue for the next one–two months.
NoLandGrab: "One-two months," ya mean like a one-two punch?
Posted by lumi at 4:58 AM
AVP, theater hire Yormark, Nets to sell naming-rights inventory
Sports Business Journal, via NBA.com
By John Lombardo
Bruce Ratner's pr wunderkind, Brett Yormark, is making his mark outside of the Nets' team operations, as the Brucester expands into the field of corporate naming rights for "civic projects" like the AVP Tour and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino.
The man who runs the Nets and who sold naming rights to two NBA arenas in the past year is now taking a deeper dive into the business by selling naming-rights inventory for the AVP Tour and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino.
In addition, he’s developed a partnership with Atlanta-based sports marketing company Career Sports & Entertainment to help in analysis and public relations around the sales effort.
It’s all part of Yormark’s creative and aggressive style as he expands the Bruce Ratner-owned Nets Sports and Entertainment portfolio.
Posted by lumi at 4:44 AM
The McLaughlin Group: The Economy Tanking
Daily Kos
Though it's not specifically about Atlantic Yards, we thought that it was worth mentioning that real estate and publishing mogul Mort Zuckerman was on the McLaughlin Group explaining how and why credit is so difficult to come by.
I don't think it's an exaggeration. It's an understatement. You've heard me say here I think we are facing the worst financial crunch and crisis since the Great Depression. You have the entire banking system now that is virtually frozen and there are not just the sub-prime mortgage thing. There are other things called credit default swaps where they're going to lose as much money, 250 billion dollars on. The banks are frozen. They're not making loans because they have such huge debts that they have to take onto their balance sheets and nobody knows how to deal with that because you had a dramatic...you had two bubbles that have burst at the same time. The housing bubble which has collapsed in this country. The first time since the Great Depression that housing values have gone down for a year since the depression and it's going to go down even more next year. The credit crunch, you've just exploded the whole credit system in this country. We were way over leveraged. The banking system was over-leveraged. People didn't even know about it. The bankers didn't know about it. They didn't access the risk. Now that risk is piling in and every body's going to pay the price. Uh it's going to stimulate nothing other, I mean it's going to destimulate the economy. Nobody has money to lend. They're saving all their money to pay off their debts. They're borrowing money or looking at uh the rest of the world to enhance their capital and it's still not going to solve their problems.
NoLandGrab: This has to affect the local building boom, despite the fact that New York City has so far been immune from the national real estate slump, thanks to Wall St. bonuses and the 421(a) plan, which, for the past two decades, has served to subsidize new luxury housing construction.
Posted by lumi at 4:19 AM
Downtown Brooklyn Gets College Bookstore
City Tech Prepares for Yet Bigger Changes to Come
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Dennis Holt
[City Tech] will gain about 300,000 square feet of additional space across Jay Street as part of one of the largest development projects in Downtown Brooklyn. Forest City Ratner will build a 923,000-square-foot structure, probably rising 50 stories with 600 residential units, 450 of them rentals; as well as 23,000 square feet of retail space.
As previously mentioned, it will be built at the site of the Klitgord Auditorium, and will clearly be the signature Brooklyn building for those coming off the Brooklyn Bridge.
Posted by lumi at 4:12 AM
January 21, 2008
Carlton Avenue Bridge closing (postponed)
Photo by Tracy Collins, from the Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
from the Atlantic Yards and ESDC Community Notice (pdf):
In order to allow for utility work to be completed in the detour area before the Carlton Avenue Bridge is closed, the closure has been postponed.
Beginning approximately January 23, 2008, the Carlton Avenue Bridge, located between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street in Brooklyn, will be closed. The one-way bridge is being closed to accommodate upgrading the Long Island Rail Road’s Vanderbilt Yard under the bridge, and also to construct a new bridge as part of the Atlantic Yards project. For the duration of this work, northbound traffic will be rerouted either west along Pacific Street to Sixth Avenue, which will become two-way to accommodate this detour, or east along Pacific Street to Vanderbilt Avenue.
Advisory signs will be posted in advance of the closure and detour signs will be posted during the work. Traffic agents will be assigned to facilitate the flow of traffic.
Posted by lumi at 5:16 AM
On MLK Day, the question of jobs, housing, and infrastructure
Atlantic Yards Report
Well, where do we go from here (to quote the title of a King speech)? On Saturday, in a column headlined Good Jobs Are Where the Money Is, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, taking off from the observation that the gap between rich and poor is ever-growing, observed:
Forget all the CNBC chatter about Fed policy and bargain stocks. For ordinary Americans, jobs are the be-all and end-all. And an America awash in new jobs will require a political environment that respects and rewards work and aggressively pursues creative policies designed to radically expand employment.
I’d start with a broad program to rebuild the American infrastructure. This would have the dual benefit of putting large numbers of people to work and answering a crying need. The infrastructure is in sorry shape. New Orleans comes to mind, and the tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis.
The country that gave us the Marshall Plan to rebuild postwar Europe ought to be able, 60 years later, to reconstitute its own sagging infrastructure.
Herbert's point, extrapolated to Brooklyn, is that targeted government investment can turn the tide. The need for jobs and housing is far, far greater than the holy grail of the Atlantic Yards project.
Posted by lumi at 5:10 AM
"Nice building. Then what?" Frank Gehry on TED.com
TED.com
In