« Yard Work | Main | FCR's Beekman tower finally financed; school will be a year late »

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.

article

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 March 28, 2008 3:11 PM