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March 28, 2009
A Short Look At Bruce Ratner's Credibility on Atlantic Yards
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
On March 21, 2008 in The New York Times Bruce Ratner expressed confidence:
...[Bruce Ratner] did say he was confident about starting construction on a $950 million basketball arena for the Nets by the end of the year. The arena was to be surrounded by the office tower, known as Miss Brooklyn, and three residential buildings in the first phase of the project. ...
It is March 2009. Not only has the "developer" not started construction on his billion dollar arena, but he doesn't own the land or have the financing to start.
The article, "Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards," continued.
...In another indication of the problems facing the project, Forest City recently sent a letter signed by the project’s celebrity architect, Frank Gehry, to chief executives of many of the city’s biggest corporations, inviting them to become a tenant in the “centerpiece of the project,” Miss Brooklyn. It was originally scheduled to be completed in July 2009..
What a difference a year makes. Last March Frank Gehry was signing direct mail solicitations to find an anchor tenant for his client's office tower.
Just this last week, Frank Gehry said about Atlantic Yards: "I don't think it's going to happen." And his client Bruce Ratner, trying to do damage control, called Gehry his "friend," but did not deny the obvious—his Atlantic Yards star architect was no longer working on his project.
Posted by steve at March 28, 2009 6:45 AM