« MOVING TRUCKS PACK UP THE LAST REMAINS OF ATLANTIC YARDS | Main | In coverage of Goldstein move, the New York Post lies and Forest City Ratner (apparently) displays its vindictiveness »
May 6, 2010
It's game over for Nets Arena holdout Goldstein
The Brooklyn Blog [NYPost.com]
by Rich Calder
A Post photog ambushed Daniel Goldstein and his daughter yesterday, on their allegedly "residents only" private street.
Daniel Goldstein, the longtime Atlantic Yards project holdout who last month accepted a $3 million settlement from developer Bruce Ratner that allows an NBA arena to be built, freaked out today outside his now-former Prospect Heights home after the Post photographed him watching movers pack his belongings into two large vans.
Goldstein, while holding his young daughter Sita in a baby carrier, got so furious that he yelled, "It’s a private street! Get off, or I’ll call the cops," said photographer Benny Stumbo. However, Stumbo said he had already gotten permission to shoot in front of the soon-to-be demolished condo complex at 636 Pacific Street from a security guard watching the fenced-up block for Ratner.
Alleged "security" guard.
Meanwhile, Ratner may have a new main nemisis.
As the Post web site first reported yesterday, real estate mogul Peter Williams says he owns air rights above part of the site of the planned Nets arena and that the project can’t be completed until the issue is settled.
He filed a suit accusing the state of failing to address his air rights when condemning property for the project, but says he’s ready to sell to Ratner or anyone for the right price.
Williams told the Post he was contacted by project opponents who are in the process of raising money to buy the air rights before Ratner can. He declined to give his asking price but said he’d "prefer" to sell to the opponents because he considers Ratner a "bully."
The opponents, he said, could then take over the court challege. If the court sides with Williams or the opponents, it could take up to two years for the state to be able to condemn the air rights and clear the way for the project -- time that Ratner doesn’t have.
Posted by eric at May 6, 2010 12:54 PM