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May 31, 2009
Atlantic Yards Combatants Finally Forced To Sit Through State Senate Hearing
The Village Voice
By Neil deMause
Here's an excerpt of a story covering Friday's state hearing by the expert of arena/stadium financing from Field of Schemes.
Yesterday was the long-awaited — like, six years long — first state legislative hearing on Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, with State Senator Bill Perkins convening his Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions Committee (think of him as the Senate version of Richard Brodsky) at Pratt Institute.
While there were lots of questions that could have been raised, the one most everyone is wondering was: Is it still happening, and if so, does it bear the slightest resemblance to the vision that Ratner and then-architect Frank Gehry unveiled back in the Friends era?
Or will it now be a stripped-down arena surrounded by what the Municipal Art Society has dubbed Atlantic Lots?
Unfortunately, those best able to answer this question — Forest City Ratner, the Nets owner's family development company — were announced to be a no-show. Errol Louis in Thursday's Daily News claimed that Forest City Ratner wasn't invited to testify; Perkins said he did too invite them, by fax, mail, and email. At least one Forest City rep was spotted in the audience, but he declined Perkins' entreaties to come on down.
In their absence, it was left to various unelected officials to make the case that the project is still on track, just with some, um, adjustments. Empire State Development Corporation chief Marisa Lago said that the "value engineering" Ratner is now engaged in — including, reportedly, ditching Gehry for off-the-rack arena designers Ellerbe Becket — didn't represent "downsizing" of the arena plus office tower plus affordable housing plus unaffordable housing that Ratner originally agreed to: "You're getting a new kitchen, just some of the shiny chrome finishes are going to be changed." Metropolitan Transportation Authority interim president Helena Williams noted that Forest City has "proposed revisions to some of the deal terms" it agreed to in 2006, including "a smaller up front payment for the land" than the $100 million the developer originally promised (Louis reported this as a $20 million down payment; Williams declined to name a figure), something she said the MTA board will discuss at its next meeting on June 24th.
This piece ends by noting of one of the most remarkable moments of the day from Independent Budget Office deputy director George Sweeting:
"Most of the new tax revenue that's generated from the project comes from the office space," added Sweeting. "If the project that finally emerges has less commercial office space, then presumably that tax revenue piece that's spun off from there will be lower."
Nobody booed, but that could have just been because they weren't paying attention.
Posted by steve at May 31, 2009 6:59 AM