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March 5, 2010
Forest City in the news
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sid’s Hardware Files for Chapter 11 Protection
Had To Get Out of Lease at MetroTech
After reporting on Tuesday that the popular Sid’s Hardware in Downtown Brooklyn had closed its store in MetroTech and moved to Gowanus (in Sign of the Times: Popular Hardware Store Leaves Downtown, Leaves Retail Business), the Eagle has learned that the firm has filed for bankruptcy.
“We filed for Chapter 11 protection because we had to get out of our lease,” said William Ruzzo, director of operations. “We could no longer afford to be there.”
According to Ruzzo, the hardware company had two years left on its lease and was unable to work out an agreement with its MetroTech landlord, Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC).
“At one point we had a deal on the table, but two hours before the end of a Friday — when we had to appear in court the following Monday — we heard the deal was off,” he said. “We had no choice at that point.”
Sid’s Hardware has had a retail store at 345 Jay St. in MetroTech for the past 20 years and, before that, at basically the same location but in a building that was demolished to create the MetroTech Center.
...Contacted for a comment Thursday, Joyce Baumgarten, a spokesperson for FCRC, could only confirm that Sid’s did file for bankruptcy and there is a hearing before a judge in Federal Court, Eastern District, Brooklyn on Wednesday, March 10, at 3 p.m.
NoLandGrab: Let's get this straight. Forest City Ratner, which has both wrapped itself in the cloak of benevolent provider of much-needed jobs (and affordable housing) and itself renegotiated a sweetheart deal with the MTA for the Vanderbilt Yard when it couldn't meet the terms of its original obligation, has essentially forced bankruptcy on a tenant with two decades' tenure that needed a little help to make it through the final two years of its lease. And pulled the rug out from under that tenant at the last minute, after a deal had been struck.
That's the kind of company that the likes of Mike Bloomberg and Marty Markowitz have bent over backwards to accommodate. That's the kind of company that is going to control more than 50 acres of prime Brooklyn real estate. That's the kind of company that we're supposed to believe will hold up its end of a flimsy Community Benefits Agreement.
Good luck, Brooklyn.
LoHud.com, Saks Fifth Avenue pulls out of new Yonkers mall
Saks Fifth Avenue no longer intends to move into the Ridge Hill Village retail-shopping complex under construction off Interstate 87.
Ridge Hill's developer Forest City Enterprises announced Thursday that the retailer withdrew its non-binding letter of intent to locate a store at the $650 million project. Saks was to be one of the anchors for the 1.2-million-square-foot complex, according to the developer's Web site.
Brownstoner, 80 Dekalb Reaches 50% Rented Mark, Allegedly
When we checked in with 80 Dekalb in early January, the 365-unit rental being brought to you by Forest City Ratner was about 25 percent rented as best we could ascertain. Yesterday we received an email from a reader who had just toured the 36-story tower and been told by the broker that half the apartments were now rented. For what it's worth, the tipster also said that the apartments were extremely nice.
Posted by eric at March 5, 2010 12:54 PM