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March 3, 2010
Nets arena groundbreaking set for next week after court ruling
Field of Schemes
It's not quite all over but the shouting, but just about: A New York state judge approved a court petition by the state (over landholder objections) to use eminent domain to seize land for the Nets' planned Brooklyn arena on Monday, clearing the way for construction to begin. Street closings are set to begin next Monday, with a ceremonial groundbreaking on March 11; as for evicting the remaining residents and businesses occupying buildings marked for demolition, the state Empire State Development Corporation says it "anticipates an orderly relocation taking place over the course of the next few months."
Barring a surprise injunction in one of the other remaining lawsuits, then, it looks like the Atlantic Yards project, or at least the Barclays Center piece of it, will be opening in Fall 2012 as planned — not as planned originally, mind you, but if you keep making enough predictions, one of them will be right.
Related coverage...
Gothamist, Atlantic Yards Developer Will Break Ground On March 11
Regulars at Freddy's Bar, who have already built a PBR guillotine and chained themselves to the bar to protest the pending demolition of their watering hole, said they won't give up without a fight. "There's chains on the bar and a lot of people will be buying handcuffs," said project opponent Steve de Seve. It's unclear if they'll also try to use those handcuffs to arrest Ratner, as they planned to do last month.
The Brooklyn Paper, Ratner to break ground next week!
Bruce Ratner will officially break ground on his $1-billion Barclays Center on March 11, days after a crucial judicial ruling in his favor and slightly more than seven years after the project was first announced.
The ceremony in Prospect Heights will likely include Mayor Bloomberg and Atlantic Yards cheerleader-in-chief, Borough President Markowitz, wielding the ceremonial shovels.
If all goes as planned, the event will be the so-called “end of the beginning” of a project that was unveiled in 2003 and mired in delays and controversy since.
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill], The Day: a Groundbreaking and an Emmy Nomination
Atlantic Yards is once again on our minds, with the news that developer Bruce C. Ratner plans to break ground on March 11.
Posted by eric at March 3, 2010 12:45 PM