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March 29, 2008
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 March 29, 2008 10:59 AM