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July 8, 2009
Brooklyn will go easy on its skyline
Marketplace Morning Report
American Public Media's all-things-financial program looks at how the recession may affect Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project.
When a recession hits, building projects get abandoned and not everyone thinks that's a bad thing. In Brooklyn, New York, developers were supposed to be building a massive complex -- millions of square feet of housing and offices and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets. Superstar architect Frank Gehry was signed on to the project, called Atlantic Yards. Well now, Sally Herships reports those plans have been scaled way back.
SALLY HERSHIPS: The Atlantic Yards site lies in Brooklyn's district 35. Letitia James is the local city council rep. She's a big critic of the developer, Forest City. And she hates the new architect's design for the basketball arena.
LETITIA JAMES: Now, it's just a barn, an airplane hanger, a mess.
Some Brooklynites look at that so-called mess and get nervous about what their neighborhood might look like. But the recession could come to their rescue. Money has run so short that Forest City may not even be able to build the arena, let alone the office and residential buildings.
Posted by eric at July 8, 2009 12:54 PM