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March 12, 2010
Atlantic Yards and the Great Recession Groundbreaking
The NY Observer
by Eliot Brown
The Observer's Brown, always an astute observer himself of the machinations around the Atlantic Yards project, explains in must-read fashion how government officials' willingness to accommodate Bruce Ratner, and the unsustainable feeding of the pro-sports bubble economy, made yesterday's groundbreaking possible.
There was an odd feel to Thursday afternoon's Atlantic Yards groundbreaking—one that felt almost as though it wasn't 2010, but rather, say, 2007, when the economy was vibrant and projects were popping up around the city.
A giant white party tent at the site of the Nets basketball arena-to-be in Prospect Heights quickly became filled with business leaders, lawyers, Nets investors and a celebrity or two, as a brigade of caterers passed around gourmet munchies—mini-burgers; cheesecake—squeezing in between an army of suits holding napkins that carried the new Barclays Center insignia. One after another, officials and executives key to the project—Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz—took to the lectern to address the tent, proclaiming just how pleased they were that the project was happening.
This is a very un-recession-like concept.
...That Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner and his Forest City Ratner got to Thursday's tent is a testament to the developer's perseverance and tenacity, pulling whatever levers he could to advance the highly controversial behemoth of a project. But in pushing the project through, it morphed, offering a cautionary tale of development with public approvals, illustrating how many of the selling points (a green roof, a world-class architect, 6,400 apartments in just a few years) can vanish when finances get tight.
Key in the tale of survival was the public sector, and its willingness to adjust earlier agreements.
Posted by eric at March 12, 2010 4:19 PM