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July 2, 2009
Ratner promises Atlantic Yards arena redesign
The Forest City Ratner chief said the Atlantic Yards basketball arena renderings leaked to the media last month were premature and do not reflect his intentions for the project.
Crain's NY Business
by Erik Engquist
Promises, promises.
So, Bruce, you'd have us believe that you spent a bunch of money to produce several renderings to submit to the Department of City Planning (whose commissioner, Amanda Burden, leaked them to the press) that do not reflect your "intentions for the project?" Uh, wha?
Bruce Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, has told senior members of the Bloomberg administration that the Atlantic Yards basketball arena renderings leaked to the media last month were premature and do not reflect his intentions for the project, city sources say. While Mr. Ratner is said to have reaffirmed his commitment to a "world-class" design, he faces the challenge of improving it without substantially raising the cost.
Frank Gehry had designed a $1 billion arena that impressed architecture critics but proved unaffordable when the economy tanked and credit markets froze. Missouri-based architectural firm Ellerbe Becket was brought in and proposed a $772 million arena that resembled an airplane hangar. To say that the design did not meet the expectations of Amanda Burden, chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, would be a vast understatement.
"One of the key goals of the Atlantic Yards project was to transform an area with development that incorporates world-class architecture, a dynamic streetscape, and significant public amenities," she said in a statement issued by her spokeswoman. "Bruce Ratner has given the city a commitment that he will design the Atlantic Yards in a way that respects both the letter and the spirit of what was envisaged in 2006, when the project received its original approval."
NoLandGrab: Bruce Ratner has twisted the truth about Atlantic Yards so often that it has now become habitual. And Amanda Burden really needs to come out in public and say what she supposedly says in private: that Atlantic Yards was a bad idea that has only gotten worse.
Posted by eric at July 2, 2009 3:34 PM