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June 23, 2009
Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing your Modified, $5 Billion Atlantic Yards Project!
NY Observer, The New Atlantic Yards: Less Pretty, More Pricey
Two and a half years after receiving the go-ahead to build a $4 billion complex of apartments and a Nets basketball arena, developer Forest City Ratner is back with a modified plan, trying, once again, to wrap up approvals and to get financing for the project.
The plan has been heavily battered by the recession and rising costs: Star architect Frank Gehry was once promised and relentlessly advertised as designer of the whole project, including the arena—now he’s out, on account of costs. Payments to the public sector—in the form of cash up front and a new rail yard for the M.T.A., have been delayed and curtailed, respectively. The housing is slated to start after the arena starts. And the total price tag now is estimated in state documents at about $4.9 billion, up from $4 billion.
Tuesday, the state released some early renderings of the new, trimmed down and less attractive arena by arena architect Ellerbe Becket (The Times architecture critic called it a “stunning bait-and-switch”).
Be sure to check out the Observer's slide show, complete with new landscaping design by Field Operations — though according to Forest City spokesman Joe DePlasco, the "master plan" is still the work of Laurie Olin.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, State Approves Changes To Atlantic Yards Plan
The original General Project Plan was approved by ESDC in December 2006. The proposed modifications approved Tuesday are summarized below:
Acquisition of the Project Site in Stages — This would allow Forest City Ratner to move forward with the development of the planned Nets basketball arena and four surrounding towers, as well as construction-phase parking and parking for the arena. The first stage would include construction of the arena as soon as the company gains possession of the intended site and the beginning of construction for the first non-arena building. The remainder of the site would be developed during the second phase.
MTA Site Acquisition — ESDC will acquire a portion of the MTA property for $20 million, which will be paid by Forest City. Forest City will agree to pay the MTA the balance of the $100 million purchase price, plus interest, in installments. This is basically the same deal Forest City Ratner made with the MTA.
Upgrades to Vanderbilt Railyard — Forest City will provide the MTA with a letter of credit (in the amount of $86 million) to secure its future obligation to upgrade the Vanderbilt Railyard, prior to the first property acquisition by ESDC.
Crain's NY Business, Atlantic Yards developer wins longer schedule
The entire modified plan hasn’t been publically disclosed, but the ESDC says it allows for Forest City to acquire the 22-acre site in stages instead of all at once. It said the developer would first take possession of the parcel that is set to hold the arena, its parking, and four towers, and take over the rest later on.
...In a statement, Forest City Chief Executive Bruce Ratner said, “The modified plan will allow us to proceed and at the same time ensure that the many benefits of Atlantic Yards become a reality.”
The Cross Pollinator, Atlantic Yards: Poster Child For NY State Corruption
I wouldn’t want to waste too much breath on a corrupt process that has come off the rails (no pun intended). However, as an honest person who lives in New York City, watching this deal go down while the Republicans and Democrats have a cosmic pissing match upstate, it is hard not to see New York State as a gigantic toilet where rich developers get what they want and normal folks get it up the ass.
There’s no hesitation in raising fares on subway riders, and there’s no hesitation in allowing Ratner out of the deal he made with the MTA but can no longer afford. They are a match made in heaven. The MTA should be dissolved and Ratner should throw in the towel on this ill advised attempt to stuff his no good basketball team into a Kentucky Fried Chicken Box style arena in the middle of Brooklyn.
How do you look at this deal and say the fix is not in?
Posted by eric at June 23, 2009 6:06 PM