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March 28, 2008
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 March 28, 2008 5:28 AM