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January 22, 2009
The MTA and Atlantic Yards: Two Atlantic Yards Report Entries
Atlantic Yards Report
Two blog entries look at revelations that Forest City Ratner is looking to renege on promises it made to upgrade the Vanderbilt Rail Yard as part of its sweetheart deal to buy the MTA property for less than half its assessed value.
In light of the precarious situation regarding the MTA's sale of the West Side Railyards, Norman Oder tries to understand the status of the deal for the Vanderbilt Rail Yard, which occupies roughly a third of the footprint for the proposed Atlantic Yards project. MTA executive director, Lee Sander, is not very forthcoming with Crain's Editorial Director Greg David.
Yesterday, David asked Sander, "The Atlantic Yards projects clearly hangs in the balance, even if the court cases go in favor of Forest City Ratner. Has the MTA recognized that it will also need to be flexible at Atlantic Yards if Forest City Ratner wins the court cases and tries to go out and finance the arena?"
(Actually, the defendant in pending lawsuits is the Empire State Development Corporation.)
"I think that we have been flexible and thoughtful in all these negotiations," Sander responded, speaking carefully. "I think if you had spoken to [developers] Jerry Speyer, Gary Barnett, Brookfield... I don't think you'll have [REBNY's] Steve Spinola or any of these people we interact with saying we were rigid, or unrealistic, and so forth."
"So, whether it's with Forest Ratner--with Forest City Ratner, with Bruce Ratner, we will apply, as we have, intelligence, thoughtfulness, to the exercise," Sander said, proceeding to offer examples that were not quite related to AY. "We also have open lines of communication with the city. We worked unbelievably closely with Dan Doctoroff and Mayor [Mike] Bloomberg in the Hudson Yards transaction. We have extraordinary partnerships across the board, whether it's with [city officials] Ray Kelly, whether it's with Janette Sadik-Khan, whether it's with Ed Skyler. We do these things collaboratively."
Reading the fine print: if FCR doesn't produce an upgraded railyard, would that stall the arena?
What might the legal implications be if promised rail yard upgrades are not delivered? Good question!
Did the Empire State Development Corporation write itself into a contradiction?
According to the Atlantic Yards Modified General Project Plan (p. 22): ESDC's acquisition of all such properties [via eminent domain] will not occur until such time as ESDC receives commitments, guaranties and other evidence satisfactory to ESDC that FCRC will (i) promptly commence construction of the Arena, the Upgraded Yard and all of the infrastructure necessary for the Arena (collectively, the "Arena Infrastructure"; together with the Arena and the Upgraded Yard, the "Initial Development"), and (ii) complete such construction within agreed-upon time periods. (Emphasis added)
If developer Forest City Ratner does not create the upgraded railyard it intended--as the New York Times reported, citing an anonymous source--would that be violating the General Project Plan?
Then again, there's often some wiggle room. It probably depends on the definition of "Upgraded." But the issue is worth tracking.
Posted by steve at January 22, 2009 8:52 AM