« Naming Rights... or Wrongs? | Main | Noticing New York Discloses What MTA Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger Has in His Closet »
June 25, 2009
Bailouts and more bailouts
Brownstoner, MTA Ignores Fiduciary Duty, Approves Revised Yards Plan
If you read the Atlantic Yards Report's account of yesterday's MTA hearing that resulted in a 10-2 vote approving the sale of the Atlantic Yards to Forest City Ratner at a drastically reduced price (in both present and expected value terms), it's hard not to come to the conclusion that either (a) the people that sit on the MTA Board ain't too bright or (b) the fix was most certainly in. Or (c) both. The heart of the MTA's fallacious position was encapsulated by board member Jeff Kay's defense of the new pricing structure: “The market is what the market is,” declared board member Jeff Kay." Um, except that the board rejected a higher price from Extell back in 2005 and has refused to either get a current independent appraisal or solicit new offers to find out what the market price really is.
The Brooklyn Paper, BAILOUT! State cuts new deal to save stalled ‘Atlantic Yards’
For now, the ESDC is sticking to the line that the full “Atlantic Yards” project will someday be built.
“The remainder of the site will be acquired when necessary for development,” Steve Matlin, the ESDC’s counsel, told the agency’s board on Tuesday.
The “remainder” includes the vast majority of the 2,250 below-market-rate housing and open space that was part of the project when it was originally approved in December, 2006 — key public benefits that greased the approval process of the highly controversial project.
Field of Schemes, Nets arena gets land bailout, still needs bond backing
New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner got his sweetheart land deal for a Brooklyn arena yesterday, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board approved a plan that would let him defer payments and spend $100 million less on replacing a rail yard on the proposed arena site. In a last-minute twist, arena opponents Develop Don't Destroy tried placing their own competing bid for the land, saying they had just as good a shot at getting financing for their Unity development plan as Ratner did for his arena, but the MTA refused to consider the offer.
Regional Plan Association, RPA Testimony on Atlantic Yards
The RPA, which really ought to know better than to support the Atlantic Yards plan, even conditionally, testified against the revised deal terms at yesterday's MTA board meeting.
RPA weighed in at the MTA board meeting saying we oppose the deal as it's currently structured but think it should be salvaged under stricter provisions. Those include granting the MTA a greater portion of future proceeds, conducting a new cost benefit analysis and creating a new ESDC subsidiary to review design elements and oversee the development process as it goes through different iterations.
Posted by eric at June 25, 2009 11:51 AM