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November 19, 2011
What Could (Not Ever) Have Been at Ratner's Atlantic Yards
Curbed
Here's a partial recounting of how the Atlantic Yards project changed from featuring starchitect Frank Ghery and affordable housing to a project which now has neither.
Fast forward to 2009, after a brief attempt at value engineering, when Bruce dumps Frank and his $1 billion of starchitecture for a more modest and universally reviled hangar vision drummed up by Ellerbe Beckett. That didn't go over so well, so SHoP was brought on to class up the proceedings later that year. Barclays Center broke ground in 2010 and is now trucking along nicely; as for that residential building, rumors about the modular build-out first lit up the 'wire back in March, and now: voila.
As many have pointed out, the repeated focus on subsidized housing from the beginning was what cleared many of Ratner's development hurdles; even back in 2005, Forest City Ratner promised that half the housing units would be reserved for tenants making less than $100,000 per year.
Posted by steve at November 19, 2011 11:29 PM