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April 10, 2008
Has NYC’s Ambitious Development Agenda Stalled?
Architectural Record
By Alec Appelbaum
Atlantic Yards is first at bat on this spring's collection of development projects delayed:
Atlantic Yards: Developer Bruce Ratner hired Frank Gehry, in 2003, to masterplan a basketball arena and 17-tower district of retail, offices, and residences on 22 acres surrounding Brooklyn’s transit hub. It convinced the city and state to use eminent-domain, while neighbors sued—unsuccessfully, so far—to scale back plans. But Ratner’s inability to find an anchor office tenant for the development’s signature tower, which Gehry dubbed “Miss Brooklyn,” now threatens to delay construction by years. “We are committed to building the whole thing, it just might take a little longer than anticipated,” says spokesperson Lorin Riegelhaupt, projecting an arena and residential tower by late 2010, and another residential building soon after. To help Ratner find an anchor tenant for Miss Brooklyn, which had once targeted a 2010 opening, Gehry has sent a signed letter and sketch to a dozen or so CEOs, hoping to persuade them to relocate headquarters there.
Posted by lumi at April 10, 2008 4:46 AM