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April 2, 2009
Ratner buys first AY property in two years
The Real Deal
by Gabby Warshawer
Forest City Ratner recently purchased a property in the Atlantic Yards footprint, the company's sole acquisition of property on the site of the delay-ridden Brooklyn project in more than two years.
The developer closed on 467 Dean Street -- the 10,000-square-foot New York City headquarters of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers -- on March 20, according to public records. Ratner paid roughly $3 million for the building and went into contract for the property in mid-September 2008.
The developer last purchased property in the Atlantic Yards footprint in February 2007, according to city records made public last week. Although Ratner has bought up and demolished many of the properties in the Atlantic Yards footprint, a number of others are still in private hands, including those of nine property owners and tenants who are challenging the developer's intent to take control of them via eminent domain.
...[Daniel] Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn said the purchase of 467 Dean underscored Develop Don't Destroy's belief that the developer is intent on controlling all the land in the Atlantic Yards footprint, despite the project's uncertain future.
"While Ratner struggles against litigation and the world economic crisis -- making it impossible to build what he's promised to build -- this sale makes it plainly obvious that Forest City Ratner's true goal is to control 22 valuable acres in the heart of Brooklyn with taxpayer assistance and the misuse of the state's eminent domain powers," he said. "If Forest City Ratner controls those 22 acres, it will not benefit anybody but Ratner, and that is what we are fighting against."
More coverage...
Gothamist, Ratner Buying More Land for Uncertain Atlantic Yards Project
Sure, architect Frank Gehry may be telling the press the embattled $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project isn't going to happen, but Gehry doesn't speak for developer Bruce Ratner, who continues to double down on his dream to build a Nets basketball arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Brooklyn.
...With AY construction currently stalled, it's unclear what Ratner plans to do with the property, but the president of his company promised yesterday that once one last eminent domain lawsuit is settled, "this project is ready to go."
Curbed, Pulse Detected at Atlantic Yards
Just in time for all the increased chatter about the further demise of Atlantic Yards, The Real Deal reports that developer Forest City Ratner closed on a privately-held building in the project's footprint, the first acquisition by Ratner in Yardsville since February 2007.
The Brooklyn Paper, Project stalled, but Ratner is still buying Yard land
Posted by eric at April 2, 2009 9:07 AM