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August 3, 2010
The closing: MaryAnne Gilmartin
The Real Deal
by Candace Taylor
The Real Deal profiles Atlantic Yards honcho MaryAnne Gilmartin.
MaryAnne Gilmartin is the executive vice president of commercial and residential development at Forest City Ratner Companies, where she's been since 1994. She's overseeing the controversial $4 billion, 22-acre Atlantic Yards development, one of the most significant developments in Brooklyn's history.
...How do you get from your house in Westchester to Forest City's headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn every day?
I have a driver … I used to laugh with Bruce [Ratner] when I was pregnant with each of my children that I would go into labor on the BQE and have to name one of them after an exit.
...What has been challenging for you personally about the opposition to Atlantic Yards?
It's a complicated project with lots of dimensions. And that's just hard work and I love that. I can't say I love the friction and the tension in a public setting. But it comes with the territory. I knew that and I accept that.
What did you do to celebrate closing the deal?
We closed on Dec. 22 [2009], so I went home to my family to begin my holiday shopping. [Just before we closed] there were two lost packages with critical documents in them, letters of credit without which we couldn't close. The UPS facility was completely overwhelmed with holiday packages ... But we unearthed the documents in time for the closing.
...Do your kids understand what a big deal Atlantic Yards is?
They used to be flummoxed by what I did. They wondered … how could she leave every morning in a suit and build that building? When did she pick up her tool belt and how did she get so high up in the air? But whenever possible I include my children. For example, at the Atlantic Yards groundbreaking, both of my boys were there. I always say if I have to leave my children every day it better be good. And this has been quite good.
NoLandGrab: Rumor has it that she involved a number of her son's 4th Grade classmates a couple years back, too, telling them that "bad man" Daniel Goldstein was standing between Brooklynites and their new basketball team.
Photo: The Real Deal
Posted by eric at August 3, 2010 1:07 PM