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June 21, 2009
AY: "Out of the barn" or driven by Forest City Ratner's tightening timetable?
Atlantic Yards Report
In an article headlined Atlantic Yards won't be derailed and, bizarrely enough, accompanied by a rendering of a previous iteration of the AY arena block, Crain's New York Business offers the conventional wisdom: Forest City Ratner's long-delayed, dramatically altered Atlantic Yards project faces two key votes this week on its latest changes. Critics say the modifications will dilute—or erase—the plan's pledged public benefits.
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Despite fierce opposition to the shrinking project, bets are running heavily in favor of state officials' reaching the necessary compromises to push it along. Far too much time and money has been invested, officials say. It's also unlikely that another developer could be found to take over in this economic climate.
“Too much has happened on this project,” said Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association [RPA]. “The horse is out of the barn on this one.”
As DDDB and NLG point out, the horse isn't exactly out of the barn, because the project has changed so much, with the promised benefits far attenuated.
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As for finding "another developer," the question is a false one. There indeed might not be another developer to build Forest City Ratner's project, but there might be other developers to build on the MTA-owned land, and at a faster pace than Forest City Ratner and the ESDC are willing to project.
What's driving the timetable is the need to issue tax-exempt bonds for the arena by the end of the year, and Forest City Ratner's aim to reverse losses on the Nets by moving them to a new building in Brooklyn.
The RPA conveniently forgets its endorsement of Frank Gehry's arena block and its dismay over the process.
Posted by steve at June 21, 2009 4:29 PM