August 4, 2008
Nets Arena May Not Be Finished Until 2011, Ratner Says
The Real Estate [NY Observer]
by Eliot Brown
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The news was first spotted by Norman Oder at his encyclopedic watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report, where he put up part of a transcript from a Forest City conference in June [corrected]. In the conference, Forest City chairman Bruce Ratner said the company hoped to start construction on the arena by the end of this year, and would take two and a half years to finish.
We put the question over to Forest City this morning, and here's their response, via a statement from vice president Bruce Bender:
"It is not a new schedule. I think Bruce was just stating that the schedule in place is in fact very aggressive. We plan to break ground this fall and are working to open in calendar year 2010. While that's the goal, if it is not met then it would end up being calendar year 2011."
NoLandGrab: How's that? It's not a new schedule? It's just the same schedule with new dates? Right, and the arena actually opened in 2006, the date announced initially by Forest City Ratner when they first presented Atlantic Yards to the public in 2003.
As we pointed out this morning, Bruce Ratner had to hew to truthiness in talking to shareholders about the arena's opening. But since Bruce Bender was only responding to a press inquiry, he could, as is his wont, be a little more creative.
Once again, we extend our challenge to Forest City Ratner to tell it straight to anyone not carrying the big enforcement stick of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Posted by eric at 4:47 PM
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Real Estate [NY Observer], Landowners Bring Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Battle to State Court
If anything else, the lawsuits thus far seem to have delayed the start of the more than $4 billion planned project, which calls for a new basketball arena for the Nets, and over 6,000 apartments. Now, more than a year and a half since the Atlantic Yards project received state approval, a host of clouds circle over developer Forest City Ratner, which once anticipated building the entire first phase (which includes the arena, an office tower and at least 1,000 units of housing) by 2010. The once-lush climate for financing has turned to an arid desert, tax-free housing bonds are in short supply given soaring demand, and the financing mechanism by which the company was to get tax-free bonds for the arena is under fire by the I.R.S., threatening to drive up costs by more than $100 million.
But if the landowners had an uphill climb challenging eminent domain in federal court, the ascent in New York state court is generally regarded as a particularly daunting one, given the relatively generous treatment to the state by New York's eminent domain law.
We're waiting on a statement from Forest City, but if history is any guide, the company will point out (correctly) that the courts have tossed all the lawsuits challenging the project to date.
The Campaign for Community-Based Planning, Checking in With Atlantic Yards: A Messy Footprint, a New Timetable, and a Lawsuit in State Supreme Court
It’s been a while since we’ve looked in on the Atlantic Yards project. Luckily, Norman Oder of the Atlantic Yards Report has been keeping vigilant watch over the goings-on at the site. Here’s a quick update...
Gowanus Lounge, Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Case Filed in State Court
Brownstoner, Nets Coming Late to Atlantic Yards and Suit Coming Soon
Two new developments in the Atlantic Yards saga. Atlantic Yards Report reveals that the Nets have three more years at the Meadowlands' Izod Center, not two, meaning the 2010 opening date Bruce Ratner has been promoting may be nothing more than a pipe dream; we might be looking at 2012 for the team's debut. Besides the team's schedule, there's the issue of construction. Ratner tells some outlets that groundbreaking won't begin until January; to others, he says November.
As construction remains stalled at the site, a lawsuit goes forward. Nine property owners and tenants filed a petition against the Empire State Development Corporation in the Appellate Division Second Department of New York State Supreme Court.
Nets Daily, Has Ratner Pushed Barclays Center Opening to 2011?
brooklyn bob says:
And btw, a JULY OF 2011 barclays center opening is a BEST CASE SCENARIO that assumes no further legal delays, no financing/loan delays and no construction delays. Yeah, right. That’ll happen.
3 more 20-win seasons in the swamp, at least. With 4 more being a very real possibility. While at the same time, newark’s brand new state-of-the-art arena awaits an nba franchise with open arms.
What a bleeping disgrace!!! Way to go ratner. Way to go stern. You two sure know how to screw things up. No wonder the nba’s popularity is going to hell in a hand basket.
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Case Filed on Friday
Yonkers Tribune, Nine Property Owners and Tenants File Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Challenge in New York State Court
RotoWorld, Nets may not move until 2011
Posted by eric at 12:46 PM
July 31, 2008
Who’ll Save New York? Paterson’s Possible Super-Friends
New York Magazine
by Alec Appelbaum
Bruce Ratner makes a cameo appearance in this Daily Intel piece on New York State's woeful fiscal woes (but he doesn't make the cut as a "super-friend").
Governor Paterson sat alone when he confessed the state's miserable financial condition yesterday, but he can't begin to fix the mess that way. Who really thinks the hog-tied State Legislature will solve the problem it created? The speech served as a Bat signal to stir powerful New Yorkers who can put the governor's urgent message into play. We've compiled a short list of possible super-friends.
...Douglas Durst is a model developer for public-private partnerships. While Bruce Ratner probably has his calendar full with bended-knee visits to potential lenders and tenants, and other powerful developers are terrified about paying back existing loans, the civic-minded Durst is doing well enough — he can lean on a solid base of busy buildings — to step up.
NoLandGrab: Since Bruce's public-private "partnerships" are usually one-way streets (guess which way the benefits flow), we're glad he's not a super-friend. He remains, however, super in another away.
Posted by eric at 9:52 AM
July 21, 2008
Love, from New York
Biloxi Sun-Herald
by Anita Lee
"Kids rule," says a mural at the Coast's latest KaBOOM! playground, built Saturday.
One of those kids would be Michael Carajohn, a 16-year-old from New York whose mother is a plastic surgeon on Fifth Avenue, stepfather Bruce Ratner owns the New Jersey Nets basketball team, and aunt happens to be Fox News political correspondent and Talk Radio maven Ellen Ratner.
Even in this family, Carajohn is no slacker. He accompanied his aunt to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina because the images he saw on television broke his heart.
"I've lived in New York all my life," Carajohn said. "I've never seen anything like that. It was inconceivable to me. I was shocked when I saw it on TV, but when I came down here, I was completely floored."
Carajohn has returned 30 times to help the community. What's more, he worked to get a basketball court built for the children of DeLisle.
On Saturday his aunt, mother and stepfather joined 377 volunteers who built the playground on the grounds of what will be the Marsha Barbour Community Resource Center.
NoLandGrab: Kudos to young Michael, his mother, and even stepfather Bruce for pitching in to help build a new playground along the still-ravaged Mississippi coast. Some Prospect Heights residents might be down there pitching in, too, if they weren't preoccupied with trying to stop Bruce from knocking down and rebuilding their own neighborhood.
Posted by eric at 3:10 PM
July 15, 2008
Developer Cuts Back on Plans for Tower to House Baseball’s Cable Network
The New York Times
by Charles Bagli
A 21-story office building planned in East Harlem for Major League Baseball is shrinking.
The tower’s developer, Vornado Realty Trust, had planned to begin construction in April on what would be the home for professional baseball’s newly created cable network, which is scheduled to make its debut in January with 50 million subscribers.
But, according to real estate executives and city officials, Vornado’s inability to finance the $435 million project, known as Harlem Park, has delayed construction and is doing what critics who had complained about the tower’s size could not: reduce its height by about a third. That is in part because the developer seems to have had problems signing up other tenants for the building.
Vornado is now considering a revised plan for a 14-story building at 125th Street and Park Avenue and renegotiating its lease with Major League Baseball, the executives and officials said.
...It is the latest example of the difficulty developers have had in trying to borrow money for projects amid the national debt crisis, even projects that only a few months ago seemed to be on the fast track. After completing the excavation for his Beekman Tower project downtown, the developer Bruce Ratner had to stop work for three months while his company went from bank to bank putting together the construction financing.
NoLandGrab: Judging from the most recent developments in the financial and real estate markets, securing financing, especially for mega-projects, is going to get harder before it gets easier.
Posted by eric at 11:09 AM
July 13, 2008
Nets face lean years, Brooklyn or no Brooklyn
NewsOK.com
by Ian O'Connor
Let us get this straight. Bruce Ratner says it's "100% about basketball" at the same time that he's scuttling Nets' salaries faster than he's knocking down buildings in Prospect Heights. All so the team can position itself to sign Jay-Z protege LeBron James in 2010 (wink-wink, we're not tampering, David Stern). In the meantime, James's Cleveland Cavaliers, a legitimate NBA contender, are nearing the point where they will have enough salary cap room to sign another legit star to help LeBron bring a championship to Cleveland — while the Nets are riding an express elevator to the NBA's cellar.
The Bergen Record's Ian O'Connor lays out the hazards of wishing upon a star in the NBA.
The Nets have been busy clearing salary cap space, office space, locker room space, a parking space, all kinds of space for James. They weren't just getting rid of Richard Jefferson when they made the trade with Milwaukee for Yi and Bobby Simmons; they were getting rid of Richard Jefferson's wage.
But way back when, before he spent a summer acquiring Allan Houston, Chris Childs and Larry Johnson for the Knicks, Ernie Grunfeld told me the most frightening scenario for an NBA executive is clearing out money under the salary cap and then finding nobody worthwhile to take it.
"That happened to Chicago, after Michael Jordan,” Rod Thorn said. "They had significant cap room and they tried to give it to Tracy McGrady, and they tried to give it to (Kevin) Garnett at different times and it didn't work.
"That's the misnomer about having cap space … . If you have a team that's just not very good, to think that you are going to get a top quality free agent is kind of pie in the sky.”
...Sure, the Nets have Jay-Z and their pending palace, which probably won't be ready until the start of the 2011-12 season. With Ratner losing an estimated $40 million a year in the Meadowlands, and with the purchase of the team setting him back $300 million, the Nets are expected to have cost their owner nearly $600 million by the time he lands in Brooklyn.
At those prices, Ratner will want to make a splash in the new digs. And nobody splashes quite like LeBron.
But will the Nets be good enough to even make James' Fave Five?
NoLandGrab: You'd think Bruce Ratner would have learned his lesson about coveting things that aren't his when he started eyeing Daniel Goldstein's apartment.
Posted by eric at 1:43 PM
July 10, 2008
LEBRON-TO-NETS IS MATTER OF WAIT-&-YI
NY Post
by Jay Greenberg
Why, if you bought the spin, you'd think that Yi was Yao, and the Nets weren't the also-ran franchise they've become under the stewardship of Bruce C. Ratner.
Rod Thorn brought the Nets out of the wilderness once, so is trusted by Bruce Ratner to do it again. But it's not the owner, actually LeBron James, who will be the ultimate judge of Yi Jianlian, Devin Harris, Sean Williams and whatever other pieces Thorn has in place by 2010.
Whether from Brooklyn, Manhattan or Oklahoma City, the free-agent-to-be James will get his basketball money to the max. Hardly does LeBron need to play two blocks or one borough away from Madison Avenue to be any more the recognizable pitchman he already is.
If James's good buddy Jay-Z is part-owner of a bad team because Yi hasn't amounted to much more than a 7-foot hill of string beans, the Nets will pay big time for not having made a better trade of a valuable commodity like Richard Jefferson.
In the meantime, with groundbreaking at the Atlantic Yards scheduled for November and court challenges being knocked down like Yi does 15-footers, it's mostly Vince Carter vs. the wolf at the door at the Meadowlands. Although the wolf, like the patrons, must first find the door through Xanadu construction.
NoLandGrab: It's all about the basketball. It's all about the basketball. It's all about the basketball. It's all....
Posted by eric at 4:18 PM
Nets going 'international'
Newark Star-Ledger
by Dave D'Alessandro
"It's a landmark day for this franchise," crowed jubilant owner Bruce Ratner, looking out over a full practice gym that included more than 40 Chinese media. "We got two terrific players. This region is very heavily Asian and Chinese. We now become a real international team."
...Ratner, whose goal is to move the Nets into a borough that has a dense Chinese community -- there are 250,000 people of Chinese descent in Brooklyn -- says he knows that he must sell substance before cultural appeal.
"Success on the court is our best (method for) tapping into any market. Winning is the most important thing," the owner said. "On top of that, we do have a tremendous Chinese-American market in the tri-state area. If we have success, we will tap into that market in a major kind of way.
"But it's 100 percent about basketball."
NoLandGrab: Repeat after Bruce: "All about the basketball. All about the basketball. All about the basketball. All about...."
Posted by eric at 3:53 PM
Of Bard, and The Bard
Culturist [WNYC blog]
by Claudia La Rocco
This feeling was reinforced by the setting, Frank Gehry’s Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Gehry, though Canadian born, has been based in Los Angeles for decades, and his extravagant buildings have always seemed, to me, to represent a particularly American vision of the world - one that, depending on my frame of mind, can come off as wonderfully hopeful and expansive, or terribly wasteful and vulgar:
This was my first trip to Bard, and I was expecting to find the Gehry building utterly out of place on the gorgeous, verdant campus, like a gaudy spaceship that has crumpled to earth in a remote forest. But this one, unlike many Gehry buildings, won me over, prompting the first nice thoughts I’ve had about the architect since he clambered into bed with the Brooklyn developer Bruce Ratner. The photo doesn’t really do justice to the odd delicacy of the building’s shimmery skin, which reflected the changing light as day shifted into night. The image, instead of alien machines, was of an alien itself, pulsing with strange life against a backdrop of plush evergreens.
NoLandGrab: "Verdant campus?" You mean, like this?
Posted by eric at 3:22 PM
With Yi Jianlian, the Nets Hope to Go Global
The New York Times
by Harvey Araton
Thinking expansively, going global, the Nets invited a billion Chinese to stream a news conference Wednesday on njnets.com and to communicate with the newly acquired forward, Yi Jianlian. Alas, the linking of the Far East to East Rutherford was apparently no instant triumph of digital interaction.
At least Jeff from Hackensack was poised to post a query for Bobby Simmons, another new Net who hails from the less exotic basketball hotbed of Chicago.
New ventures take time, require patience, not unlike the building of an arena in densely populated Brooklyn and the development of a 20-year-old 7-footer, who in a tailored suit looks like a devotee of the Slim-Fast Diet.
...Bruce C. Ratner, their principal owner, said that long-range planning was part of the process after the in-season trade of Jason Kidd, but he bristled when asked if the Yi deal was more of a marketing ploy.
“It’s 100 percent about basketball,” he said.
NoLandGrab: Sure, Bruce, like Atlantic Yards is 100% about "Jobs, Housing & Hoops."
Posted by eric at 12:13 PM
July 9, 2008
Nets just watch sales of summer, poised to keep Nenad Krstic
NY Daily News
by Julian Garcia
[Nets' president Rod] Thorn, GM Kiki Vandeweghe and principal owner Bruce Ratner have all admitted in recent weeks that the Nets are looking down the road than the upcoming season, or even the one after that, while still hoping to keep the team "competitive." Ratner has called it a "rebuilding" phase. Thorn called it "retooling."
NoLandGrab: And loyal fans and season-ticket holders of the New Jersey Nets might want to call it quits.
Posted by eric at 9:36 AM
June 26, 2008
Karl Fischer bunker beds
Restless
Bruce Ratner rates a (dis)honorable mention in a blog post about ubiquitous NYC architect Karl Fischer, complete with a humorous rendering of a Gehry-less Atlantic Yards (click image to enlarge).
Real estate magnate Bruce Ratner's problem is that he thinks too big. If he had quietly bought a block at a time and hired Karl Fischer, Atlantic Yards would be done by now (right). Instead, it's every other block of Williamsburg that gets an arbitrary eyesore from the napkin doodles of The Master.
NoLandGrab: Thanks, but we think we'll get our Prospect Heights fried chicken at Bob Law's Seafood Café.
Posted by eric at 3:23 PM
June 24, 2008
Al-Qaeda’s Law Firm
Newsbusters
A conservative screed against Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights* calls the lefty hero Michael a "wealthy communist," brother Bruce an "eminent domain abuser" and, in what is a new low for the blogosphere, sister Ellen is labeled a "journalist."
Name-calling aside, our point is that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has earned a national reputation for his repeated abuse of eminent domain.
* That would be the "Constitutional Rights" minus the Fifth Amendment, since Michael Ratner is a part owner of the NJ Nets and stands to benefit from the taking of private property to build the team a new basketball arena.
Posted by lumi at 4:19 AM
June 18, 2008
Randolph Sacrificed, Minaya Death Watch Starts In Earnest
Can't Stop the Bleeding
Congratulations, Bruce Ratner, you rank right up there with the Dolans!
For whatever it’s worth, I don’t believe Fred and Jeff Wilpon are the worst owners in sports. As long as James Dolan and Bruce Ratner own their respective basketball teams, the Wilpons aren’t even close to the most loathed owners in the New York metropolitan area. But for all the credibility the Mets purchased with their acquisitions of Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana, there isn’t enough money in Flushing to erase the sort of ill will their handling of this episode will generate.
NoLandGrab: One has to wonder why our elected "leaders" do everything they possibly can to throw money at people like Fred and Jeff Wilpon, James and Charles Dolan, and Bruce Ratner.
Posted by eric at 10:21 AM
June 14, 2008
Brooklyn Today: Friday, June 13, 2008
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
RATNER AND CO. To Give Prospect Park Sites a Facelift. More than 200 volunteers from Forest City Ratner Companies, including Bruce Ratner himself, will meet at the Tennis House at Prospect Park today to give the building its first major renovation in 15 years. Another team will clean up the east side of the park at Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Road. The effort is part of Forest City’s annual “Community Day” initiative that will run from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The upgrades to the Tennis House will include power-washing the tiled floor, walls and steps; painting the house’s wrought-iron fence; painting the railings around the building and more.
link
NoLandGrab: Meanwhile, Ratner's community contributions to Prospect Heights this week include power-washing the streets, building fences, and painting an elderly lady into a corner.
Posted by amy at 9:44 AM
June 13, 2008
New IRS Rule May Delay Development Of Atlantic Yards Project
NY1
Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner downplayed today’s reports that a proposed Internal Revenue Service rule might stall the vast construction project.
..."We don't see really a problem,” said Ratner. “You know if the regulations don't change, do change, whatever the regulations will do, we'll be able to finance this. We've been assured of that. We've been working on it over the last two months, and it will take another three or four months to finish the documentation, but there's not a problem.”
article/video [dialup/broadband]
NoLandGrab: "We've been assured of that?" Assured by whom?
Bruce was apparently tracked down by NY1 while taking part in Forest City Ratner's "Community Day" clean-up of Prospect Park — which is not to be confused with "Brooklyn Day."
Posted by eric at 7:58 PM
June 12, 2008
Brooklyn Paper weekly - 6.7.08
Cristian Fleming Weblog
Satirist/Cartoonist Cristian Fleming offers "Brooklyn Day" congratulations to Bruce Ratner.
This might be brilliant if it weren’t so stupid. Let me see if I can summarize. Nobody really wants Atlantic Yards in it’s currently offered state. Bruce Ratner has really fucked this up good and hard, and its a miracle that he has because he has begged, bribed and stolen his way into such a plum deal. So Atlantic Yards sucks, yea? Ratner decided to have a “rally” in support of it. He cuts a deal to get construction workers (yes, the same construction workers that would, of course, be hired to build the Yards development) busy working on other buildings in the area a few hours off, coincidentally right when the “rally” is happening. Throw in some subtle encouragement by union and current site bosses to attend, and some additional bussed in attendees, and you have this sham rally. Of course, if I were looking at a chance to support a future paycheck I could use to support my family in a shitty economy how dumb would I be to not go? You would think that Ratner & Co. might make even the slightest attempt to make this actually look like less of the cynical ploy it really is. Congratulations Bruce, you’re an ass.
Posted by eric at 3:16 PM
May 19, 2008
JAY-Z CAUGHT USING SECRET HANDSHAKE
TheBoomBox.com
This whole Atlantic Yards thing is finally starting to make sense...
On May 16th, Jay-Z came through to the Barclay's Center showroom opening in Brooklyn, New York to support his big homey Bruce Ratner. The music mogul and Ratner have been in business together ever since the rap star bought a piece of the entrepreneur's New Jersey Nets. The pair's currently working on a deal to transport the basketball team from Newark to Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards near Jay's old stomping grounds.
CORRECTION: The Barclays Center Showroom is located in Manhattan, at the NY Times building, not in Brooklyn. And the Nets would be relocating from East Rutherford, though Z and B-Rat might secretly be working on a plan to move the team to Newark.
They had some laughs and popped some bottles, but it was their oddly-gripped handshake (seen here) that sparked yet another round of Jay-related conspiracy theory.
Hova has long been rumored to be a member of the Freemasons, the fraternal organization known for their deep political ties and use of signs (gestures) and grips (handshakes). Past members allegedly include thirteen signors of the Constitution, fourteen U.S. Presidents and many of the nation's most powerful families such as the Rockefellers (ROC, mane) and Rothschilds.
NoLandGrab: We always thought the "conspiracy" involved secret backroom deals between powerful real estate interests and their enablers in government, not the Freemasons. But now we learn that the ranks of the Masonic Temple include, or have included, David Paterson, Chuck Schumer, Charlie Ebbets and Branch Rickey. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe not. The "deep political ties" certainly sound familiar.
We also see that both former Montana Senator Conrad Burns and Scottish poet Robert Burns were Freemasons. No word, however, if C. Montgomery Burns is a Mason, though this video proves his membership in the Stonecutters.
Posted by eric at 8:41 PM
May 16, 2008
A SUITE GROWS IN, UM, MANHATTAN
ESPN The Magazine
by Otto Strong
The New Jersey Nets took one step closer to Brooklyn Thursday, even if the stopover came in the form of a showroom high above midtown. Team brass rolled out a living, breathing life-size version of what the suite experience will look and feel like in a new sales center on the 38th floor of The New York Times building.
The Celtics may have this season's Big Three, but the the Big Three who served as MCs for Thursday night's event—Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Nets owners Bruce Ratner and Jay-Z—brought the one liners with them.
...Jay-Z was announced to be the first owner of a "bunker suite," one of 12 "event level" spaces that actually has no direct view of the courts, but is tucked between the home and visting teams locker rooms. At 500-square feet, these suites are larger than many Manhattan apartments. And at $540,000, they're just about as expensive, too. Aside from having a sophisticated décor that rivals trendier dwellings in the city, these suites include private bathrooms, multiple flat panel HD-LCD TVs and even a regulation pool table. Also included are eight courtside seats per suite, ya know, just in case you feel like checking out LeBron in person.
NoLandGrab: We're pretty certain that Forest City Ratner misses the irony of selling "bunker suites" in an arena that they swore was completely secure — before they re-designed it to eliminate most of the not-so-safe-looking glass façade.
Posted by eric at 2:09 PM
May 14, 2008
The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate
Bloomberg, Trump, Ratner, De Niro, the Guy Behind Craigslist! They’re All Among Our 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate
NY Observer
It's noteworthy that the three highest-ranked developers on the Observer's list — #1 Jerry Speyer, #3 Stephen Ross, and #8 Bruce Ratner — are all having a heap of trouble closing their marquee deals: Hudson Yards, Moynihan Station/Madison Square Garden and Atlantic Yards, respectively.
Power. Webster’s Dictionary defines power as … No, no, no, never mind that: Power in New York City real estate means money—its acquisition, spending and creation—especially now, as the market enters a tremulous sunset after several bright, shiny years.
Our list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate was assembled with this finance-centric criterion at the forefront. The list, especially higher up, contains those who animate the deals and the trends. They are the deciders and the money providers. They make the real estate world the rest of us live in; or cover, as the case may be.
...#8 Bruce Ratner
Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies
The leader of what is perhaps New York’s most high-profile development, the controversy magnet Atlantic Yards, Bruce Ratner is one of the most active developers in the city, often pursuing large, publicly administered projects. He’s recently taken a liking to famous architects, ensuring that his developments leave a notable impression on the skyline.
NoLandGrab: Bruce Ratner only #8 while Amanda Burden is #5? Anyone familiar with the phony 8% Atlantic Yards "scaleback" knows that when Bruce Ratner says "scaleback," Amanda Burden asks "how much?"
Posted by eric at 10:40 AM
So, who's #77 on the Observer's 100 most powerful people in NY real estate list?
Atlantic Yards Report
For those of you who think that the all-too-powerful real estate industry pulls most of New York City's levers (is there anyone who doesn't think that?), a ray of light has emerged: it's a man, it's a journalist/blogger, it's Norman Oder!
According to the New York Observer's quite arbitrary list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, Bruce Ratner is #8, Frank Gehry is #51, and I am number #77.
While the listing is flattering, I can't say they have me convinced. For example, Charles Bagli, the veteran real estate/development reporter for the New York Times--and formerly at the Observer--does not appear on the list and he's way more powerful than I am. (Despite my criticisms of his AY coverage, he's a very able reporter.) And I am not more powerful than Nicolai Ouroussoff, the Times's architecture critic, at #85, nor Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, chair of the Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, at #89; he has the power to grill public officials. And where's Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute, a savvy and provocative commentator?
NoLandGrab: Like some modern-day Lincoln Steffens (or Fremont Older), Oder has raked the muck caking Atlantic Yards, and in so doing, has exposed the project's seamy underside like no other journalist.
Posted by eric at 9:55 AM
May 4, 2008
Ratner vows to break ground on Atlantic Yards
NY Daily News
RACHEL MONAHAN and ELIZABETH HAYS
NoLandGrab: In case the Bruce Ratner op-ed is too difficult for you to follow, the Daily News has handily provided the Cliff Notes in a separate article:
In an Op-Ed in Sunday's Daily News, Ratner acknowledged the massive 22-acre project is behind schedule due to numerous court challenges and the shaky economic climate. He insisted the obstacles have not derailed the project - and vowed to break ground on the Frank Gehry-designed Nets arena later this year and complete all 16 residential and office towers by 2018."In recent weeks, some have rushed to write the obituary of Atlantic Yards," Ratner wrote in his opinion piece. "Rumors of Atlantic Yards' demise, stirred by opponents, have been greatly exaggerated. The project is moving forward in its entirety."
Posted by amy at 10:54 AM
Atlantic Yards dead? Dream on
NY Daily News
BRUCE RATNER
NoLandGrab: The Daily News gives Ratner ample space to overcome news of yesterday's rally. In fact, they sealed the deal by not only giving him an op-ed, but then having an additional article regurgitating the op-ed. It's definitely easy to not bother looking behind the curtain, but is it right? Or is this just the latest edition of the Brooklyn Standard?
In recent weeks, some have rushed to write the obituary of Atlantic Yards, the multi-billion dollar, 22-acre development my company is building near downtown Brooklyn.But rumors of Atlantic Yards' demise, stirred by opponents, have been greatly exaggerated. The project is moving forward in its entirety, and in the coming years it will bring jobs, housing and an improved quality of life to Brooklyn.
We're still building all 6,400 units of housing - including 2,250 affordable units. We're still building the iconic Miss Brooklyn tower and the state-of-the-art Barclays Center, the future home of the Nets.
In fact, today, for the first time, I am offering an updated construction timetable for the project.
Posted by amy at 10:45 AM
April 30, 2008
Bruce Ratner, Mystery Science Theather 2008
More follow up on Bud Mishkin's NY1 interview with Brooklyn's favorite overdeveloper, Bruce Ratner:
Curbed, Ratner Praises East River Fish, Disses Architecture
The snarky real estate blog basically lets Bruce Ratner speak for himself in coverage of the Atlantic Yards overdeveloper's NY1 interview (because you can't make this stuff up).
Our favorite of the bunch:
"[Y]ou know, those who focus on the architecture are frankly misguided about what's really important in this world."
...or maybe it's:
"I want to do great architecture, but I have to say something, which is that, if one is going to boil life down to architecture, then you know what? It's not for me."
...or:
"The architecture is important, but it's not that important."
NoLandGrab: Ratner might consider reserving his love-hate relationship with "architecture" for the therapist's couch.
The Knickerblogger, Bruce Ratner: the Ed Wood of Developers?
Knickerblogger recommends Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's commentary on the Ratner NY1 interview:
Its sort of like the old Mystery Science Theater 2000 - except Atlantic Yards is the crappy film, Ratner the washed up actor - its just no fun without the commentary.
NLG: Speaking about actors, who would you choose to play Bruce Ratner in the movie? Email us with your A-list.
Posted by lumi at 5:39 AM
April 29, 2008
Ratner Speaks
Atlantic Yards Report and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn examine Bruce Ratner's interview on NY1 last night (transcript/video).
Atlantic Yards Report, Ratner lowers our architectural expections; will Gehry ease away?
Yes, the "news" (as hinted by the New York Observer) from the fairly gentle profile NY1 ran last night of Bruce Ratner is that the Atlantic Yards developer is talking populism, not Gehry-ism:
“We need jobs, we need shopping that's appropriate and the right price and quality goods, we need supermarkets that provide food that is of quality and well-priced, we need housing, and you know what? The architecture is important, but it's not that important,” says Ratner.
"I want to do great architecture, but I have to say something, which is that, if one is going to boil life down to architecture, then you know what? It's not for me,” he adds.
Interviewer Budd Mishkin, host of the "One On 1" series, didn't raise the suggestion, but to me it hinted as a potential estrangement from Frank Gehry. (Gehry's not mentioned at all in the piece, though models of his buildings are evident and, of course, such video segments are edited.)
After all, Ratner not so long ago was emphasizing his commitment to architecture:
"I’ve been talking for ten years about trying to use ‘design architects’ instead of ‘developer architects," he told New York magazine's Kurt Andersen in 2005. (Citation below.)
Gehry's never designed an arena, so to him that may be the prime lure of the Atlantic Yards commission. Given that most of the project, including the Miss Brooklyn tower (which Gehry called "my ego trip"), has been delayed and layoffs have occurred in Gehry's office, it's possible that Gehry--who has publicly said that typically he'd bring in other architects to work with him--sees a light at the end of the tunnel.
If so, Ratner is now talking about housing and jobs and big box shopping, not architecture.
(The profile offered a look at Ratner in his earlier days as well as a reasonable survey of his life and career.)
NoLandGrab: If starchitect Frank Gehry only designs the arena, then even Gehry detractors might start missing the old guy. The prospect for interesting architecture will become very dim — think MetroTech in the middle of Brownstone Brooklyn.
DDDB.net, Breaking: Ratner Eats East River Fish, Says He's "Progressive"
Develop Don't Destroy got a hearty chuckle from last night's interview. The community group ran the disco-era photo of Bruce Ratner and noted that the self-proclaimed "progressive" ate the fish he caught out of the East River.
NY1 did this fluff job on controversial Atlantic Yards demolition man Bruce Ratner. Some might say it was even hagiographic.
Ratner wants to make sure you know that he is a "progressive." He is so "progressive" that he makes sure to tell the interviewer, Budd Mishkin, that he is "progressive," and Budd tells the viewers that Bruce is "progressive." He also understands the opposition to his project because....their concerns "are not inappropriate," and people have the right to their opinions.
NoLandGrab: Ratner boasted of catching a striped bass, which is migratory and doesn't actually live in the East River, so might not be all that bad for eating, if you want to take your chances. Then again, it must have been a quite big striper because, currently, they have to be at least 28" to be a keeper.
Posted by lumi at 5:46 AM
April 28, 2008
Ratner on NY1: A Snapshot
The Real Estate Observer
Oh man, we hope that the rest of Bruce Ratner's interview with Budd Mishkin on NY1 is as good as the quote that The Observer ran as a teaser:
The notoriously press-shy Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is due to appear on NY1 tonight at 8:30, going one-on-one with reporter Budd Mishkin.
The folks at NY1 have sent us over a brief teaser quote from Mr. Ratner:
We need jobs, we need shopping that's appropriate, and the right price and quality goods, supermarkets that provide food of quality and well priced, we need housing, and the architecture is important but it's not that important.
NoLandGrab: "Shopping that's appropriate," and "architecture is important, but it's not that important?" No wonder the Brucester is press shy.
Which leads us to wonder, what would constitute shopping that's inappropriate?
Posted by lumi at 6:17 PM
April 18, 2008
Ratner and the Brooklyn Museum: Perfect together
The Brooklyn Paper, Letter to the Editor
To the editor,
Of course Bruce Ratner should not have been feted at the Brooklyn Museum (“Protesters call Bruce’s honor a ‘Dung Deal,’” April 12). His Atlantic Yards plan across from our splendid Williamsburgh Savings Bank building is an architectural nightmare (never mind that the city does not need another sports arena).
But the honor for Ratner makes sense, given that Arnold Lehman of the Brooklyn Museum has offered up his own horror —his ill-proportioned, multi-million-dollar glass snout on a Beaux Art building. That new entrance looks as if it’s still a construction site.
More important, entire galleries in the Museum have been cleared of works of art — treasures that rival those of the Metropolitan Museum — to make way for the occasional gaudy show of modern nonsense. Real curators have been fired, and the publicity department seems to be running the galleries.
Oh, dear.
Every time I renew my membership to the Brooklyn Museum (to which my father used to take me from the time I could toddle, over 50 years ago!), I hold my nose in disgust and hope Arnold Lehman will retire soon.
So is it any wonder that Ratner and Lehman have discovered each other?
Barbara Minakakis, Ditmas Park
Posted by lumi at 5:10 AM
April 3, 2008
Atlantic Yards foes rage at Brooklyn Museum over Bruce Ratner honor
NY Daily News
by Rachel Monahan and Jotham Sederstrom
Atlantic Yards critics blasted the city-funded museum, saying it was wrong to honor a developer whose arena and residential project has been criticized for its size, the seizure of private property and its use of taxpayer money.
"A museum should be a good neighbor to its community," said Brooklyn resident Michael White, who spearheaded a petition that has netted nearly 100 signatures from outraged Brooklynites. "You cannot be a good neighbor by promoting the activities of someone who is a bad neighbor."
The glitzy event, expected to feature rapper Kanye West, has prompted a protest tonight outside the museum.
Posted by eric at 10:38 AM
March 13, 2008
Liberal talk radio hires ex-con Ney
The Hill
Good to see Bruce isn't the only Ratner creating jobs, and for an ex-con, no less. Of course, this ex-con just happens to be disgraced former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, who was sentenced to 30 months on corruption charges back in 2006. Ney, we should point out, is a conservative Republican.
Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) has landed his first job since being released from prison last month.
Ney is working in Columbus, Ohio, for the Talk Radio News Service (TRNS), thanks to his longtime friend Ellen Ratner.
Ratner, a self-described “proud liberal” who is the TRNS bureau chief, confirmed that Ney is working for the communications company as the ex-lawmaker stays in a halfway house.
NoLandGrab: God bless those Ratners. They never let ideology get in the way of friendship — or campaign contributions.
Posted by eric at 1:31 PM
At the Brooklyn Museum gala, honors for (and $ from) Bruce Ratner
Atlantic Yards Report
If you have $1000 or more to spend, you can attend the Brooklyn Museum's Brooklyn Ball 2008 on April 3, honoring developer Bruce Ratner and celebrating the opening of an exhibition billed as "the most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami."
Controversial development company Forest City Ratner (FCR) and the locally loathed Atlantic Yards project has its fingers all over this gala event:
Three of the eight co-chairs have a connection to Ratner, including rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z, who owns a piece of the Nets; FCR president Minieri; and Brett Yormark, president of Nets Sports & Entertainment.
Among the vice-chairs are Barclays Capital, which has signed a naming rights deal for the Atlantic Yards arena, Nets Sports and Entertainment, and, of course, Forest City Ratner.
Posted by lumi at 6:14 AM
March 7, 2008
Update: CUNY gives Ratner failing grade
The Brooklyn Paper
By Gersh Kuntzman
Here's some insight into how the project to build Bruce Ratner's skyscraper "Mr. Brooklyn" was cancelled.
The City University of New York scotched a plan to hire Bruce Ratner to build a new lab and residential skyscraper in Downtown Brooklyn because the Atlantic Yards developer would be too expensive, too slow and too controversial, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.
A newly surfaced memo shows that CUNY wanted out of its deal to pay Ratner $307 million — up from $86 million in 2005 — to build a new facility for City Tech on Jay Street because costs had begun to soar.
Posted by steve at 7:14 AM
March 3, 2008
Sunday Real Estate Round-Up 3/02/08
Bruce Ratner's new brownstone scores a line in Luxist's weekly real estate round-up, which got it from The NY Observer:
--Developer Bruce Ratner has paid $6.9 million at 128 East 62nd Street.
Posted by lumi at 5:01 AM
February 28, 2008
MANHATTAN TRANSFERS: It’s His Eminent Domain: Bruce Ratner Scores Upper East Side Townhouse for $6.9 M.
The NY Observer
By Max Abelson
A few more details on the brownstone that Bruce bought:
Mr. Ratner, loathed by Brooklyn brownstone owners who don’t want his Atlantic Yards basketball arena (he co-owns the Nets) or gaggle of skyscrapers, spent $6,965,000 for the Upper East Side brownstone, records show. News of the sale was first reported on The Observer’s Web site on Monday.
While Mr. Ratner fought for eminent domain to get some of the land for Atlantic Yards, the Neustadt Collection spent decades trying to get their neighbors in the building to leave. As Milton Hassol, the president of the Neustadt Collection explained, the brownstone was split into co-op apartments, some that weren’t owned by the doctor. “The process has taken 23 years,” he said. “As other people wanted to sell we bought them out. … And then when we got 67 percent interest, we could sell”—according to co-op rules.
Stuart Saft, a real estate lawyer, confirmed to The Observer that the other owners in the building would have had to sell if they were outvoted by the building’s main owner.
“They had to by law,” Mr. Hassol said, “but people can hold you up and make it difficult—but they cooperated.”
According to records, the Neustadt Collection got over $5 million from Mr. Ratner; he paid an owner named Diane Harris $571,130, and another, Charles Nemetz, $1,309,420. The deal was finished less than three weeks after the U.S. Court of Appeals supported Mr. Ratner’s right to use eminent domain. “Today’s decision is more than another victory for Atlantic Yards,” he said then. “It is a victory for public good.”
Posted by lumi at 4:51 AM
February 27, 2008
Democracy Now? Ratner Plays Hardball When It Counts
Brooklyn Downtown Star
by Norman Oder
Atlantic Yards Report's über blogger, Norman Oder, contributes this update on the brothers Ratner and their political gift-giving to the Brooklyn Downtown Star.
Bruce isn’t even the best-known liberal in his family. His older brother Michael, a distinguished lawyer, leads the Center for Constitutional Rights in its admirable effort to hold our government accountable for its off-the-radar detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He co-wrote the book "Guantánamo: What the World Should Know."
John R. MacArthur, publisher of Harper’s, calls him “America’s most important civil libertarian.”
For Bruce and Michael, however, business in Brooklyn comes first. That’s why Bruce’s company has required gag orders of those selling property for the Atlantic Yards project, thus clamping down on criticism and even requiring sellers to say that Forest City Ratner treated them honorably.
That’s why, even though Bruce and Forest City Ratner (FCR) stopped giving political contributions years ago - apparently to dispel suspicion that the donations helped win projects - Michael and his wife Karen Ranucci, the development director of left-wing radio show “Democracy Now,” stepped in to fill the breach. Though residents of Greenwich Village, they reliably wrote checks to Brooklyn candidates from the county Democratic machine. Some contributions, according to state records, even had the return address of Forest City Ratner headquarters in Brooklyn. Michael, who apparently has an office there, owns a piece of the Nets, the sports team his brother wants to bring to Brooklyn. The extended Ratner family controls FCR’s parent company, Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises.
Posted by eric at 1:53 PM
February 26, 2008
Bruce Ratner Buys Brownstone, But (Surprise!) It's Not In Brooklyn
The Real Estate Observer
By Max Abelson
What does the Brucester care about Brownstone Brooklyn, when he can remain cloistered in Brownstone Manhattan?
According to city records, Mr. Ratner just bought himself a nice little 20-foot-wide, 6,408-square-foot, five-floor brownstone, exactly the kind that Brooklynites like so much. But it's on the Upper East Side.
The snark would end there, except for the fact that in typical Ratner fashion, Bruce was able to force the sale of two of the units in the building so that he could have the entire thing all to himself.
The building was split into co-op apartments, some that weren't owned by Neustadt, which meant the museum couldn’t sell the townhouse until it owned two-thirds of the house. Once that happened, according to Mr. Hassol, the other two owners in the building (listed as Charles Nemetz and Diane Harris) were forced to sell as well. “They had to by law, but people can hold you up and make it difficult--but they cooperated.”
NoLandGrab: You probably have to be a little person to appreciate the irony, but you can't make this stuff up, which is why we're all still here.
We think he could’ve gotten a better deal right here in Brooklyn—maybe even in Carroll Gardens, where we hear values are increasing quite a bit.
Definitely, Bruce could have done better in Brooklyn... but then he'd have to deal with encroaching overdevelopment.
Posted by lumi at 5:15 AM
February 11, 2008
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: Forest City Ratner Puts $58,000 Into New York Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee "Housekeeping" Fund
First Contribution By Developer In At Least Nine Years
Campaign Finance Loophole Allows for Huge Contribution After Atlantic Yards Approval, Before Project's Financing Agreements
New York, NY— Forest City Ratner gave $58,420 to the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee’s Housekeeping account on January 7, 2008. The real estate development firm had not made any New York State political contributions for at least nine years, which is as far back as the state's campaign finance database goes. The contribution was made through a New York State election financing loophole known as a "housekeeping" account. It is a loophole condemned by Common Cause.
Norman Oder first reported about it today on his Atlantic Yards Report, noting that it was the third-largest contribution received by the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee (DACC) since at least July, and represents more than ten percent of the DACC’s take for it’s Housekeeping account.
Forest City Ratner CEO Bruce Ratner seems to have decided to change strategy after having "sharply cut back" on campaign contributions--according to a 2004 article in Newsday--now moving beyond lobbying expenses, and back into direct New York State political contributions.
The donation goes to the DACC, which hardly needs such "generous" help, considering that the Democrats have a strong grip on the Assembly's majority. But the $58,000 does go to the body controlled by Sheldon Silver who approved Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards plan in December 2006, and who will have a lot of say over the developer’s housing, bonding and other financing needs over the coming months. Forest City Ratner’s key Atlantic Yards financing has not been finalized, including "affordable" housing subsidies, the arena bond, and the amount of Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT).
Oder reports that Common Cause issued an August 2006 report on New York State’s campaign finance "Housekeeping" loophole. The Common Cause report stated:
The size of these contributions, their origin and the fact that current or hopeful elected officials are involved in soliciting them raise serious concerns about the potential for corruption or its appearance.
The second major problem is that while the theory behind our state’s soft money loophole is that these funds will be used only for party building purposes and not for candidate elections, this legal barrier does not hold up in practice.
Common Cause concluded:
The potential it creates for corruption or its appearance means that New York State leaders must ban soft money.
Oder also reports that Ratner kin in Forest City Enterprises’ hometown of Cleveland and in Washington, DC have contributed to Governor Eliot Spitzer’s 2010 campaign fund.
Just last week Mayor Bloomberg decried the infusion of real estate industry contributions into the 2009 Mayoral campaign. According to the NY Times, the Mayor was saying it appears they [the real estate industry] are trying to buy influence in the 2009 mayoral campaign. He called it a "disgrace" that the three presumed "frontrunners" are receiving equal amounts from the industry.
Posted by eric at 5:44 PM
January 23, 2008
Happy Bruce Day to You
This Day ... In Jewish History
On this day in 1945:
Birthdate of Bruce Ratner. Appointed by Ed Koch to the position of Commissioners of Consumer Affairs for New York City in 1978, he became a real estate developer in 1982. He is now the owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, his net worth now several hundred million dollars. Ratner is the developer charged with building the New York Times Tower He is a member of the board of the Jewish Heritage Museum.
NoLandGrab: For the uninitiated, Birthday Bruce (62) is also the developer of the highly controversial eminent-domain-abusing subsidy-sucking historically dense Atlantic Yards arena and 16 high-rise tower project in Downtown Brooklyn Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
But when you're slated to receive an estimated $2 billion in subsidies, it's like every day is your birthday.
Posted by lumi at 5:10 AM
January 22, 2008
WE HEAR . . . WE HEAR
NY Post, Page Six
THAT Nets chairman Bruce Ratner will marry longtime companion Dr. Pamela Lipkin, a prominent plastic surgeon, on Sunday before a small family gathering at their Manhattan home.
NoLandGrab: Sources say that Bruce Ratner's Manhattan home is NOT under threat of eminent domain.
January must be the month for developers' nuptials — Donald and Melania Knauss Trump are celebrating their third anniversary today.
Posted by lumi at 5:31 AM
December 27, 2007
Introducing the Ivanka
The NY Times
By Ruth La Ferla
OK, Bruce Ratner can't talk to the press about mundane stuff like security and the full cost of public funding for Atlantic Yards, but he's happy to discuss the daughter of the Donald:
Insistent on proving herself, Ms. Trump first took a job outside the Trump Organization. Bruce Ratner, the Brooklyn developer, put her to work with the project management team for Ridge Hill, his shopping center in Yonkers. “She did everything,” Mr. Ratner recalled, “from running the numbers of a deal to negotiating with tenants and coordinating where they would go in the center, to helping lay out the space.”
“She was down-to-earth,” he said. “She worked like everybody else. There was no special privilege about her.”
NoLandGrab: Luckily, not all real estate developers show as much cleavage as Ivanka.
Posted by lumi at 8:25 PM
December 20, 2007
Beijing’s Olympics: A Marriage Of Corporate And State Abuse
CounterCurrents.org
Bruce Ratner is now officially a "robber baron:"
New York of the 21st century also has its share of robber barons. Bruce Ratner is currently hoping to use eminent domain in the heart of Brooklyn to build a basketball arena and surrounding luxury trimmings at the expense of private homes and business owners. For certain eminent domain has almost always been a weapon against the poor. A study released earlier this year by Dick M. Carpenter II and John K. Ross titled Victimizing the Vulnerable: The Demographics of Eminent Domain Abuse reveals that the areas targeted nation-wide for eminent domain in recent years follow a predictable pattern: 58% of the targeted areas include minority residents, compared with 45% in surrounding communities, 25% live at or below poverty, compared to 16% in surrounding communities.
Posted by lumi at 8:29 PM
December 16, 2007
2007 PUFFIN/NATION PRIZE RECIPIENT
Puffin/Nation Prize
MICHAEL RATNER, ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S FOREMOST DEFENDERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES, WILL BE HONORED FOR REPEATEDLY CHALLENGING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ON THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF INDEFINITE DETENTION AND RESTRICTIONS ON DOMESTIC CIVIL LIBERTIES.
link
NoLandGrab: And what award does Michael Ratner get for investing in his brother's venture, the constitutionality of which is being contested as we speak?
Posted by amy at 10:13 AM
December 12, 2007
Ratner, 2003: "I have never, ever seen a project get less protest than this"
Atlantic Yards Report
In another must-read, the time-traveling Norman Oder transports himself back to December, 2003, to "Oderize" Bruce Ratner's spin-o-rama appearance on the Brian Lehrer Show.
Bruce Ratner: If you look at the area, it’s zoned industrial, right in the middle of neighborhoods, and it looks godawful. It’s got train tracks, it’s got industrial buildings, and it’s extremely unattractive, it’s like a scar in the middle of two neighborhoods. I’ve heard it described as a ditch.
Note that Ratner seems to be using the 8.5-acre railyard for the project site as a whole, and leaves out the city streets and city property he needs. Also note that parent Forest City Enterprises, in cities like Richmond, VA, has restored industrial properties.
Lehrer interrupted.
Brian Lehrer: Certainly the residents who were howling yesterday… don’t feel like they live on a scar or ditch, they feel like it’s their home, they feel like it’s a nice... accessible place from Manhattan that’s still a refuge from Manhattan which it wouldn’t be…so do you want to stand by those words, scar and ditch?
BR: Yes, I do, because you know what, the thing is Brian, I don’t know if you were at the press conference there are about 15-20 people, that’s all, in a borough of 2.5 million, the same 15-20 people, who live—I respect it, I really do, they live in an adjoining neighborhood. You have to really—y’know, it’s important for news of course, to listen to all sides, you can’t let 15-20 or people decide something like this. The UN had protesters, Rockefellers Center had protesters. So you have to really look at it I have never, ever--I’ve done a lot of projects, I have never, ever seen a project get less protest than this. Here you have a major project, you have 25 news people at a press conference, and there are about 15 people with homemade signs out in front, in a borough of two and a half million people, at a press conference. (Emphasis added)
Ratner's assessment of community opposition was about as accurate as his prediction of a 2006 debut for the Brooklyn Nets. The same goes for his description of the project footprint:
BL: Does the city have to approve the project, are there hurdles yet?
BR: It’s on state land, being the Long Island Rail Road,, so it’s a state process, and yes, there’s a whole approval process, the state.
No, less than 40 percent of the site is state land, so the state process was not required. After all, the West Side yards project in Manhattan is going through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, or ULURP.
Click on the link below for the rest of Oder's deconstruction of the interview, including Bruce's boast that "our company brought the concept of big boxes to the borough" (a claim conveniently ignored by Ratner henchman Richard Lipsky when he cashes his FCRC paycheck) and his creative defense of MetroTech.
Posted by lumi at 9:13 AM
New York Knicks, Owner Dolan Need Emoticon Help:
Bloomberg.com
Hey, a story in which Bruce Ratner isn't being cited as the posterchild of overdevelopment, eminent domain abuse or big-city bullying.
Today, sports columnist Scott Soshnick suggests that Knicks owner James Dolan try to act more happy, you know, like the Brucester.
And all the while Dolan wears the same expression. It looks something like this: :(
Just typing that makes me wonder: Does Dolan even know what an emoticon is?
...
I've walked alongside New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner when, during halftime of a playoff game, he made sure to shake hands with his best customers.
Posted by lumi at 6:21 AM
December 11, 2007
LEGAL BAR BRAWL
PUB BIDS TO BOOT NEIGHBOR
NY Post
By Dareh Gregorian
This bizarre incident seems to be one of the occupational hazards of being the "biggest guy around":
A TriBeCa bar is suing its upstairs neighbor - for being too rowdy.
As punishment, it wants her booted from the building, along with the owner of her spacious digs: trendy restaurateur and former Man Ray partner Carlos Almada.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the owners of the pint-sized pub Smith and Mills say their neighbor Victoria Hillstron has been driving their customers from drink with her over-the-top antics.
The suit says the tiny terror, who lives directly above the Greenwich Street bar, has also been claiming to be developer Bruce Ratner's sister - threatening to use her clout to get cops in trouble with the mayor's office if they don't take her allegations against the restaurant seriously.
A source close to Ratner said she is not related to the Atlantic Yards developer.
NoLandGrab: Who can blame someone for thinking that name dropping "Bruce" would strike the fear of God in most New Yorkers?
For the record, Bruce Ratner's sister is Ellen Ratner, who hasn't been harassing bar patrons as far as anyone knows.
Posted by lumi at 5:13 AM
December 2, 2007
Ratner's Christmas Turn-On
Brit in Brooklyn
Bruce Ratner (left): Love child of Dick Cheney + Al D'Amato? (With a little bit of Norman Tebbit?)Bruce Ratner and his helpers (including Marty Markowitz, right) were at Metrotech last night for the annual lighting ceremony.
Posted by amy at 11:42 AM
December 1, 2007
News Highlights of the Week: November 24 – November 30, 2007
Architectural Record
Renzo Piano is working on a skyscraper for Brooklyn that could rise as high as 1,000-feet, making it the borough’s tallest. The New York Daily News reported on November 28 that developer Bruce Ratner, who is building Frank Gehry’s massive Atlantic Yards project nearby, has been working with Piano on the project for at least a year. A spokesperson for the developer said that the office and residential tower’s final height has yet to be determined and that early renderings, which were leaked to the Internet, are “not a reflection of what we’re considering today.” But Ratner might face an uphill battle to build the skyscraper as tall as he’d like. At least one local politician, the paper wrote, opposes any new construction higher than Brooklyn’s current tallest, the 512-foot Williamsburg Savings Bank tower.
Posted by amy at 9:30 AM
November 30, 2007
Bruce under oath?
Could this be a photo of Bruce Ratner taking the Fifth? [Maybe, if you're talking about the Fifth Amendment eminent domain clause.]
Seriously, it's just Bruce ceremoniously breaking ground in Yonkers for Forest City's controversial Ridge Hill "regional lifestyle center."
Tuesday was a busy day for the popular Bruce Ratner, who appeared later that evening in Brooklyn for the MetroTech tree lighting.
More ground breaking photos and links at Community First Development Coalition.
Posted by lumi at 6:11 AM
Ratner Claus!
The Brooklyn Paper
On the same day that news broke of his plan to build Brooklyn’s tallest building, Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner kicked off the holiday season on Wednesday at Metrotech in Downtown Brooklyn with the borough’s first major tree-lighting.
Posted by steve at 5:54 AM
November 14, 2007
Urban Architecture: The Absurdly Good, the Bad and the Stupid
The Gamut runs two Ratner projects on the list of noteworthy local architecture and gives the Brucester the "Gamut Scabies Award!"
Absurdly Bad Architecture includes the Regal Cinema on Court Street in Brooklyn Heights. Deidre Carson, a lawyer who had previously represented other movie-theater developers and formerly the president of the Brooklyn Heights Association (a neighborhood organization originally created to protect the area from irresponsible development - ah, the irony!) actually had the gall to describe the building as a product of a "world-class architecture firm." What the hell does "world-class" mean anyway? If this building is any example, it means the biggest bull turd they can lay on you. Which brings us to Regal's bastard grandchild: Frank Gehry's absurdly stupid design for private-developer Bruce Ratner's proposed Atlantic Yards project.
NoLandGrab: This photo was the best one we could find of Ratner's UA Cinema. Check out "Betty Blade's" Court St. photo with the cinema in the background to understand what makes this monolith so special.
Posted by lumi at 5:29 AM
MetroTech Christmas Tree Ushers in Season
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
By Mary Frost
Rat-ner Clause is coming to town!
A 50-foot Colorado Blue Spruce was installed at MetroTech yesterday morning, marking the start of the Christmas season in Downtown Brooklyn. Eric Rosenthal, garden designer from Chelsea Gardens, which procured the tree, said that the spruce is approximately 30 to 40 years old and comes from an area near Saugerties, N.Y. The official MetroTech tree lighting will take place Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 4:15 p.m. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus will sing holiday songs and dignitaries including Santa Claus — and Bruce Ratner — will appear.
Posted by lumi at 5:00 AM
November 9, 2007
Page Six: HOT ENTRANCE
NY Post
Bruce Ratner is officially a member of the titan club:
JAWS dropped yesterday in the Four Seasons Grill Room when ousted Citigroup chief Chuck Prince arrived for lunch with Bear Stearns legend Ace Greenberg and Blackstone Group founder Pete Peterson. Seated right in Prince's path was his predecessor at the financial giant, Sandy Weill. All eyes watched Prince make his way around the room, greeting titans Leonard Lauder, Bruce Ratner, David Martinez, Bill Rudin, Richard Holbrooke, Strauss Zelnick, Walter Cronkite and James Wolfensohn. But he avoided Weill, leading to speculation of bad blood.
Posted by lumi at 6:05 AM
November 8, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Here's what they're saying:
Cup Crazy's National Hockey League blog, Future hope for Devils and Newark pinned on Prudential Center's success
Original plans during this decade had the New Jersey Nets seeking the move to Newark when YankeeNets operated that franchise, but roadblocks in ultimately sealing any agreement to build a new arena there killed it. After squabbling among the YankeeNets ownership group investors led to the eventual sale of the Nets in August 2004, new owner Bruce Ratner announced his intentions to relocate that team to the New York City borough of Brooklyn. So far, an arena project has been put together. It has been endorsed by state and city officials as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to built it in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights section of the city. Plus, the arena naming rights has already been sold. However, despite all of that, it is not completely 100% certain that the New Jersey Nets will ultimately end up moving there. There are still a few obstacles remaining such as court hearings on eminent domain issues concerning the surrounding areas of the Atlantic Yards, a mixed-use commercial and residential development area where the arena would be built. All of these obstacles have to be cleared before an official groundbreaking can take place and seal the Nets' future.
Tubious, James L. Stuckey
A short bio of the recently terminated President of the Atlantic Yards Development Group.
NolandGrab: We're fairly certain that it's James P. Stuckey — "that's a capital... "P" that stands for pool." (Hey, Stuckey always did remind us of The Music Man.)
Medium Happiness, Seriously You Shouldn’t Have Gone To Columbia
How greedy is Columbia University? Some believe, as greedy as Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner:
I read about a group of students that are (or at this point might have already begun) waging a hunger strike to protest the egregious, indefensible transgressions of Columbia University over the past “decade”. It was not long ago that I myself attended a very wealthy, urban school in another city. On a certain level, I can identify with their plight. Ineffably wealthy schools like Columbia, NYU, or George Washington have a knack for overlooking the little people in pursuit of what they are really after–making more money. But, there is one thing, if anything, that you learn once you’ve walked and breathed the rarified air of these places–they cannot be stopped. Much like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn or Foggy Bottom in Washington, DC, Columbia will develop and gobble up what it pleases.
Queens Crap, Coming soon to Atlantic Yards...
It's high-artchitecture, but is it waterproof?
Posted by lumi at 4:39 AM
Gridlock at 30,000 Feet
NY Magazine
By Michael Idov
Here's a sign that "Bruce Ratner" has become synonymous with rampant overdeveloper and pariah to the community [apparently there are some things even Ratner couldn't get away with (but not many)]:
The Port Authority has the power to build new runways, but the immutable fact is that the area’s airports may have reached their natural limits. JFK has been expanded over the marshlands seven times. To make it any bigger, says an FAA official who wishes to remain anonymous, “we’d have to condemn a bunch of buildings in the Rockaways.” That, needless to say, is a project even Bruce Ratner couldn’t ram through without causing some kind of uprising. All the agency can offer at our three airports in the near term is more “holding pads”—the idea being that idling planes might as well get serviced while they wait.
Posted by lumi at 4:23 AM
November 1, 2007
Trick or Treat #3: Loch Ness Monster Challenges Floating Tree
Curbed.com
Some things are so strange that you can't make 'em up:
It's hard to know what to make of the Loch Ness Monster public art being rolled out in a salt marsh in Marine Park in the far reaches of Brooklyn, except that it launches the same week as the Floating Tree and that it's sponsored by developer Bruce Ratner. The 12 1/2-foot replica of the mythical monster is the work of artist Cameron Gainer and it's being floating out to its new home as we speak via boat, diver and park ranger.
Posted by lumi at 6:30 AM
October 30, 2007
Zombie developer outbreak continues to plague Brooklyn
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For info about how to survive a zombie outbreak, click here or here.
Click here for additional photos.
Posted by lumi at 12:04 PM
October 17, 2007
THE 2007 LIBERTY MEDALS
TOP LOCAL HEROES VIE FOR LIBERTY MEDALS
NY Post
Bruce Ratner served on the panel of judges for the Post's sixth annual Liberty Medals. Other local luminaries who served on the "distinguished panel of New Yorkers" that selected the winners were:
Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co.; Lloyd Williams, chairman of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce; Martha Nelson, group editor, Time Inc.; CUNY Chancellor Dr. Matthew Goldstein; City Comptroller William Thompson; Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.
The winners will be presented their awards tonight and are profiled in today's Post.
NoLandGrab: Liberty Medals should not to be confused with Liberty Bonds, which Ratner secured for his Atlantic Terminal highrise building. According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation, tax-exempt Liberty Bonds were supposed to be used to "support rebuilding effort of lower Manhattan in New York City." Atlantic Terminal is in Brooklyn, next to Ratner's Atlantic Center Mall and across the street from where the developer proposes to build Atlantic Yards.
Posted by lumi at 7:53 AM
October 16, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Knickerblogger, Simple Questions the Big Daily Papers Never Asked:
Some reaction to the oral arguments in the appeal of the federal eminent domain case:
Why is the ESDC defending a proposal that knowingly would bring in less money than a competing project, and NOT require disenfranchising other citizens?
Why Is the state taking such a cavalier attitude towards impropriety and corruption? Isn't this a de facto endorsement of government corruption?
New Media Newsroom 2007C, Vibe and Ratner
Did anybody else notice Bruce Ratner in a photo montage in the September issue of Vibe? It was about who parties with Jay-Z. Sure, they work together, but it's hard to imagine the actual party. See the mag for the full effect.
NoLandGrab: Does anyone have a copy?
Extremes of Perception,
Astounding
Atlantic Yards joins the eminent domain hall of fame.
The Knickerblogger, You can't construct an arena and put it right against a street in a post 9/11 world....
...Unless you live in the fantasy world of Bruce Ratner/Forest City/ESDC, where demapping city streets is good urban planning and luxury condos are affordable housing.
Posted by lumi at 7:43 AM
October 5, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
The Knickerblogger, Seroiusly Could Dickens Have Come Up With A Better Villian Than Bruce Ratner?
Knickerblogger outlines "super-villian" Bruce Ratner's "ethics problem," but "seroiusly," can someone send this blogger a dictionary?
NoLandGrab: Lumi would lend out hers but she seriously needs it.
Die Hard Fans Anonymous, The Dirty Dozen
One sports fan lists his picks for the 12 worst franchises in pro sports, and is under the impression that Ratner's project in Brooklyn "cannot get off the ground... If only the Brooklyn deal could just get done, then these Nets would rocket up the rankings."
Yeah, if only the arena were finished, then order would be restored to the universe.
Posted by lumi at 1:15 PM
October 3, 2007
Feasts and Fetes
From New York Social Diary:
Two weeks ago Wednesday, Lighthouse International held its Henry A. Grunwald Award for Public Service Luncheon chaired by Louise Grunwald, named in honor of her late husband Henry A. Grunwald, who was the first recipient of the award. The Grunwalds’ longtime friend Liz Smith emceed, and another friend Ted Sorenson was keynote speaker. The honorees included Peter G. Peterson, Ellen Ratner and Jeffrey E. Mittman, a soldier partially blinded in the Iraqi War.
Mr. Peterson is Senior Chairman and Co-founder of The Blackstone Group. Ellen Ratner is Bureau Chief Talk Radio News Service, Political Editor, TALKERS Magazine, and Fox News Contributor; and Jeffrey E. Mittman is a soldier who was partially blinded in the Iraqi War. The Honorable R. James Nicholson, Secretary of Veterans Affairs introduced Sergeant Mittman. The Henry A. Grunwald Award for Public Service recognizes individuals who are committed to advancing public awareness of vision impairment and vision rehabilitation.
...
Vice Chairmen and guests included more Grunwald friends: Felix and Liz Rohatyn, Henry Kissinger, Holly Peterson, Barbara Walters, Marie-Josee and Henry Kravis, Alice and Tom Tisch, Gayfryd Steinberg, Mike Wallace, Amy Fine Collins, Mike Wallace, Mica Ertegun, Bruce Ratner.
WHO'S WHO?
Ellen Ratner is the sister of Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner.
Their brother Michael Ratner is president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and an investor in the New Jersey Nets NBA franchise, for which the State of New York is using eminent domain to seize property for the team's new arena. There is currently a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of taking private property for the benefit of a private enterprise — Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights are not plaintiffs.
WHY CARE?
Bruce Ratner does not personally make campaign contributions, in order to avoid the appearance that he's buying political support for his projects.
Michael Ratner has made significant contributions to local politicians who support Atlantic Yards. Ellen Ratner's $4,500 contribution to Atlantic Yards supporter and NYC Comptroller William Thompson was bundled with contributions from Michael Ratner, his wife Karen Ranucci, Bruce Ratner's girlfriend Pamela Lipkin and Bruce's daughter Rebecca.
Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report uncovered these campaign contributions and more, highlighted in his article, "The Ratner campaign money trail leads to... Michael (& his wife)."
Posted by lumi at 12:06 PM
September 20, 2007
Jane’s addiction
Time Out NY
By Dustin Goot
In a preview of the Jane Jacobs exhibit, Municipal Art Society (MAS) organizers are hoping that the two-billion-pound (as in $4-billion) gorilla doesn't take center stage:
Though Jacobs is often characterized by her willingness to take on the city and shut down large projects—she famously fought Robert Moses—Klemek stresses that she “was not antidevelopment,” and MAS organizers say they’re looking to foster optimistic dialogue about what’s possible in New York rather than just an anti-Ratner bitch session.
NoLandGrab: Officially, Ratner now equals "the worst developer we could think of off the top of our heads."
Posted by lumi at 8:28 PM
September 14, 2007
Rembrandt: The Met's Embarrassment of Riches
Figure Painting, art blog of Condé Nast Portfolio.com
By Callen Blair
A new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum says as much about the art of philanthropy as the art of Rembrandt — oh, and guess who is on the board:
If potential donors don't get the hint that philanthropy may win them immortality (the Met's board of trustess includes collectors Henry Kravis, Annette de la Renta, Shelby White, and Bruce Ratner), the pitch is unmistakable when the viewer gets to Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer. On the museum's audioguide, the listener is told that Aristotle "is thinking about his career, his fame, his fortune and perhaps saying to himself 'Will I be remembered in 500 years like Homer?'"
Posted by lumi at 5:09 AM
August 18, 2007
Ratner knew! City: Bruce endangered workers at Yards site
The Brooklyn Paper
Ariella Cohen
Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner could have prevented the potentially deadly partial collapse of the Wards Bakery in April that sent bricks raining onto Pacific Street, according to a long-awaited Department of Buildings report.The seven-page report details years of water damage and neglect that led up to the April 26 collapse of the historic building’s 200-foot parapet, concluding that the owner who inherited the damage — Ratner — should have warned demolition workers about the 100-year-old building’s dangerous condition.
“Forest City Ratner had been apprised of the deterioration … but the extent of the deterioration and the risk of the collapse had apparently not been communicated to the crew,” the report states.
Posted by amy at 9:42 AM
July 21, 2007
Bruce Ratner eyes more Brooklyn sites
Courier-Life
Gary Buiso
This proposal for Marine Park has all the hallmarks of a Ratner project: currently occupied space, strip malls, big box stores, dissatisfied Community Boards, street de-mapping, even the rhetoric is the same:
“This will not happen in secret,” Fidler said, alluding to the anticipated public review of the project.At first glance, he continued, “the feeling is that this is empty city-owned land, and thus would not appear to negatively impact the community.”
Forest City Ratner declined to comment for this story.
City officials last week held an interagency meeting to discuss de-mapping two streets near the site, as well as to get input about aspects of the project.
Posted by amy at 8:40 AM
June 26, 2007
Two years later, flashback to Times Magazine interview with Bruce Ratner
Atlantic Yards Report
With the benefit of hindsight, Norman Oder posts a two-year-old NY Times interview with Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner with running commentary.
Bruce Ratner doesn't talk much to the press--and when he does, he's protected--so it's worth another look at excerpts from his 6/26/05 New York Times Magazine interview conducted by Deborah Solomon, headlined Stadium, Anyone?.
Note that then-Public Editor Byron Calame criticized the Times for failing to disclose the parent company's business relationship with Ratner, but the Times never printed a note or a letter about the issue. Also note that the headline refers to a stadium, not an arena. They're not interchangeable.
Q: How do you explain the sudden vogue for stadiums and arenas? So many teams want a new home -- the Mets in Queens, the Yankees in the Bronx, the Jets with their doomed project in Manhattan. And you're building a new arena for the Nets in Brooklyn.
A: It has to do with the economics of sports. The high salaries of athletes drive the whole thing, because it creates a need for revenue. In the case of the Nets, we need an arena that has suites and luxury seating, and where you can put up advertisements all over the place.
Ratner was being reasonably candid here, warning that the issue was maximizing revenue. He also could have said that the price of the team--the tail wagging the much larger Atlantic Yards dog--was a component. And he also could have explained that naming rights to the arena might pay much of its costs.
Click here for more of the wisdom according to Ratner, including this warning, "Like so many things in life, it was just a matter of money."
Posted by lumi at 8:50 AM
June 8, 2007
Get your kicks...
Has the dismissal of the federal eminent domain case left you all hot and bothered? Nothing to do, nowhere to turn?
Before heading over to Freddy's Bar to commiserate with your neighbors, you can get a kick out of Bruce Ratner (link).
Posted by lumi at 10:17 AM
May 23, 2007
It came from the Blogosphere...
Date Hole, Smart Move: Local Documentaries
"Brooklyn Matters" as part of your classic NYC date, dinner and a movie (NLG corrections added):
So normally, a movie would be out of the question. Movies are uninspiring and more generally not a particularly original idea for a date. But when it’s a movie about something that’s happening right now in the city that you live in and you could actually affect change, it can be played as a pretty creative date idea.
This particular documentary is titled “Brooklyn Matters” and is about the pending redevelopment of the Atlantic train yards in
downtown BrooklynProspect Heights, Brooklyn. If you haven’t been paying attention to this at all, Bruce Ratner (a prominent developer) bought up a lot of space indowntown BrooklynProspect Heights (and by a lot of space, we’re talkinghundreds of22 acres) and requested that thecityState use eminent domain to appropriate the property (read: residences) that he couldn’t buy.What: Brooklyn Matters
When: June 3rd, 7pm
How Much: FREE! Donate, you greedy prick.
Where: Union Docs: Take the G or the L to Lorimer/Metropolitan and walk south on Union Street.So, after you go and get your indignation on, there’s really nothing better than to wash your misery down with the some delicious pulled pork and a delicious glass of beer. And I know that this place is the perinial favorite, but Fette Sau is, in fact, good.
Mitchell Langbert's Blog, Bloomberg--Left Wing Independent
The conservative argument against Bloomberg for President includes a large dose of welfare for sports team owners, eminent domain abuse and boondoggles for rapacious "liberal do-gooders" (Atlantic Yards issues in bold):
Bloomberg has avoided reducing government, avoided reducing taxes, presented plans for a wide range of big government boondoggles like a football stadium that no one wanted and a Robert Moses-style master plan, favored gun control, and has supported his fellow billionaires the Ochs-Sulzbergers in their goal of looting small private landlords through private-use eminent domain. At the same time that he has been supporting the ultra-rich, like Bruce Ratner and the Ochs-Sulzbergers, Bloomberg has viciously and repeatedly harassed small businesses in a dozen different ways, insisting on one regulation after another in synch with his left-wing public health compulsions.
Brownstoner, Ratner: 'Fort Greene, I've Got You Surrounded'
Man, it's getting hard to keep up with all the towers that are sprouting up in Downtown Brooklyn. Yesterday, Curbed ran some renderings of Bruce Ratner's latest project at 80 Dekalb Avenue aka 625 Fulton Street.
I Am A Child Of Television, Be Sure To Watch
Be sure to watch... On The Lot on FOX tonight.
Not because it looks like an interesting variation of the American Idol concept, with aspiring film makers being judged by a group of industry people (Carrie Fisher, Bruce Ratner, Gary Marshall, Jon Avnet) with the prize of a million dollar development deal with Dreamworks.
NoLandGrab: Um, that's supposed to be "Brett" Ratner, but it's nice to know that our community's campaign to make "Bruce" some sort of household name seems to be getting some traction.
So let's get it straight:
BRETT = filmmaker
BRUCE = national figurehead for developers-gone-wild
The Knickerblogger, Lies Have Consequences
What is curious is that is seems to be easier to get a lie known [than] the truth. We, opposition to Atlantic Yards have always felt that 'if the people knew' they would be outraged at the massive public outlays, the eminent domain abuse that Ratner is palming off as a 'civic' project. Likewise, leading up to Iraq war, i was bewildered that people actually believed there were "WMD" and Saddam was another 'Hitler'. Why is it so many people are willing to accept a lie instead of the truth?
Posted by lumi at 7:09 AM
May 18, 2007
Suit: Ratner is one bad liar
The Brooklyn Paper
Bruce Ratner is a money-grubbing liar who tricked a well-connected businessman into investing $6 million of his own money to help Ratner acquire the New Jersey Nets with promises that he “never had any intention of fulfilling,” a bombshell lawsuit charged last week.
Eugene Greene contributed the hefty sum — and rounded up another $25 million from other investors — to help Ratner buy the Nets in 2004, but now claims that the Atlantic Yards developer reneged on his promises to make Greene “the glue that helps run this team.” ...
When Greene confronted Ratner with the alleged breach of contract at the end of 2004, Ratner told him, “I don’t remember what I said. As you know, I have a memory problem,” the court papers said.Forest City Ratner officials did not respond to several requests from The Brooklyn Paper to address Greene’s serious charges. But the company’s outside press spokesman, Joe DePlasco of Dan Klores Communications, told The Brooklyn Paper that Forest City “disagrees with Mr. Greene’s allegations and will fight them.”
Posted by lumi at 8:44 AM
May 11, 2007
Bruce Ratner: Another day, another lawsuit
Steamrolling a neighborhood to steamrolling investors... with so much at stake, "Caring" Bruce Ratner is stacking up the lawsuits.
The latest, from a disgruntled investor, got some play in most of the paid-circulation dailies (the NY Times passed — like that's really news):
NY Daily News, Bizman rips Ratner over Nets worth in lawsuit
A former investor in the New Jersey Nets is suing Bruce Ratner for allegedly stiffing him out of a spot in the ownership of the Brooklyn-bound NBA team.
Eugene Greene alleges that at Ratner's request, he sank $6 million into the Nets in 2003 and also raised more than $30 million from other investors. In exchange, Greene charges, he was promised a "key role in the team's organization."
The Manhattan businessman has filed a $20 million lawsuit against Ratner, charging that senior executives with Ratner's organization told him he had been "f----d" out of the deal.
...
The lawsuit, which was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, is the latest legal battle for Ratner. The developer, who bought the Nets in 2004, has been sued repeatedly over his bid to build the Atlantic Yards megaproject, which would include an arena for the team in Prospect Heights.
...
"We need money, money, money," Ratner said, according to court papers. "And you need to get it for us.""You will be the glue that helps run this team," Ratner allegedly told Greene.
But Greene wasn't picked for the team's Board of Governors once Ratner's bid to buy the Nets was approved in 2004.
NY Post, $20M FOUL IS CALLED ON RATNER
Greene said that when he confronted Ratner about the broken promises, he was told, "I don't remember exactly what I said. As you know, I have a memory problem."
Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Forest City Ratner, said, "We strongly disagree with [Greene's] assertion and we will defend ourselves vigorously in court."
The NY Sun, Former Nets Investor Sues Bruce Ratner for $30M
Mr. Greene's $6 million personal investment was returned by Mr. Ratner's company, his attorney, Jonathan Sack, said.
A spokesman for Forest City Ratner Companies, Loren Riegelhaupt, said the company is reviewing the suit.
Posted by lumi at 8:19 AM
May 5, 2007
Sightings
NY Post
NETS owner Bruce Ratner and his architect Frank Gehry noshing on hot dogs and fries at Nathan's Famous on Coney Island
NoLandGrab: Is Ratner scouting out alternatives suggested to him in this week's