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March 31, 2008
More than $20B in developments dead or at risk of never seeing light of day
NY Daily News
by Jonathan Lemire
The boom is going bust.
More than $20 billion worth of high-profile developments across the city - many designed by world-renowned architects and touted by top officials - are dead or at risk of never getting off the drawing board.
The crumbling economy has forced developers to scale back their grand visions and has endangered projects that range from architectural marvels like Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards towers in Brooklyn to crucial pieces of the city's infrastructure, like Manhattan's Moynihan rail hub in midtown.
"It really was an amazing run for cities and particularly for New York," said Elliott Sclar, an urban planning professor at Columbia University. "But it appears that itmay be over now.
...Some urban planners say projects like Moynihan Station, Atlantic Yards and another mega-proposal to redevelop Willets Point, Queens, are struggling to get off the ground because plans have grown too bloated.
"All of these projects have been driven by a form of planning called fiscal planning, where the city is not concerned with the physical structure of spaces but only maximizing real estate values or tax revenues," Sclar said. "That's not the right way to promote healthy development."
Posted by eric at 9:58 PM
Sports of The Times: Showing Power, but Weakening a Neighborhood
The New York Times
by Harvey Araton
Times columnist Araton rues the sacrifice of scarce Bronx parkland to a new Yankee Stadium.
With the stadiums side by side, the end of one era blurs with the beginning of another. Baseball’s sights and sounds are always familiarly welcome. But I wonder how many visitors inching their cars through the narrow streets from the northern suburbs or New Jersey this season will notice what has been lost, or taken, from that crowded urban landscape.
How many will mourn the fallen trees, the oasis of green that was Macombs Dam Park, the way Joyce Hogi will?
“A lot of people in the neighborhood really never thought it was going to happen until the trees came down,” she said.
In stages, the park was shuttered, the people of what is often called the poorest Congressional district in America, thrown out at home. Finally, last November, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation issued a news release announcing the closing of the last remaining section, including the ball fields, the handball and basketball courts, to make way for another sure sign of artistic urban development, Garage A.
NoLandGrab: Sadly, we can't say it's a surprise that the City would try to claim an existing schoolyard or a pedestrian walkway among the "parkland" "replacing" Macombs Dam Park.
Posted by eric at 4:20 PM
Docs: Low Disclosure Req'd From Ratner For ED Seizure
Brownstoner.com
by Sarah Ryley
Brownstoner's Sarah Ryley has been poring over the State funding agreement for Atlantic Yards, and the details aren't pretty. For one thing, even though Bruce Ratner himself says the arena's the only thing he plans to start building, the state plans to seize all the land in the 22-acre footprint.
Bruce Ratner would only be required to show his financing plan for the Atlantic Yards arena, not its office and residential towers, for the state to seize property and leases spread across the project's 22-acre footprint. According to the recently released AY funding agreement, "Prior to, or simultaneously with, [Empire State Development Corporation] acquiring title to any portion of the Project Site by condemnation, Developer or its Affiliates shall (i) provide a financing plan, subject to the reasonable approval of ESDC, for the financing of the Arena, and (ii) cause the closing to occur under the acquisition contract for the LIRR Vanderbilt Yard." Most of the property the state plans to seize is not in the arena footprint, and the promise of 2,250 units of affordable housing was a central argument in justifying the use of eminent domain. Forest City Ratner spokesman Loren Riegelhaupt pointed out that prior to the state approving Atlantic Yards, "We have provided a complete financing plan for the entire project ... which outlines in detail all the components of the plan." That plan, dated late 2006, expected the residential and commercial towers to be largely financed by affordable housing bonds and mortgages. ESDC spokesman Warner Johnston said in an email exchange, "The residential piece is the most important component and we are working with the developer to ensure that it is delivered."
Lead Atlantic Yards opponent Daniel Goldstein was momentarily speechless last night when read the terms for seizing his condo, which is located in the center court of the planned arena. "This idea that they're going to condemn 22 acres when the only thing they can assure is an arena, it's an abomination... it's crazy, it's unethical." Goldstein contends that "the state needs to assure that there are financing agreements for the affordable housing before they proceed with condemnation." In a recent interview with The New York Times, Ratner indicated he intends to finish the entire project, but said his inability to find Miss Brooklyn an anchor office tenant and the tightened bond market could delay everything but the arena for years. He's made more headway in financing the arena, now tagged at nearly $1 billion: Barclays Bank agreed to pay $400 million for its naming rights, less than two-thirds the total expected from sponsorship deals according to the 2006 financial plan. Luxury suite and loge box revenue would bring in even more, staring at $38 million a year and steadily increasing.
NoLandGrab: Does the state really intend to sit idly by while Ratner creates a Norwood-style wasteland — or a massive parking lot?
Posted by eric at 3:47 PM
Sunday in NYC: Avella denounces overdevelopment; Luxury Living showcase draws throng
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder attended the kick-off event for Tony Avella's mayoral campaign, and then took a gander at the condomania playing a central role in the Queens councilman's platform.
Longshot mayoral candidate Tony Avella, a maverick City Council Member from Northeast Queens, officially launched his candidacy yesterday afternoon at a City Hall press conference. Seeking to distinguish himself from the highly-scripted typical politicians, Avella declared that he hadn't written a speech but instead would speak about three main issues.
Indeed, two of Avella's issues barely registered with the crowd of supporters behind him: lowered taxes and a revamped education system. Rather, they applauded heartily when he condemned overdevelopment, asserting that the real estate industry has too much power and "the city has done very little to preserve quality of life."
"Overdevelopment," he said, "is destroying the character of every community. That absolutely must stop."
...After leaving Avella's press conference, where some supporters carried signs asserting "The revolution starts... now!", it took just three stops uptown along the #6 subway line to visit the New York Observer's Luxury Living: New York Condo Showcase at the Puck Building at Lafayette and Houston streets.
Compared to the crowd at City Hall, this group was less gritty and better-dressed. There was a bar, musical entertainment, and other festive accoutrements. And all these projects, and their buyers, gain benefits from the belatedly-reformed 421-a tax break, which has fueled development all over the city, including the Queens districts that constitute Avella's base.
Posted by eric at 3:37 PM
The Community Boards face cuts, but the system needs a boost
Atlantic Yards Report
It was a relatively small article on page 5 of the City section of the New York Times, sandwiched in between pieces on the closing of a beloved laundry in Cobble Hill and after-school life at a coffee/tea/spice shop in Park Slope, but it touched on a very important issue: New Yorkers have way too few resources to pursue democracy at the neighborhood level. What it didn't explain is why the Community Board (CB) system needs reform, and may well become an issue in the next mayoral race.
The article, headlined Not Quite Passing the Hat, but Already Feeling the Pain, concerns cuts of 5%-8% at the CBs, which may not sound like much, but cut into already limited resources.
...City Council Member Gale Brewer, who represents the Upper West Side, lamented that CBs often don't have the resources to be proactive, to say "This alternative works." The Atlas is an attempt to change that, to show what community planners have been doing.
Support from the Borough President and others, Brewer said, can be key to empowering the CBs. Most don't have the staff to keep up with all the changes in their community and put all documents online. "Maybe Craig Hammerman"--District Manager of Brooklyn CB 6, which has an extensive web site--"because he's a nut," Brewer said affectionately, but few others manage similarly.
NoLandGrab: Brooklyn CB 6 — largely thanks to the tireless Hammerman — has long advocated for a much greater community role in the Atlantic Yards project.
Posted by eric at 3:28 PM
March 30, 2008
Miss Brooklyn: dead, not dead, or simply not animatronic just yet?
Atlantic Yards Report
OK, is Atlantic Yards dead? What about the Miss Brooklyn tower? Let's try to sort through the coverage, given that the two major Brooklyn weeklies, the Brooklyn Paper and the Courier-Life chain, are providing diametrically different coverage.The short answer: Atlantic Yards, at the timetable envisioned, is obviously dead, but a major project somewhat like it might arrive on a much attenuated schedule. As for Miss Brooklyn, it's not "killed," but rather delayed, though developer Forest City Ratner seems to be seriously spinning its chances.
Posted by amy at 12:39 PM
BROOKLYN MATTERS
The trailer for Brooklyn Matters is now online.
No single event will have a more drastic and long-lasting impact on Brooklyn that the Atlantic Yards Project, proposed by nationally-known developer Bruce Ratner and designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. If built, it would be the densest development in the United States. And yet, this project has circumvented customary financial disclosures, escaped community input, and leapfrogged environmental protections. The public has been misled to believe that the Atlantic Yards proposal was a done deal since the day it was announced. Isabel Hill's documentary, BROOKLYN MATTERS, reveals the fuller truth about the project and highlights how a few powerful men have disregarded planning principles and manipulated a desperate need for jobs and affordable housing in the community to push their interests forward.
The next screening will take place Tuesday, April 1, 7pm
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
357 Clermont Avenue, Brooklyn (btwn. Greene & Lafayette Aves.).
Co-sponsors: Society for Clinton Hill, Fort Greene Association, and DDDB
Posted by amy at 12:30 PM
All drawn out
The Brooklyn Paper
Cristian Fleming
Posted by amy at 12:27 PM
Why mega-projects are falling apart
crain's
Theresa Agovino
Successful development projects in New York City rest on a three-legged stool of financing, political support and community approval. When even just one of those legs is broken, the project can weaken and, in some cases, fail.That reality has become painfully apparent in the past couple of weeks, as some of the biggest projects in the city—Atlantic Yards, Hudson Rail Yards, Moynihan Station and Pier 40—appear to be at risk.
The biggest threat to Atlantic Yards and Hudson Yards is the credit crisis.
Two weeks ago, Bruce Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, said that its $4 billion Brooklyn project faces delays because of the financing environment.
Posted by amy at 12:14 PM
David Paterson: Governor Of New York State
Atlanta Daily World
HERB BOYD
One listener in Albany wanted to know if Paterson the governor will keep the promises made by Paterson the state senator, a position he held for more than 20 years."He promised a moratorium on eminent domain," she said. "I wonder if he'll keep that promise and how that'll impact such projects as Willets Point, Columbia University, and Bruce Ratner's plans for the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn."
Posted by amy at 12:07 PM
March 29, 2008
On Hudson Yards plan, Times hails "real bidding process"
Atlantic Yards Report
From a New York Times editorial yesterday on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plan for the Hudson Yards, headlined Finally, a Vision for the West Side:
The M.T.A., we are pleased to say, conducted a real bidding process. That was a refreshing change from years past when it looked as though the yards might be given away in a back-room deal. It would take a lot more vigilance and transparency to ensure that the new Hudson Yards work for all New Yorkers.And when did the Times editorialize about the not-so-real bidding process for the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard in Brooklyn, a process that began 18 months after the city and state announced their backing for Forest City Ratner's plan?
Posted by amy at 11:23 AM
Meet Avi Schick, New York's New Steamroller
The New York Observer
Eliot Brown
A longtime attorney, today he sits as president and acting CEO of New York State’s powerful development agency, with control over numerous multibillion-dollar projects such as the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station, the Javits Center expansion and the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. With a new administration in Albany and the top position vacant following the recent resignation of the Empire State Development Corporation’s co-chairman, Patrick Foye, a well-connected Mr. Schick is pushing to make his temporary role at the agency’s top a permanent one, according to people with knowledge of his plans.
...
A physically imposing Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn, Mr. Schick is cordial and warm in casual conversation, noticeably fidgeting his legs as he sits and talks with a confidence about his work. The posts of LMDC chairman and ESDC president, which also includes overseeing the $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn and the possible use of eminent domain for Columbia University’s West Harlem expansion, keep him tied to his work, so much so that he has said he’s added a visible set of gray hairs to his previously jet-black beard.
Schick has already earned the love of both Sheldon Silver and Bruce Ratner:
The developers of Atlantic Yards, Forest City Ratner, also give high marks to Mr. Schick, with CEO Bruce Ratner praising him for his intelligence and competence.“He’s got a combination of legal ability, leadership and also being able to pull together both lawyers, agencies and the private sector,” Mr. Ratner said. “Compared to other people I’ve worked with in government, he’s on the very, very top.”
Posted by amy at 11:05 AM
KARMA: It's what goes around...
This week, a Forest City Ratner spokesperson offered some words of advice after Home Depot told Crain's NY Business that they were having second thoughts about opening a Manhattan store at the East River Plaza.
Crain's reported that "the Home Depot Inc. is close to abandoning" the deal and that the company "confirmed that it is rethinking the location, even though it has already signed a lease."
Forest City Ratner spokesperson Loren Riegelhaupt countered, "We have a lease with them, and we expect them to live up to that."
This isn't the first act of the big-box opera at the East River Plaza mall and some might even say that Forest City Ratner and its development partner the Blumenfeld Development Group had it coming.
Long-time NoLandGrab readers might recollect that in late May 2005, NY Newsday reported that Costco was "close to signing a lease for its first Manhattan store" at Ratner's East River Plaza. Just over a year later, in August 2006, Ratner and Edward Blumenthal gave Costco the heave-ho for Target (The NY Times, "Costco Fails Again in Bid for a Manhattan Foothold," September 17, 2006). Costco's Chairman Jeffrey H. Brotman, recalled his reaction when Bruce told him the news, “I was really angry. From Bruce I didn’t expect it.’’
In Brooklyn — where leases for Nets arena luxury boxes are being offered on May 15, while affordable housing is delayed until further notice, — we expect Bruce and Company to live up to their reputations, it's just baffling when they bristle at consequences of their own bad karma.
Posted by lumi at 10:59 AM
It Came from the Blogosphere...
Who Walk In Brooklyn, Death In Gowanus: Electric Switchboard Co. RIP
WWIB mourns the coming death of one of their "favorite buildings in all of Gowanus: Electric Switchboard Co" and makes the connection between Gowanus developer Marc Freud and Atlantic Yards, as well as heaping praise on Atlantic Yards Report.
Seriously tho’, Norm’s has been on fire lately, hilariously busting the Daily News, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle manque & the unbelievably naive (or just plain dopey) yokels at ACORN, who were played so hard by Bruce Ratner but they won’t stop singing that tune for fear of admitting they were wrong from the start: oops upside your head indeed.
CultureGrrl, Brooklyn/Murakami/Vuitton: It Keeps Getting Worse
CultureGrrl connects The Brooklyn Museum, a French luxury fashion and leather goods brand, Kanye West, Rudy Giuliani, the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation, Nicolai Ouroussoff, Frank Gehry, and of course, Bruce Ratner. Phew...
The honoree of Brooklyn Ball is real estate developer Bruce Ratner, whose company, Forest City Ratner, was just taken to task by the NY Times architecture critic for "a betrayal of public trust" in planning (for economic reasons) to downsize Frank Gehry's "bold ensemble of buildings" for Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards---a move that Ouroussoff declared would "only confirm our darkest suspicions about the cynical calculations underlying New York real estate deals." Isn't he the same guy who's taking the N.J. Nets out of my home state?
New Penn Station, Listen to MAS President Kent Barwick on WNYC
Today on WNYC’s Morning Edition, MAS President Kent Barwick described the public benefit of Moynihan Station and suggested that the State should consider using its powers of eminent domain to take the Garden's property. From WNYC:“The state has been willing to use its powers to take land for Bruce Ratner in Brooklyn to do Atlantic Yards or to take land in Morningside Heights away from private property owners to give to Columbia. Those are arguable public benefits, but there’s no question about the public benefit of having a great new rail station. This is the most important project in New York and is the single most important step in getting the West Side developed which we need for the future of the city. And so the public benefit is clear and ultimately if the private property owners who everyone has been trying to deal with for years can’t be brought into a realistic arrangement then the state should consider using its powers to take the property.”
Posted by amy at 9:46 AM
FCR's Beekman tower finally financed; school will be a year late
Atlantic Yards Report
Despite the credit crunch, Forest City Ratner shows it can cobble together major financing from several sources, announcing yesterday that it had secured $680 million in financing for the Frank Gehry-designed Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan.The bonds are issued by the New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYC HDC) but are not the tax-exempt housing bonds needed to construct the market-rate and affordable rentals in the Atlantic Yards project. Rather, they are a combination of tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, aimed to revive Lower Manhattan, and taxable bonds.
...
Forest City Ratner had said the school planned for the site would open in 2009; now, reports the Observer, the planned opening is 2010. Note that the School Construction Authority had cited a delay in steel, while the delay in financing was more clearly to blame. FCR had previously ducked a request from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver regarding the timetable.
Posted by amy at 9:37 AM
March 28, 2008
Home Depot may back out of Harlem site
Home Depot said it is rethinking its long-anticipated East River Plaza location, even though it has already signed a lease.
Crain's NY Business
by Elisabeth Butler Cordova
We're starting to think that there's a permanent rain cloud hovering over Atlantic Yards and East River Plaza developer Forest City Ratner's MetroTech headquarters.
Real estate sources say that The Home Depot Inc. is close to abandoning its long-anticipated store at the East River Plaza in Harlem, a major new retail development from Forest City Ratner and Blumenfeld Development group.
Home Depot confirmed that it is rethinking the location, even though it has already signed a lease.
...“We have a lease with them, and we expect them to live up to that,” says Loren Riegelhaupt, vice president of government and public affairs at Forest City Ratner Cos., which partnered with Blumenfeld Development Group to create the project.
NoLandGrab: Does Forest City's Mr. Riegelhaupt mean "we expect them to live up to that" in the same way that Forest City Ratner is failing miserably in living up to its Atlantic Yards promises of 10,000 new permanent jobs, 2,250 units of affordable housing and $5.6 billion in new tax revenues, with all the construction wrapped up in 10 years? Just wondering.
Posted by eric at 3:11 PM
Yard Work
The Brian Lehrer Show
WNYC Radio
A 17-minute segment from yesterday's Brian Lehrer Show, featuring Crain's New York editor Greg David and WNYC's Matthew Schuerman comparing and contrasting the Yards Atlantic and Hudson.
Posted by eric at 10:51 AM
As Builders’ Grand Visions Dissolve, So Does Our Faith
NY Times columnist Clyde Haberman takes a sideswipe at Atlantic Yards in today's column about grand urban development plans and promises broken (emphasis added):
On other fronts, plans to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center were hurled into limbo by the administration of Gov. Eliot Spitzer. (Remember him?) Have you noticed proposals for a new Pennsylvania Station going anywhere? Much of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn now seems about to be put on hold — not that everyone will mourn.
For the ne plus ultra of development delays, we have only three words for you: World, Trade and Center.
Posted by lumi at 6:45 AM
If you read only the dailies, you're missing Atlantic Yards news
Atlantic Yards Report
The headline for this item is hardly news for regular readers of NoLandGrab and the Atlantic Yards Report.
New Yorkers who limit themselves to newspapers--as opposed to, say, online compendiums and coverage at No Land Grab and AYR--might wind up with a very skewed view of the current status of the Atlantic Yards project, since they sure haven't read about the Empire State Development Corporation's (ESDC) generous deadlines, 6+ years to build the arena, then 12+ years to build the first five towers.
Think about it. The New York Times broke the big news last Friday about the Atlantic Yards stall, but hasn't followed up with reporting about the ESDC's willingness to give developer Forest City Ratner a very long leash (though reporter Charles Bagli mentioned it on the Leonard Lopate show yesterday), nor the developer's plan to sell luxury suites.
The New York Post followed up Saturday with a brief article but Monday offered a much longer article about the suite deal. Nothing about the deadlines.
The New York Daily News offered no news article on the stall but ran two sympathetic columns, then a short article Monday about the suites. Nothing about the deadlines.
Norman Oder goes on to show how coverage from on-line sources and newspapers provide the facts you would otherwise miss when you only consult The New York Times, New York Post and Daily News.
Read this post and see what you've been missing.
Posted by steve at 6:43 AM
Visions of parking lots at stalled Atlantic Yards site
MetroNY
By Amy Zimmer
If you're wondering why Bruce Ratner has been taking down every building he possibly can in the footprint of his stalled Atlantic Yards plan, there's only one answer... PARKING.
What’s next for Atlantic Yards? How about a giant parking lot?
At least, that’s what some Brooklynites fear is coming in light of developer Bruce Ratner’s announcement that the recessionary climate has stalled parts of the $4 billion project.
“He’s demolished a number of buildings,” said Tish James, the area’s City Councilwoman and a vocal critic of the project, at a recent City Hall hearing on congestion pricing. “I don’t want those lots to be turned into parking lots.”
Ratner has said construction on the 18,000-seat arena was scheduled to begin by yearend, but other parts of the project’s first phase — housing, retail and an office tower dubbed “Miss Brooklyn” — are on hold.
Some have already predicted that if congestion pricing becomes a reality, a boom in parking lots and garages will soon follow in easy-access portions of the outer boroughs.
James said she is worried about the parking-lot scenario at Atlantic Yards because “it’s a revenue generator and right now [land is] sitting fallow.”
...
A Ratner rep insisted the land would not be turned into parking lots.
NoLandGrab: Don't count on un-named Ratner reps to all of the sudden start telling the truth.
Ratner has already revealed that he plans to use cleared land as a "temporary surface parking lot." Only the definition of "temporary" is unclear.
The graphic above shows what Norman Oder calls "Phase 0," in July 2006:
Note that there's no official rendering of what might be called phase zero, which would show the entire site east of Sixth Avenue as either surface parking, staging, or railyards. Phase zero would persist during the construction of the first stage, over four years.
We now know that "four years" could actually be more than a decade.
Posted by lumi at 6:28 AM
A Bright Future for Brooklyn
The NY Times, Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
Re “What Will be Left of Gehry’s Vision for Brooklyn?,” by Nicolai Ouroussoff (Architecture, Weekend Arts, March 21):
The cancellation of Atlantic Yards would not be a “painful setback for urban planning” but a victory for Brooklyn and for responsible future development. Mr. Ouroussoff’s grand architectural visions for the Manhattanization of Brooklyn leaves out the effects on individuals.
Dozens of residents have been evicted because of Atlantic Yards, and the project would do further harm:
The “Brooklyn Bride” would cast a permanent shadow over the surrounding area.
The Nets Stadium would cause impossible traffic congestion.
Public streets would be closed for what would be a luxury development.
There would only be minimal affordable housing (Bruce Ratner has continually backed off from his initial promise).
A coalition of Brooklyn organizations has come up with a Unity Plan, to provide for the improvement of Brooklyn homes and services. The possibility finally looks brighter for that.
Reva Cooper
Brooklyn, March 21, 2008
Posted by lumi at 6:21 AM
Rezonings & starchitects: filling in some blanks from the Leonard Lopate Show’s AY discussion
Atlantic Yards Report
Yesterday, The Leonard Lopate Show, on WNYC, had a segment on Atlantic Yards, featuring Charles Bagli, the New York Times reporter who wrote last Friday's story about the stalling of the proposed project.
The discussion missed a few details, and Norman Oder picks up the slack. He comments on several areas covered including: the rise in the cost of the arena, the proposed construction schedule and the lack of affordable housing financing.
There was a notable bit of confusion on the show regarding state override of city zoning for Atlantic Yards:
LL: If the Atlantic Yards project never really gets built or doesn't get built completely, what happens to the rest of the land?
CB: First of all, I think the land has been rezoned, so the value of that property is higher than it was five years ago… I think Ratner may do a portion of it, and then sell it off. But it won't be like nothing every gets built over there.
Oder provides the clarification:
Rezoning is a city process. In this case, the Empire State Development Corporation, a state agency, will override city zoning (regarding placement of an arena within 200 feet of residences, current density, signage, and more). That's an important basic fact.
Posted by steve at 6:18 AM
Why Atlantic Yards depends on a Democratic administration in DC
Atlantic Yards Report
While Bruce Ratner is busy trying to convince reporters that Atlantic Yards is stalled because of the economy, Norman Oder keeps pointing out that it's the supply of affordable housing funding, stupid:
Besides the credit crunch and the lack of a market for office space, both acknowledged by Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, the project depends crucially on a sufficient supply of tax-exempt bonds, a "crisis"--in the words of city housing head Shaun Donovan--evident well before the downturn in the economy.
And, despite efforts in Washington by top legislators representing New York, the problem likely won't be alleviated until a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress revamp the rules and allow hard-pressed states like New York additional "volume cap," or the capacity to issue bonds free of federal taxes.
Posted by lumi at 6:17 AM
"Deeply troubled" Jeffries says it's time to evaluate changes in AY; Brennan's subsidy bill resurfaces
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder follows up with State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and surveys the political posturing in light of recent Atlantic Yards revelations:
Last night, I spoke to Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, whose district includes Prospect Heights and the Atlantic Yards footprint, about the Atlantic Yards stall and the potential response in Albany.
He indicated dismay about the apparent major delay in affordable housing and said it was too soon to assess new Governor David Paterson’s posture on the project.
He said the legislature may look at a bill, sponsored in 2006 by Assemblyman Jim Brennan and revived in February, that would trade a one-third cut in the size of Atlantic Yards for direct and indirect subsidies worth some $700 million over 30 years, with nearly half of that up front.
Also, he said a legislative committee might take another look at the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) stewardship of Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 6:10 AM
Get an art fix at a bar
amNY
By Laurel Leicht
It's an unwritten rule: Art and booze go together. But you don't have to sip pinot noir at a gallery opening or the Guggenheim's Free Fridays to appreciate the combo. A number of bar/galleries with varying setups and styles means everyone -- from art aficionados to casual observers of culture -- can get in on the action.
NoLandGrab's pick from the list:
Freddy's Bar & Backroom
485 Dean St, Brooklyn
718-622-7035In business since Prohibition, Freddy's constantly pops up on lists of NYC's best dive bars. Venture into the back gallery and check out the two months-long exhibits of painting, photography, sculpture and video. Manager, painter and booking agent Donald O'Finn does video art with repurposed material from TV -- and recently launched Burrow, an arts and literature journal. The current collection, "Found in Brooklyn," showcases neighborhood artists.
NoLandGrab: Freddy's Bar and Backroon is under threat of eminent domain for Bruce Ratner's highly controversial Atlantic Yards project. Freddy's is a plaintiff in the federal eminent domain suit; the petitioners are seeking a date with the Supreme Court.
Posted by lumi at 6:02 AM
Atlantic Yards dead
The Brooklyn Paper
By Gersh Kuntzman
Bruce Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards project — which envisioned 16 skyscrapers, eight acres of open space, more than 2,250 units of below-market-rate housing, new top-of-the-line office space and a publicly financed basketball arena — now consists of little more than the arena and two scaled-back residential buildings, the developer told the New York Times last week.
In a bombshell front-page story last Friday, Ratner blamed the downturn in the economy for killing virtually all of his $4-billion mega-development.
As a result, many residents of Prospect Heights fear that areas already cleared by Ratner between Sixth and Vanderbilt avenues will remain empty for decades — in essence causing the urban blight that Ratner promised to fix.
The complete article runs down the shocking revelations from last Friday's Times article, explaining them in greater detail.
Posted by lumi at 5:50 AM
Atlantic Yards Stalled, But Arena Remains Goal
Brooklyn Downtown Star
by Norman Oder
Here's a comprehensive overview of the fallout from the front-page Atlantic Yards article that appeared a week ago in The New York Times, and the State Funding Agreement for the project, released, also one week ago, by the Empire State Development Corporation. The agreement had been signed in September but not released to the public.
For months, Atlantic Yards opponents and critics had suggested that developer Forest City Ratner (FCR) over-promised plans for the arena-plus-16-towers project, citing, for example, a statement last year by an executive from parent Forest City Enterprises that the project would take 15 years rather than the officially announced decade.
Last Friday, in a front-page article in the New York Times, CEO Bruce Ratner acknowledged that the project was stalled, citing a slowed economy and legal challenges, though he wouldn't predict completion dates. Even the flagship tower known as Miss Brooklyn is on hold, as the developer takes the unusual step of essentially cold-calling office tenants with a letter signed by architect Frank Gehry. Now the arena at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, without any of the other four towers in which it would be nestled, has become the developer's priority, with a stated - if questionable - opening date of 2010.
On Monday, more details emerged, as the blog Atlantic Yards Report (written by this journalist) revealed that a State Funding Agreement signed last September by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) gives FCR up to six years after the close of litigation and the exercise of eminent domain to build the arena, 12 years to build the five towers of Phase 1, and an unspecified time to build the additional eleven towers.
This, said project opponents Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), was "bait-and-switch," given that the ESDC, when approving the project in December 2006, endorsed a plan that "anticipated" project completion in a decade.
After reviewing reaction from Atlantic Yards opponents and supporters, Oder looks ahead to what might come next:
On Friday, after the Times article was published, a State Funding Agreement, divided into 37 parts, surfaced on ESDC's web site. Beyond the seemingly flexible timetable, the document suggested that, should the project be abandoned, the city might pursue a plan that would bring 1,845 units of housing, 646 of them affordable, and two acres of open space, as opposed to 6,430 units, 2,250 of them affordable, and eight acres of open space. (The document also makes reference to a City Funding Agreement that has not yet been made public.)
In other words, Atlantic Yards might result in a much smaller project built with or by other developers. Alternatively, some suggested, Ratner's announcement Friday sets the stage to negotiate for additional subsidies to build the housing. Either way, FCR's history, as with the MetroTech office complex in Downtown Brooklyn, is apparently to build projects at a pace compatible with the market rather than any announced timetable.
Posted by steve at 5:49 AM
Take back the rail yards!
The Brooklyn Paper, Editorial
The Brooklyn Paper calls for a complete "do over:"
The news that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has abandoned his plan to build most of the 16-skyscraper arena, office and residential project is no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to this ongoing city- and state-subsidized debacle.
The project was always too big, too reliant on public subsidies and too much a betrayal of sound urban planning to ever be built.
Ratner now blames the souring of the economy as the reason for his failure to get Atlantic Yards done — but our current economic malaise is not entirely to blame; indeed, Ratner was unable to secure an anchor tenant for his Frank Gehry–designed Miss Brooklyn tower going back to 2003, when the economy was booming.
...
More important, we are troubled by new state documents that show that Ratner could leave the rest of the 22-acre site vacant for decades, thereby creating the urban blight that state officials said he would eliminate.The state must not let him. The state must take back the development rights over the rail yards and put them out for bid. Doing so would not only cleanse state officials of the Original Sin of Atlantic Yards (namely selling Ratner the air rights for $100 million less than their appraised value), but it would also set right Bruce Ratner’s very wrong project.
Posted by lumi at 5:44 AM
Is arena facing all new review?
The Brooklyn Paper
By Gersh Kuntzman
Might the proposed Nets arena have to go back to the Public Authorities Control Board for approval because the cost of the arena has grown from $637.2 million to $950 million since is was approved just 15 months ago?
“The reason the PACB exists is to look at the entirety of the financing package for this project,” said Lawrence Schillinger, a lawyer for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.
“A 50-percent increase in the cost of the arena substantially changes the financials of the project.”
Another DDDB lawyer, Jeff Baker, agreed, saying that the PACB’s approval of the project in December, 2006 assumed a 7.6-percent profit for the developer.
If his costs have skyrocketed, that profit will be smaller — making it less likely that the project is economically viable and will not require additional government subsidies to make it work.
“As such,” Baker said, “the PACB needs to review it again.”
Both lawyers said they were willing to take the matter to court, but, for now, were more interested in making their argument in “the court of public opinion,” Schillinger said.
“People need to look at how government spends money,” he said.
“This kind of bonding scheme is exactly what the state did 30 years ago. We don’t want to repeat those mistakes.”
Posted by steve at 5:30 AM
State: Ratner has no deadline for construction.
The Brooklyn Paper
By Dana Rubinstein
Bruce Ratner has not been given a deadline to complete the bulk of the Atlantic Yards project — including the 11 buildings that contain the vast majority of the promised 2,250 units of affordable housing and seven acres of open space, newly released documents show, prompting critics of the controversial project to blast it as a “bait and switch.”
“Forest City Ratner has already gotten $40 million from the city, yet we may not see the first affordable housing apartment for 13 years,” said a seemingly frustrated Councilman David Yassky (D–Brooklyn Heights).
The arena could take a long time:
Ratner says he will begin construction of the publicly financed Nets arena by the end of this year. It won’t have to be completed until 2015, according to the documents.
Phase One will take even longer:
And Ratner now has until 2021 to complete the first phase of the project, which once called for the arena and five skyscrapers, including the iconic Miss Brooklyn (though it now calls for a lot less — see main story).
As for Phase Two, with the bulk of the eagerly awaited affordable housing, who knows?
There is no deadline or timeframe given for the rest of the project — the 11 skyscrapers and open space that would run from Sixth Avenue to Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights.
What's worse, the NY City Funding Agreement for Atlantic Yards is so super-secret that our elected legislators on the City Council haven't even seen it.
For his part, [City Councilman David] Yassky skewered the behind-closed-doors nature of the agreement — which he and other elected officials had been hoping to see before it was signed — and the document’s failure to lock into law the elements of a Community Benefits Agreement between Ratner and a handful of community groups that promised job-training and affordable housing units in exchange for support from the groups.
“This funding agreement was the last opportunity to make the promises in the CBA legally binding,” said Yassky.
NoLandGrab: Yassky makes a good point, which begs the question, were the promises in the CBA ever meant to be legally binding?
The secret nature of the NYC Atlantic Yards Funding Agreement leads one to wonder if there's some pretty damning stuff in there.
Posted by lumi at 5:28 AM
More Developers Tracking Projects' Progress With Cameras
The NY Sun
By Bradley Hope
Big Brother Bruce isn't just watching YOU:
The use of live Web cameras by New York City and national developers has skyrocketed over the last several years, as air travel after the attacks of September 11, 2001, became more challenging and technology more reliable. Developers now monitor construction projects around the world from small command centers in their high-rise office towers in Manhattan.
Two of the privately held companies that provide the camera systems, EarthCam and OxBlue, said they have contracts with hundreds of developers and construction companies, including Forest City Ratner, Sherwood Group, and Turner Construction Company. EarthCam has been operating since 1996, while OxBlue was started in 2001.
Posted by lumi at 5:13 AM
Is Bruce Ratner Out of Cash?
Brownstoner
Bruce Ratner is just a little strapped for cash — this time it's his Frank Gehry-designed tower in Lower Manhattan that's caught in the starting gate:
Looks like Brooklyn isn't the only borough seeing a stalled project care of our pals at Forest City Ratner. Apparently an ambitious FCR-developed 75-story tower planned for 8 Spruce Street, near City Hall, is going nowhere fast. This wouldn't necessarily be news except for the fact that part of the Frank Gehry-designed building is supposed to include a public school, and the local community board down there is starting to get a wee bit skeptical about the school being ready for action in '09, as promised. Downtown Express reports:
When Noah Pfefferblit, C.B. 1’s district manager, asked Ratner and the S.C.A. why no work has happened on the project in six months, he got two different answers. The School Construction Authority said there was a delay in delivering a shipment of steel, but that the steel would arrive soon. After that, work will begin on an expedited schedule to get the school open by fall 2009, the authority said. Ratner gave an entirely different explanation, after canceling an appearance at the community board to discuss the project. “They said they’re having issues with their financing,” Pfefferblit told the Youth and Education Committee Tuesday. Frank Gehry, known for complicated and whimsical buildings, designed the tower that will house the school. Paul Hovitz, a committee member, provided further evidence of funding troubles, which have been rumored for months. He was recently discussing the project with another board member in public, when a man overheard him. Ratner is having problems financing the project, said the man, who added that he worked for a company doing the financing, Hovitz said.
The Real Estate [NY Observer] linked Brownstoner and the same Downtown Express item in its afternoon news wrap-up:
Forest City Ratner might be backing away from another commitment it made to the community in exchange for development rights, but this time we're not talking about Atlantic Yards. Developer Bruce Ratner said he is having trouble securing financing for a planned 75-story tower at Spruce Street near City Hall, meaning the elementary school under construction there probably won't be completed in time for the 2009 school year.
Charles Bagli discussed the Beekman Tower project on WNYC's The Leonard Lopate Show, beginning around the 5:26 mark.
Bagli reports that the tower's foundation has been poured and a construction crane has already been positioned on site. While Bruce Ratner is scrambling to close on the financing, the crane continues to be leased and the crew is paid because he can't afford to have workers hired away to another job site.
Bagli reveals that the developer said that they plan to close on the financing by the end of the month. Whether or not Ratner is on track remains to be seen.
NoLandGrab: Ratner-enabler Sheldon Silver can be none too happy with the lack of progress on Beekman Tower.
Posted by lumi at 4:54 AM
News analysis: The Times gives the ESDC a bye
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder oderizes The Times's coverage of the Hudson Yards deal:
A New York Times News Analysis today of the West Side Yards deal, headlined :For Railyards, the Hard Part Is Still Ahead, leaves out some important Atlantic Yards context:
In the end, the project could take well over a decade to complete, and its look could change significantly from the current designs by Helmut Jahn and Peter Walker.
In Brooklyn, the developer Bruce Ratner has already acknowledged that his $4 billion Atlantic Yards project will take longer than the 10 years originally envisioned.
First, the Times should have pointed out that, not only has Ratner acknowledged that the project would take longer than ten years, others in his firm and outside observers had been making the same observation, and that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) has given some generous deadlines: 6+ years to build the arena, 12+ years to build the first five towers, and an unspecified amount of time to build the rest.
Also, whatever Yaro says applies equally well to Atlantic Yards. If built, it will change significantly from Frank Gehry's renderings.
Posted by lumi at 4:48 AM
Brooklyn historian befuddled by Brooklyn blogs
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder corrects the record in a rambling essay by historian John Manbeck on the historical value of new media (blogs and web sites) in Brooklyn.
Here's an excerpt from a Brooklyn Daily Eagle essay headlined Historically Speaking: Researching Brooklyn — Online, by former Brooklyn Borough Historian John Manbeck:
The Gowanus Lounge has a blog with its slogan: “Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.” The Atlantic Yards Report has news about the Nets.
Adventures in Brooklyn and BK 11201 recount personal tales with pictures. Brooklyn Enthusiast deals with food and recipes as does Bread, Coffee, Chocolate, Yoga and All in Brooklyn. Frisket of Hicks Street recently became Frisket of Main Street: it’s about this dog. Two others have Brooklyn Bridge pix: Never Sleepist and Sam I Am.
To me, most of the material I encountered in blogs has been gossipy and unreliable. While the Web sites are more substantial, information there must be further researched in, say, a book.
Further research shows
Um, The Gowanus Lounge, which includes firsthand reporting often critical of the Brooklyn real estate firmament, is different from the eclectic but homier Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. Suffice it to say that Borough President Marty Markowitz is unlikely to hail GL's Bob Guskind at his final "State of the Borough" address, as he did OTBKB's Louise Crawford, founder of the annual Brooklyn Blogfest (the third annual event will be May 8).
While AYR obviously touches on the Nets, Atlantic Yards is about much more than basketball, as any casual reader would know. For news about the Nets, go to NetsDaily.
NoLandGrab: For a chuckle, check out the beginning of Manbeck's piece, as he brilliantly starts his online research by searching for "Brooklyn, N.Y." on his computer.
Stay tuned for next week's trick when Manbeck attempts text messaging.
Posted by lumi at 4:33 AM
UNITY Plan on Display on Atlantic Avenue
By way of dddb.net (Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn):
The UNITY Plan architectural model is on display in the windows of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association (ABBA) at 321 Atlantic Avenue between Smith and Hoyt Streets in Brooklyn. The public is encouraged to come take a look and spread the word.
The UNITY Plan is a community development plan and process for developing the Vanderbilt rail yards, a sensible alternative to Forest City Ratner's failing Atlantic Yards proposal.
Posted by lumi at 4:28 AM
Atlantic Yards stalled by slowing economy
Castle Watch Daily [Institute for Justice]
Chris Grodecki comments on an all-too-familiar scenario, in the wake of the news that most of Atlantic Yards has stalled, though New York State is still hoping to complete the eminent domain property transfer by the end of the year:
The most egregious presuppositions eminent domain advocates make in their argument for the use of the power against property owners is that whatever plan in place will actually come to fruition. Normally, this seems just to be an assumed occurrence. Seldom does one read about local officials who take into consideration the wide range of economic possibilities. Rather officials assume that the economy will continue on an upward trajectory. While this may be true in the long term, eminent domain is used to maximize efficiency and to make sure those tax revenues come in as soon as possible. But when the economy slows, the complicated financing schemes that fund developments can totter and collapse. So, in places like Brooklyn, officials may find themselves having neglected variables and may end up with a lot of vacant land and less tax revenue. Given that, local officials really do gamble with their citizens’ livelihoods when they force them out of their homes and businesses, as they base their invocation of eminent domain on the probabilities of short-term economic stability.
Posted by lumi at 4:01 AM
March 27, 2008
Land owner challenges Columbia expansion
Nick Sprayregen will file a lawsuit tomorrow against the city and Columbia University, challenging the rezoning that paves the way for the school to expand into West Harlem.
Crain's NY Business
by Eric Engquist
Crain's was first out of the blocks yesterday with news of business-owner Nick Sprayregen's lawsuit challenging the environmental review paving the way for Columbia University's controversial expansion plan:
Businessman Nick Sprayregen filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city and Columbia University, challenging the rezoning that paves the way for the school to expand into West Harlem.
The suit, filed in Manhattan in New York State Supreme Court, charges that the city did not fully evaluate the environmental impacts of the 2 million square foot “bathtub” that would lie under the new campus.
The case will be argued by Norman Siegel, the civil rights lawyer expected to run for public advocate in 2009, and Steve Silverberg. Such challenges of city actions, known as Article 78 proceedings, do not often succeed. But in some cases they lead to settlements, and this one at least promises to improve the negotiating position of Mr. Sprayregen, whose property is needed to carry out the expansion envisioned by Columbia.
If the businessman—who runs Tuck-It-Away Self Storage—does not agree to sell his parcels, they could be condemned through eminent domain.
The NY Sun, Harlem Landowner Sues Over Columbia Expansion
"I believe there are very significant issues that have not been properly addressed by the city and as a result, I am deeply concerned that if construction is allowed to proceed without proper independent review, a disaster may someday occur," he said in a statement. Mr. Sprayregen said he is not trying to stop the Columbia expansion but rather to ensure that if the underground space is constructed, the community is safe. He also intends to challenge the university's anticipated use of eminent domain to obtain the land for its desired expansion, he said.
Columbia Spectator, CU, City Sued Over M'ville "Bathtub" Plan
The “bathtub,” as it is commonly called, is designed to be a contiguous space, running from 125th Street to 133rd Street and from Broadway to 12th Avenue, that extends seven stories below ground level. If built, it will house a swimming and diving center, business school programs, scientific research laboratories, storage facilities, and a below-grade MTA bus depot.
But controversy has surrounded the project because of its placement along an earthquake fault line and near a flood plane which poses various environmental concerns, particularly in combination with the potentially hazardous chemicals used in the campus laboratories.
NoLandGrab: Critics of Atlantic Yards are well acquainted with superficial, developer-friendly environmental reviews — and the difficulty of overturning them in court.
Posted by eric at 2:53 PM
The Future of Atlantic Yards
The Leonard Lopate Show
WNYC Radio
New York Times reporter Charles Bagli joins Leonard Lopate for an insightful discussion about "how the slowing economy and credit crisis could affect Forest City Ratner’s plans for Atlantic Yards."
NoLandGrab: Bagli has a good grasp of the issues surrounding Atlantic Yards, though he's off-base in one regard — the area has not been rezoned. The state has overridden the zoning in order to allow Ratner to build well beyond what would otherwise be permitted.
Posted by eric at 2:43 PM
Subprime Crisis Sends Ripples Through Sports World
The Business of Sport
The NY Sun
by Evan Weiner
The financial crisis has definitely had an affect on Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. He still plans to build an arena for his New Jersey Nets franchise, but the scale of the project has been cut down because of financing —or, more specifically, the lack of widely available money for an office tower and three residential buildings on the 22-acre parcel at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues.
Ratner’s project started in 2004 and gained state approval in 2006. The arena was scheduled to open in 2009, but construction has been delayed by lawsuits. Ratner has signed an open-ended deal to keep the Nets in the Meadowlands until the Brooklyn arena is done.
...The real effect on New York sports teams may not be evident until the opening of the NBA and NHL seasons in the fall. If the financial market loses jobs, and New York officials fully expect a significant loss of positions in that field, that could impact the Knicks’ and Rangers’ high-end seating, along with that of the Devils, Nets, and Islanders.
...The American sports world is keeping an eye on Wall Street and the banking industry. While each league — and each individual team — might have a different immediate reaction to the subprime mortgage crisis, all teams may eventually have to face the full impact of the Bear Stearns meltdown.
Posted by eric at 1:46 PM
News analysis: The Times gives the ESDC a bye
Atlantic Yards Report
When will The New York Times learn?
A New York Times News Analysis today of the West Side Yards deal, headlined For Railyards, the Hard Part Is Still Ahead, leaves out some important Atlantic Yards context.
Posted by eric at 1:39 PM
Profit and Public Good Clash in Grand Plans
The NY Times
By Nicolai Ouroussoff
Congratulations Bruce Ratner, your Atlantic Yards overdevelopment is officially a "FIASCO!"
According to the NY Times's architecture critic, in a piece about government-sponsored megaprojects in NYC (emphasis added):
The bitter battles over reconstruction plans for ground zero. The unraveling of the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn. And now this.
Given current economic realities, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s selection on Wednesday of a team led by Tishman Speyer to develop the West Side railyards seems like a wishful fantasy. Yet even if the project takes decades to realize, it is a damning indictment of large-scale development in New York.
Like the ground zero and Atlantic Yards fiascos, its overblown scale and reliance on tired urban planning formulas should force a serious reappraisal of the public-private partnerships that shape development in the city today.
Nicolai Ouroussoff continues by trashing Tishman-Speyer's development plan for Hudson Yards, before getting in another another dig on Atlantic Yards:
In the Atlantic Yards project, Forest City Ratner acknowledged last week that it would delay building most of the elements of Frank Gehry’s design for that eight million-square-foot development because it is short of financing. If built, the project would be a pathetic distortion of the original design. And the developer already has city approval.
NoLandGrab: One misunderstanding on Nicky O's part is that Bruce Ratner's controversial project never had "city approval." Atlantic Yards is a STATE PROJECT, which includes all sorts of overrides of local zoning restrictions and is why the building of an arena was approved just across the street from people's houses (think looking out your bedroom window and seeing an arena).
MORE COMMENTARY:
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, The Fall of Plan: AY Goes From Eden to Fiasco
Ouroussoff's predecessor, the late Herbert Muschamp, had originally and infamously called Atlantic Yards a "garden of Eden." Oh how the grossly out-of-scale, financially infeasible, promotionally overblown have fallen.
Atlantic Yards Report, Ouroussoff: AY a "fiasco" with "city approval"
Wouldn't you know it, Norman Oder already tried to save the hardworking editors at The Times from themselves:
Actually, the developer already has government approval, but the city has nothing to do with it. The Empire State Development Corporation approved the project. I sent in a correction on Saturday after Ouroussoff made the same mistake in his essay on AY last Friday.
The Times didn't address the correction yet. But the distinction remains important; had the project gone through the city approval process, there would have been more public oversight and discussion.
NoLandGrab: Seriously, the sporting thing would be for The Times to correct the errors that keep getting repeated in the "Paper of Record" and reply, "Thanks for watching our backs, Norman!"
Posted by lumi at 5:30 AM
And what about those for-sale affordable units? The fine print is vague
Atlantic Yards Report
Some details surface regarding one of the big outstanding questions about the deal cut by developer Bruce Ratner to gain support for his controversial Atlantic Yards project:
A major question raised about the 600 to 1000 affordable for-sale units, on and off-site, announced by developer Forest City Ratner as part of the Atlantic Yards Housing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is why they were absent from the General Project Plan approved by the Empire State Development Corporation. That wasn't cause for confidence.
The recently-unveiled State Funding Agreement does, however, mention the pledge that's contained in the agreement FCR signed with the advocacy group ACORN.
However, as far as I can tell, the document has no teeth, since it asserts no deadlines and no penalties, though it does assign deadlines for other phases of the project and penalties for failure to meet those deadlines.
For one thing, if FCR doesn't build as many market-rate condos--and all housing is now on hold--the MOU appears to give the developer an out. Also, the construction of for-sale affordable units depends on unspecified subsidies.
NoLandGrab: In other words, affordable condos for "families in the upper affordable income tiers" are delayed until further notice.
Posted by lumi at 5:22 AM
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again: Atlantic Yards as Interpretive Dance
Runnin' Scared [The Village Voice]
By Julie Bolcer
Bolcer follows up on an Atlantic Yards Report post, in which Norman Oder related some discoveries about the State Funding Agreement for Atlantic Yards, with the news that the Empire State Develoment Corporation only released an important document once the cat was out of the bag:
Yesterday, ESDC spokesperson Warner Johnston confirmed in a telephone call that the funding agreement was signed in September and posted on Friday, in response to numerous inquires from reporters.
...
The existence of the funding agreement, while not discussed in the Times article, seems to provide a rationale for the Teflon-like final words of Forest City Ratner head Bruce Ratner, who told reporter Charles Bagli that, “Good things sometimes take a long time.”However, exactly how long Ratner can take remains unclear because of a curious portion of the funding agreement that discusses an “effective date” of December 19, 2009. According to this detail, all litigation and property condemnation must be completed by that time, otherwise Forest City Ratner will have to take “reasonable steps” to pursue the project in order to prevent it from being considered abandoned and money returned to ESDC.
What might happen if Atlantic Yards opponents, currently in the appeals process of two lawsuits concerning the environmental impact of the project and its use of eminent domain, manage to outlast the December 2009 effective date?
As far as ESDC is concerned, the litigation has already been completed.
“Essentially, that section of the funding agreement was designed for litigation that was on the table at the time,” said ESDC’s Johnston yesterday. “That litigation was dismissed.”
Or is that open to interpretation, too?
Posted by lumi at 4:58 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Power and Politics - I am Not the Yellow Peril, Hillary's hardball tactics backfire
Sometimes the wrong Rat(t)ner gets fingered for the Atlantic Yards boondoggle:
And it's true that these people are no joke - Maureen White was the former finance Chair of the DNC,Steve Rattner was behind the Atlantic Yards project in New York, Susie Thompkins Buell founded Espirit, and Haim Saban created the Power Rangers franchise. These people give massive amounts of money to the party, but it doesn't mean that their voices should count for more than the millions of voters.
NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner and his family also give "massive amounts of money" to New York politicians, but their contributions are directed to those whose political support is necessary for the approval and funding of Atlantic Yards.
Dr. Bagelman's Hour of Hate, my city was gone
According to one blogger, there's something worse than Atlantic Yards:
For all the Atlantic Yards project gets maligned for not being sensitive to the needs of the community, at least it's a centrally-located commercial space that's being repurposed. The West Side yards project is like something you'd cook up in SimCity.
Posted by lumi at 4:51 AM
TALE OF TWO YARDS: MTA actually selects highest bidder, but done deal isn't done
Like some freak accident, the MTA managed to choose the highest bidder for the Hudson Railyards, but like Atlantic Yards, the project still faces hurdles:
amNY,
Developer picked for Hudson Yards project
By David Freedlander
With an already $2 billion price tag to build platforms over the rail yards, some fear that the West Side development could go the way of other mega-projects, such as the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Moynihan Station, both of which have recently hit snags.
The NY Times, For Railyards, the Hard Part Is Still Ahead
By Charles V. Bagli
In the end, the [Hudson Yards] project could take well over a decade to complete, and its look could change significantly from the current designs by Helmut Jahn and Peter Walker.
In Brooklyn, the developer Bruce Ratner has already acknowledged that his $4 billion Atlantic Yards project will take longer than the 10 years originally envisioned.
NoLandGrab: Phase 2 of Atlantic Yards, with the bulk of the housing, doesn't even officially have a solid timeline.
Posted by lumi at 4:23 AM
March 26, 2008
Forest City in the News
BusinessWire, Forest City Declared Quarterly Dividend
Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA) (NYSE:FCEB) announced today that the Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend in the amount of $0.08 on each outstanding share of both Class A and Class B Common Stock of the Corporation, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 2, 2008. This dividend will be payable on June 17, 2008.
TransWorldNews, Forest City Enterprises Inc (NYSE:FCEA) to Hold Q4 2007 Earnings Conference Call April 2
Forest City Enterprises Inc (NYSE:FCEA) will hold a conference call on Wednesday, April 2 at 1:00 pm to discuss the fourth quarter earnings for 2007.
Engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate properties, Forest City Enterprises operates within three business units.
...
View the Event page for the Forest City Enterprises Conference Call on Finditt Events.
Forest City Stock Quotes: FCEA & FCEB.
Rocky Mountain News, Orchard mall ready to open in tough times
Posted by lumi at 8:55 PM
Tishman Speyer wins Hudson Yards bid
Tishman bid $1.004 billion for rights to the plot, $112 million higher than the offer from The Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust.
Crain's NY Business
by Theresa Agovino
In a reversal of its own sullied tradition, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority today awarded the Hudson Rail Yards to the highest bidder, real estate developer Tishman Speyer.
Tishman Speyer edged out three other development teams to win the fierce competition to develop the Hudson Rail Yards, the 26-acre site on Manhattan’s far West side that is envisioned as an extension of midtown’s business district.
Tishman Speyer bid $1.004 billion for the rights to the plot, where it plans to build 10 million square feet of office space and 3 million square feet of housing while leaving 13 acres of open space. Its offer was $112 million higher than a competing offer from a joint venture of The Durst Organization and Vornado Realty Trust. That group had lined up Condé Naste Publications as a tenant and its proposed 6.4 million square feet of residential space was the most offered by any developer.
It is expected to cost $1.5 billion to build a platform over the train tracks so construction can begin.
NoLandGrab: How is this railyard deal different from Bruce Ratner's railyard deal? Let's see: high bidder chosen rather than low bidder; $1 billion in midst of failing real estate market vs. $100 million in midst of real estate bubble; city rezoning vs. state override; no eminent domain vs. eminent domain abuse.... Need we go on?
More coverage:
City Room (The New York Times), M.T.A. Votes to Sell West Side Land Rights to Tishman Speyer
The project still faces several prospective hurdles. The $1,004,000,000 deal requires the completion of an agreement over the next 14 days specifying terms and conditions of the deal, and the signing of a formal contract. The slowing economy has prompted some developers, like Bruce C. Ratner, to consider delay the schedule for major developments like the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. And a portion of the rail yards of the Far West Side that would be controlled by Tishman still must undergo a rezoning process that could take up to 18 months.
Curbed.com, Yardsmania: It's Official!, Yardsmania: OK, So Now What?
The Real Estate, Tishman Speyer Win Not Quite Official
AP, via The International Herald Tribune, Developer Tishman Speyer to build skyscrapers, apartments on New York City waterfront
Posted by eric at 2:25 PM
Classy
Gumby Fresh
Even though Norman Oder covered the main stuff in the recently released Atlantic Yards State Funding Agreement, "Gumby Fresh" and "Cutesome" take a peek.
Norman Oder got the most interesting news out of the agreement, which was that there is a deadline for the developer to get his buildings up, but it's pretty lenient, and the clock doesn't appear to start ticking till the project reaches financial close.
The remaining details, of what exactly the state and developer are on the hook for, are pretty well-known to the Atlantic Yarderati. This agreement did not cover the overall financing of the project, and the spaces where the project costs would go have been left blank, probably because they haven't been settled yet. My interest was briefly roused by the guarantee agreement from Forest City Ratner's corporate parent, Forest City Enterprises, to the state, but this seems to just cover the phase one infrastructure, rather than the stadium or anything else at the site.
Quick note from Mrs. Cutesome, who has a lovely eye for matters legal (well, a lovely everything), but less interest than I in spending a Sunday going through funding agreements. Quite a few of the subclauses in the agreement have been struck out, with only [intentionally deleted] remaining to let us know they were ever there. According to her, any decent law firm would have moved the clauses up to replace the deleted ones, and gone through the rest of the document making damn sure the loose ends were tied up. And who were the city and state using for the work? Only top Wall Street law firms Skadden Arps and Fried Frank. Poor show, chaps.
NoLandGrab: It warms the heart to know that couples come together and spend quality time cuddling over Atlantic Yards minutiae.
Posted by lumi at 6:31 AM
AY Funding Agreement: This Could Take Forever
Brownstoner
[Former?] Brooklyn Daily Eagle reporter Sarah Ryley follows up on last Friday's release of the State Funding Agreement for Atlantic Yards:
According to the agreement, either party can pull out of the project at any time before eminent domain proceedings have been finalized, pending a decision on an appeal to the federal Supreme Court. In most scenarios, the city would gain control of the land and be required to build at least 1,199 market-rate and 646 affordable units. (By comparison, Ratner's project was supposed to have 4,180 market-rate and 2,250 affordable units.)
...
Forest City Ratner spokesman Loren Reigelhaupt said the construction timetable outlined in the agreement is a minimum requirement, a worst-possible scenario. Atlantic Yards opponent Daniel Goldstein, at risk of losing his home to make way for the arena, said new information in the agreement amounts to a bait and switch, and called on the state to take another look at the project.
Posted by lumi at 6:18 AM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Here's what bloggers are saying about Atlantic Yards:
europaconcorsi, New York — I più famosi architetti del mondo di danno alla progettazione su larga scala
I famosi architetti non si accontentano più di firmare edifici, stanno sempre di più facendo funzione di megaprogettatori. Il progetto di Frank Gehry per Atlantic Yards di Brooklyn è solo la punta dell'iceberg, a Los Angeles infatti sta pianificando un intero 'quartiere delle arti', così come in Utah. Daniel Libeskind sta lavorando a creare un nuovo waterfront in Busan, nella Corea del Sud ed ha un progetto per il centro storico di Copenhagen e per la parte ovest di Berna. Nouvel sta progettando a Rabat e Foster a Duisburg. Vai all'articolo
We prefer the machine translation:
New York - the most famous architects of the world of damage to the planning on wide scale.
The famous architects do not please themselves more than to sign buildings, they are always more temporary acting than megaprogettatori. The plan of Frank Gehry for Atlantic Yards di Brooklyn is only the tip of the iceberg*, to Los Angeles in fact is planning an entire ' quarter of the arti', therefore like in Utah. Daniel Libeskind is working to create a new one waterfront in Busan, Korea of the South and has a plan for the historical center of Copenhagen and the part the west of Bern. Nouvel is planning to Rabat and Foster to Duisburg. You go to the article.
* NoLandGrab: That's funny — Miss Brooklyn looks like the tip of an iceberg.
Hoodman, It’s Hard Out There For A Pimp
One blogger singles out Nets minority owner Jay-Z and blames Atlantic Yards on Bush.
Jay-z a minority owner of the soon to be Brooklyn Nets has been a vocal supporter of the Atlantic Yards project which will bring high-rise apartment buildings, offices and an arena to the heart of BK. For those not familiar with BK or the Atlantic Yards project, Jay-Z will contribute to changing his once beloved hard knock life streets to an upscale neighborhood to accommodate that brand new Bently. But all props due to Bush and his utter incompetence with all matters involving money, the Atlantic Yards project is slowly beginning to unravel.
NLG disclaimer: Hey, we're just saying that this is what folks are saying.
Places and Spaces, Atlantic Yards
Lots has been written over the last few days covering Ratner's changing plans for the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn.
NoLandGrab: Yes, lots and lots.
ARA NEWS, Architecture: What Will Be Left of Gehry’s Vision for Brooklyn?
Not everyone thinks that Atlantic Yards is a Gehry-clad sixties-style urban planning disaster:
The growing possibility that the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn will be scrapped because of financing is a painful setback for urban planning in New York.
NoLandGrab: Maybe the blogger meant "City Planning," not "urban planning."
JAMIE, Frowny Faced Economy
A blogger under the BQE finds a silver lining on the :( economy:
But, I am not here to deliver more bad news, turn your blues violet. I have heard the first positive news to come out of this whole thing, again from the NY Times. “The slowing economy, weighed down by a widening credit crisis, is likely to delay the signature office tower and three residential buildings at the heart of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the developer said.” Ratner was not specific, but the delay could be a matter of years. This is good news for Brooklyn residents that have been fighting the good fight for sometime now. This is also good news for my little cabin under the BQE. Honestly, I am surprised that my harshly worded letter did not have the same results.
The Written Nerd, Link-Mad Monday: Bad News, Good News, Other
Wonder if delays at Atlantic Yards qualifies as bad or good news:
Here's one thing that may be going away that I'm NOT sad about: Bruce Ratner's terrible Atlantic Yards project, according to the New York Times and the Brooklyn Paper. The slowing economy (he says) is putting the kibosh on the project, though I suspect the public outcry and the efforts of Develop Don't Destroy have also had something to do with it. Worryingly, while the affordable housing has been nixed, the gigantic arena is still on the table; here's hoping Brooklynites can continue successfully in their efforts to change this project into something that actually makes sense and benefits our borough.
Nets Daily, Nets Offering Half Million Dollar Corporate Suites … in Brooklyn
In another indication Bruce Ratner still anticipates having his Nets play in Brooklyn, the team will soon start selling corporate suites in the Barclays Center arena. A day after announcing a delay in other aspects of his Atlantic Yards project, the Nets’ ownership said it will start accepting deposits for corporate suites May 15. The 130 suites will average $300,000 and top out at $540,000. And it turns out that Ratner’s agreement with the state gives him plenty of time to finish the arena.
NoLandGrab: After news of Atlantic Yards delays broke on "Bad Friday," the best news developer Bruce Ratner could conjure is that luxury boxes go on sale in three weeks (affordable housing delayed until further notice, see details to apply, some parental assembly required).
Posted by lumi at 5:54 AM
Economy Could Stall Atlantic Yards Project
GlobeSt.com reporter Natalie Dolce follows up on "recent published reports" that developer Forest City Ratner is only moving ahead on plans for the Atlantic Yards arena — and that its costs have skyrocketed:
Ratner says in a prepared statement that the company "remains committed to Atlantic Yards in its entirety and our investment in Brooklyn and the city is a long-term one."
Goldstein believes that due to the increase in the cost of the arena, the project may have to go back for review and a vote by the Public Authorities Control Board. The PACB is comprised of Gov. David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, and requires a unanimous vote.
When the project was unveiled in 2003, [the arena] was projected to cost around $400 million. In mid-2005 it that cost rose to $435 million. It was approved at the end of 2006 at $637.2 million. And now, according to the developer in the published reports, the arena would be much costlier at $950 million.
"Besides facing a new review by the PACB, Forest City Ratner does not own the land it needs to build the arena," according to DDDB attorney Jeffrey Baker. A FCRC spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com simply that the company "expects to open the arena in 2010."
DDDB legal director Candace Carponter says that the expected fall groundbreaking for the arena is not possible based on the new review required by the PACB, the eminent domain lawsuit, the environmental lawsuit, and the economic environment. "It's pure fantasy."
Posted by lumi at 5:28 AM
Brooklyn Tech pledge appears, with major caveat, in State Funding Agreement
Atlantic Yards Report
Remember Forest City Ratner's 12/20/06 pledge, upon the approval of Atlantic Yards by the Public Authorities Control Board, to build a new Brooklyn Tech High School?
...
Initially, the developer stated, "FCRC will also work with the City, State and the United Federation of Teachers on the creation of a new 21st Century Brooklyn Tech High School, at a yet to be determined location in the borough."
That would have been a new Brooklyn Tech to replace the recently renovated Brooklyn Tech, much to the consternation of alumni who paid for the facility upgrade.
Given alumni concerns that Forest City Ratner wanted the Brooklyn Tech building, well located adjacent to Fort Greene Park, city school officials last April insisted that the building would remain a school, and Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco backpedaled from any pledge.
Keep in mind that this pledge was hailed as a significant last-minute concession extracted from developer Forest City Ratner by United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, when the project was approved in December, 2006.
With the public release of the State Funding Agreement on Friday, March 21, 2008 (the agreement was executed on September 12, 2007), it appears that this major concession is worth the paper it's printed on.
The document states:
Developer shall agree to work with the City, State and the United Federation of Teachers on the creation of a brand new 21st Century Brooklyn Tech High School, to the extent the City and the Department of Education elect to build such a school.
(Emphasis added)
NoLandGrab: At this point, is anyone surprised? We're just amazed how long the State managed to keep this agreement under wraps.
Posted by lumi at 5:02 AM
Flashback: the Sun's (wise) failure to offer an AY projection
Atlantic Yards Report
Back on March 3, the NY Sun covered New York City megaproject delays, including Atlantic Yards, which the paper cited as vunerable due to "a shortage of federal housing subsidies and ongoing litigation." The paper didn't include Atlantic Yards in a chart comparing initial and current completion dates and overall budgets. It's just as well, since the paper would have had it all wrong according to recent revelations:
A graphic might have announced 2016 as the official completion date, with the arena due in 2010 (though it was initially projected at 2006) and and simply ??? as the latest projected completion date.
Now, however, we know that the developer has a lot of time--6+ years to build the arena, 12+ years for Phase 1, and an unspecified amount for the rest of the project..
Posted by lumi at 4:50 AM
Some Pricey Suites At Barclays Center
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Brooklyn Eagle
The Nets will soon start selling corporate suites in the Barclays Center arena, according to the NetsDaily Web site. Although it recently announced a delay in other aspects of the Atlantic Yards plan, Forest City Ratner, the owner of the Nets, said it will start accepting deposits for corporate suites on May 15. The 130 suites will average $300,000 and top out at $540,000.
NoLandGrab: Luxury suites go on sale on May 15; affordable housing will be delayed until further notice.
Posted by lumi at 4:45 AM
March 25, 2008
ATLANTIC YARDS RATNERVILLE CONSTRUCTION UPDATE ILLUSTRATED
Photos Tracy Collins, via flickr Atlantic Yards Photo Pool.
ATLANTIC YARDS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Weeks beginning March 24, 2008 - March 31, 2008
[This installment of the "Destruction Update" has not been posted on line. 03/26/08: The update can now be found here.]
Long Island Rail Road/Vanderbilt Yard Work
- Excavation, lagging, install walers and struts at SOE piles at Southeast Gas Station (block 1121, lot 47).
- Continue construction and debris removal from block 1121.
- Continue hauling soil from block 1121.
- Continue drilling piles at East Portal.
- Trench and install conduit in block 1120.
- Prep and begin demo of southern portion of Carlton Avenue Bridge.
- Install MPT on Pacific St (near 6th Ave) for south foundation footing installation.
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.
- Demolition is underway at 800 Pacific Street (block 1129, lot 25) and will continue throughout this two week period.
- Demolition is complete at 626 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 22).
- Demolition will begin at 642-646 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 30) within this two week period.
- Abatement is complete at 640 Pacific Street (block 1127, lot 29) and is awaiting issuance of the demolition permit.
- Abatement is complete at 645 Dean Street (block 1129, lot 62) and is awaiting issuance of the demolition permit.
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. Night time work began on Flatbush Avenue at Dean Street and will continue north along Flatbush. Work will also begin on a new sewer chamber on Dean Street near Flatbush during the day.
- 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 northbound B67 bus stop on the east side of Flatbush Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street will be temporarily eliminated in the next two weeks to accommodate the utility work described above. The bus stops in close proximity to the north at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues and to the south at Flatbush and Dean Street will be maintained.
Posted by lumi at 5:04 AM
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: More Atlantic Yards Bait and Switch
State Had Approved 10 Year Construction Timeline, Later Signs Agreement Allowing Just Phase 1 to Take 12 Years and the Arena to Take 6 Years
Phase 2, The Bulk of the Housing, Has No Established Timeline
Brooklyn, NY— As revealed today on the Atlantic Yards Report, the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) funding agreement with Atlantic Yards proposal developer Forest City Ratner, allows 6-plus years for the developer to build the arena, 12-plus years to build the rest of Phase 1 (five skyscrapers), and no established timeline to build the remaining 11 skyscrapers comprising Phase 2 which would account for the bulk of the proposed “affordable housing.” These details are contained within the funding agreement which was posted in 37 parts on Friday on the ESDC website on the same day of a bombshell article on the front page of the NY Times outlining the financial problems plaguing the failing project (“Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards”).
The General Project Plan, approved in December 2006 by the ESDC, stated that Phase 1 of the project (the arena and 5 towers) was "anticipated to be completed by 2010" and Phase II (11 towers and privately-owned, publicly accessible open space) was "anticipated to be completed by 2016." But that is not now the case as the Atlantic Yards Report explains:
Nine months later, in September 2007, the ESDC signed a funding agreement that gives developer Forest City Ratner much more time and also posits a scenario in which much less housing and open space would be built.
The details:
Ratner would have six years to build the arena after the close of litigation and the ESDC's exercise of eminent domain to acquire needed properties.
Ratner would have 12 years to build the five towers of Phase I after the close of litigation and the ESDC's exercise of eminent domain to acquire needed properties.
Ratner would have an unspecified amount of time to build the eleven towers of Phase II, with an option for the ESDC to buy back the land from the developer.
Should the project be abandoned, the city might pursue a plan that would bring 1845 units of housing 646 of them affordable, and 2 acres of open space, as opposed to 6430 units, 2250 of them affordable, and 8 acres of open space…
…If the Effective Date [close of litigation and completion of property condemnation] does not occur prior to December 19, 2009 and Forest City Ratner fails to pursue the site litigation or take "reasonable steps" in furtherance of the project, it "will be deemed abandoned," and the ESDC will get its money back.
“The ESDC and the Public Authorities Control Board signed off on a project that would take 10 years to construct. Less than a year later the ESDC has agreed to allow Forest City Ratner to take 6 years just to build the arena, 12 years just to build the first phase of the project, and no established timeline for the second phase where the bulk of the ‘affordable’ housing would be,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “This is a bait and switch of an incredible degree. The project’s political supporters, as well as ‘affordable’ housing partner ACORN, ought to be up in arms about this drastic timeline change negotiated completely behind closed doors.”
Posted by lumi at 4:55 AM
Ouroussoff's Gehry defense was more "hero worship" than civic concern
Atlantic Yards Report
So what exactly did New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff mean last Friday when he counted himself among "we" opponents of the Atlantic Yards project?
I observed that "more likely, he’s an opponent of [architect Frank] Gehry’s vision being stymied." Indeed, more of that perspective emerged in a Sunday essay headlined Nice Tower! Who’s Your Architect? that also involves a Gehry project for Forest City Ratner.
Writing about the architect's Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan, Ouroussoff, with satisfaction recounted how Gehry got over on the big developer:
Some architects were able to work around conventional real estate wisdom by forging exteriors that would impose a specific experience on the interior spaces. By the time the consultants at Forest City Ratner, the developer behind Mr. Gehry’s Beekman building, realized that the wrinkled walls of the architect’s tower would be mirrored inside the apartments, for example, it was too late to change without a costly reworking of the design.
Posted by lumi at 4:47 AM
Comparing Coney Island
Atlantic Yards Report
The Coney contrast: no eminent domain, "constant public input"
As Atlantic Yards has become the poster child for bad public process and inadequate urban planning, it's worth watching the city's posture toward other major development projects.
And the city is treading carefully in Coney Island, where a rezoning plan would avoid use of eminent domain, even though the major landowner in the amusement area, Thor Equities' Joe Sitt, so far has very different plans for his property and has not yet agreed to a suggested swap of city land to the west.
The standalone arena makes the Coney option look stronger
Ok, it's not on the city's radar screen, given other ambitious plans for Coney Island, but Forest City Ratner's intention to proceed with an Atlantic Yards arena and wait--perhaps for a very long while--before building office space and housing suddenly removed some major objections to the once front-burner plan to put an arena in Coney Island.
And the city's intention to press for express train service would remove another objection. That's not to say an arena is likely, but the discussion deserves a second look.
Posted by lumi at 4:22 AM
March 24, 2008
Suite deal: despite skyrocketing costs, arena would be paid for mostly by luxury suites
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder explains how the proposed Nets arena is such a good deal for Bruce Ratner. Ratner will pay no taxes, only payments in lieu of taxes, so we all get to help him.
Let's try the math. At a 5% interest rate, over 30 years, bond payments would be $61.2 million a year. (That's a somewhat arbitrary interest rate and an online calculator, so my math could be off.)
Barclays would pay $400 million, or $20 million a year, over 20 years. Add $39 million in suites and the $59 million total nearly reaches $61.2 million.
Add a couple of million dollars in other sponsorships--"14 totally integrated partners" are expected--and the arena bond is paid for, at least for the first 20 years. Remember, FCR would pay no taxes, but instead the bond payments would act as payments in lieu of taxes.
It's a suite deal. No wonder they're moving ahead.
Posted by steve at 8:40 AM
Luxury Suites for Sale at Proposed Nets Arena
Bruce Ratner tries to press ahead with the portion of the proposed Atlantic Yards project that potentially has the most benefits - for Bruce Ratner!
Daily News, 540G will get you a ritzy suite in new Brooklyn Nets arena
Developed Bruce Ratner has postponed the fancy apartments at his controversial Atlantic Yards project, but he's pressing ahead with something almost as expensive - luxury suites at the complex's basketball arena.
The 130 Frank Gehry designed suites will average $300,000 and top out at $540,000, officials said Sunday, despite the national financial crisis that has crimped plans for other buildings on the site.
...
"We believe in getting out early and this is according to our original schedule," said Nets CEO Brett Yorkmark, who denied the team or developer Forest City Ratner was short of cash.
He said the three levels of suites will go on sale May 15 - each outfitted with personal servants, access to an exclusive lounge, flat-panel TVs and other fancy amenities. The announcement came one day after Ratner said the Gehry-designed Miss Brooklyn building and three other residential towers at the heart of the 22-acre project could be delayed indefinitely because of the bond and credit crises.
New York Post, It's a Suite Life For Nets Nuts