August 12, 2010
Nets to Change Name, and May Not Use 'Brooklyn'
Local Pols Were Counting on Boost for Borough
WNYC
by Matthew Schuerman
Here's a twist — the latest in a long line of Atlantic Yards bait-and-switches gets pulled on... Marty Markowitz!
A lot of Brooklyn politicians—and local residents—gave their support to the Atlantic Yards complex assuming it would be host to “the Brooklyn Nets.” Now, they can’t be so sure.
A team spokesman, Barry Baum, confirms news reports that the team submitted an application to change its name to the NBA. The timing, he said, was in order to be ready for the move to Brooklyn, expected in late 2012. But Baum wouldn’t specify what the desired name would be or whether it would use “Brooklyn” or “New York” as the geographic name. The NBA also wouldn’t comment.
While the sports world is abuzz with speculation over a nickname change, local officials are more concerned about the geography.
"The owners from day one—the one pledge they made, beside other pledges, was that the name would be the Brooklyn something,” Borough President Marty Markowitz said. “And I don’t care what the second name is as long as the first name is Brooklyn.”
...An agreement that Ratner’s group negotiated with state officials to secure subsidies they needed for the project leaves open whether New York or Brooklyn would be used. That agreement was signed last October, about a month after the sale to Prokhorov was announced but before it closed.
“The company shall cause the team to play all of its home games using a name that incorporates the words ‘New York’ or ‘Brooklyn,’ unless otherwise agreed to in writing by ESDC,” the document states, using the acronym for the Empire State Development Corporation.
Markowtiz says he wasn’t aware of the document and would be disappointed if the team chose “New York” for its name.
“I know my colleagues in Brooklyn would feel very upset about it,” he said.
But Markowitz said he didn’t see any business reason why Prokhorov would break Ratner’s promise. “The whole idea of locating a basketball team in Brooklyn is because of the Brooklyn persona, the Brooklyn brand, the whole Brooklynish thing,” he said.
NoLandGrab: "Brooklynish thing?" Say what?
Frankly, we'd rather the Brooklyn name remain unblemished. And given that there are no "Bronx Yankees," "Queens Mets" or "Manhattan Rangers," we have a pretty good idea which way this thing is going — as the locals like to say, "not Brooklynish."
Additional coverage...
Brooklyn Paper, BREAKING: New Jersey Nets WILL change name!
In the spirit of new beginnings, we’re asking our readers to send in their proposed name for the Brooklyn squad by e-mailing the new monicker to newsroom@cnglocal.com. We’ll pass them along to our friends at the Nets — and publish a story with our favorites.
NLG: In honor of Mr. Markowitz, we're submitting the "New York Bike Lanes."
Posted by eric at 9:37 PM
August 2, 2010
So much for "structured programs and services": meditation room planned for the arena would be 150 square feet, more the size of a living room
Atlantic Yards Report
Remember that breathless 4/2/10 Brooklyn Paper article, headlined Finally, the Nets have a prayer! New arena to have ‘meditation’ room?
It somehow became the lead story in the next week's print edition, complete with an artist's imagining of what a meditation room might look like.
It was way off, as was the sports management expert quoted in the article who speculated that the room could be a revenue generator if it could accommodate a large congregation.
It won't.
How big might it be?
Though Forest City Ratner would not reveal the design of the room to the Brooklyn Paper, a March 2009 document describing Atlantic Yards benefits, which I obtained via a Freedom of Information Law request to the Empire State Development Corporation, describes the meditation room as just 150 square feet.
...From chapel to atrium to meditation room
The Reverend Herbert Daughtry, who runs a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) partner organization supported by Forest City Ratner, originally wanted a chapel.
That wouldn't fly, so instead emerged the meditation room or, as Daughtry declared in his dramatic 8/23/06 testimony at the hearing on the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement, an atrium: "It will provide a place for our young, a place for the seniors, a place for the youth to come together in an atrium designed by us."
...How many people can "come together" in a 150 square foot space? Not many.
Posted by eric at 9:59 AM
July 27, 2010
Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment Announces Willis Group Holdings as a Major Partner of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn
Press Release via MarketWatch
Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, a sales and marketing arm of the Barclays Center, today announced that Willis Group Holdings plc, the global insurance broker, has become a major partner of the planned Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
...As part of its integrated marketing platform within the arena, the Willis brand will be displayed prominently as the exclusive sponsor of the Barclays Center's 38 Loge Boxes. The Willis name also will appear in all marketing and advertising associated with this premium seating, including a significant presence on Barclayscenter.com.
..."Brooklyn is a great global brand that's reaching new heights with the Barclays Center. The borough has earned a storied place in sports mythology, from the heroics at Ebbets Field to being the birthplace of legends such as Vince Lombardi, Joe Torre and Joe Paterno," said Joe Plumeri, Chairman and CEO of Willis. "Willis helps manage the world's most complex risks, and we look forward to both helping the Barclays Center through its multi-faceted construction process and, when the arena is opened, to working with Mikhail Prokhorov, Bruce Ratner, Brett Yormark, Jay-Z and their team to carry Jackie Robinson's legacy forward and bring a new generation of champions to Brooklyn and New York."
NoLandGrab: Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis? "Carry Jackie Robinson's legacy forward?" How, exactly?
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, London-based sponsor signed for 38 four-seat loge boxes at Barclays Center; Jackie Robinson legacy invoked for Prokhorov's team
Would you believe that Russia's second-richest man would be carrying Jackie Robinson's legacy forward?
See Scott Turner's (of Fans for Fair Play) November 2005 takedown of the difference between the Nets and the Dodgers.
Posted by eric at 10:03 AM
July 25, 2010
In Forbes video, Yormark spins suites: it's about "creating a sense of urgency and scarcity to that customer"
Atlantic Yards Report
In the Fobes video below, Nets Sports and Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark spins suites.
In the context of the overall economy, how would you describe the market for suites, Yormark is asked.
"It's certainly getting better," he responds. "I think the NBA does it as good as anybody else. They have annual meetings with respect to premium seating and suites, where we're doing a lot of best practice exchanges... But I think overall it's about creating more value. It's getting out of the box, being creative, running events, creating a sense of urgency and scarcity to that customer, and making sure you have the right message."
A sense of urgency? The suites have not exactly been selling well, given that, in 20 months, sales nudged from "about 30 percent" to less than 34 percent and the top price declined more than 21 percent.
What are their innovations?
"For us, it starts with our product mix," Yormark responds. "We have larger suites, smaller suites, and then we have our premium suites... And then it's about presentation. Not only we do have a great showroom... but we also have a traveling model... and we show that entire presentation on an iPad."
"We have a two-year move to Prudential [Center in Newark[, and then obviously the Barclays Center in the spring of 2012," Yormark says.
We'll see if that timing works out, given that the Prudential lease is renewable for two years.
NoLandGrab: Does anybody want to buy an arena suite? Anybody?
Posted by steve at 8:48 AM
July 22, 2010
Brooklyn arena positioned to host boxing events
AP
by Dave Skretta
The fertile boxing ground that produced dozens of world champions, from Mike Tyson to Riddick Bowe, will soon have a regular series of fights in a glimmering new arena.
By "soon," they mean "in a few years."
Golden Boy Promotions has agreed to bring at least 12 shows each year to the New Jersey Nets' new home in Brooklyn. The announcement was made Wednesday by Los Angeles-based Golden Boy and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which is behind the 22-acre Atlantic Yards development.
The centerpiece of it, the 18,000-seat Barclays Center, is scheduled to open in 2012.
"There's a rich heritage in this marketplace," Brett Yormark, president and chief executive of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, told The Associated Press. "We're going to work very closely with Golden Boy, and we're very excited about the possibilities."
The agreement is exclusive in the fact that Golden Boy will not have similar agreements to develop other boxing franchises in the New York area, but Yormark said it will not prevent local promoters from working with Golden Boy to stage fights at the Barclays Center.
"The exclusive word is a little overstated," Yormark said.
NoLandGrab: Overstated? Until now, we didn't know that Yormark knew the meaning of the word.
Posted by eric at 10:47 AM
July 14, 2010
As Everyone Else Discovers Brooklyn, So Have Hoteliers
The New York Times
by Susan Stellin
The fantasy impact on hotel demand of Bruce Ratner's arena continues to get unquestioned play in the media.
Although there are plenty of high-rise condominiums and rental towers nearby (many still not completely occupied), the area’s retail options are mostly fast-food restaurants and discount stores, rather than the boutiques, cafes and restaurants that have made Brooklyn such a hot destination, first for residents and now tourists.
Hoyt Harper, a senior vice president of brand management for Sheraton, said this location was convenient to transportation hubs and would be well positioned to attract Nets fans when the new stadium opened nearby in Atlantic Yards.
“We’re two years ahead of the sports facility,” Mr. Harper said, “but we’ll be in a great location to capture the business that brings to the market.”
NoLandGrab: "The business that brings to the market?" We're not talking a Super Bowl, folks, we're talking a regular-season NBA game or a circus matinee. How many attendees at your average Knicks game are staying in Manhattan hotels? We'll wager that the number is tiny, and moreover, that they're hotel guests who happened to buy a game ticket, not vice versa.
Posted by eric at 9:40 AM
July 12, 2010
In 20 months, Nets suite sales nudge from "about 30 percent" to less than 34 percent; top price has declined more than 21 percent
Atlantic Yards Report
How suite it isn't.
Either Nets Sports & Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark was spinning very, very hard back in 2008 or Nets suite sales have really slowed down--or both.
Since May 2008, 26 months ago, they've only sold nine suites, by my count, given that 26 were sold to insiders and the total sold is now 35.
(It's also possible that some who initially committed have backed out.)
Opening promises
On 5/5/08, Crain's New York Business reported:
Already, 20% of the 130 luxury boxes have been sold to “friends and family,” says Nets Sports Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark.
That's 26 suites.
In an 11/17/08 interview with the never-skeptical Alexis Glick of Fox Business News, Yormark stated, "We’ll be in Brooklyn for the 11-12 NBA season. We’ll probably be in Brooklyn actively in the summer of 2011. So give us a little time to gain some traction. We’ve presold our suites to the tune of about 30 percent."
That would mean 39 suites, if the total at that time was still 130. Or that would mean 30 suites, if the number had dipped to 100 (as was announced ten months later, in September 2009).
The percentage drops
But Yormark is what we might call an unreliable narrator.
Posted by eric at 10:05 AM
July 11, 2010
Nets Seeking Bargain Shoppers in Suite Sales
Nets Daily
There are still plenty of arena suites available for the Nets arena, even though they've been on sale since May of 2008.
The sales pitch would have been so much sweeter if LeBron had taken his talents in another direction.
Inside a midtown Manhattan office atop Bruce Ratner's Times Building, Nets sales people are offering not a superstar but bargain rates for Barclays Center suites.
While suites at Madison Square Garden, Citi Field and Yankee Stadium go for as much as $1 million a year, some smaller but similarly placed suites at Barclays will go for between $215,000 and $425,000. The target: small businesses, particularly in Brooklyn. So far, only 35 of the 104 suites have been sold, a number that's barely moved in the last few years. Although the Nets can't offer LeBron James, they are offering prospects road trips on the Nets' team plane.
NoLandGrab: There may have been moves to make arena suites more affordable (perhaps because they're no longer designed by starchitect Frank Ghery who was dropped from the project), but when can we expect to hear anything about Atlantic Yard's much-touted affordable housing?
Posted by steve at 2:28 PM
May 30, 2010
The Russian moves to Brooklyn
Slam
by Kyle Stack
This article notes NYU Prof Robert Boland's analysis of Mikhail Prokhorov's purchase of the Nets and the outlook for a new arena for the Nets. He takes a dim view of both.
Robert Boland, a Sports Management professor at New York University, believes Prokhorov wouldn’t have been given the chance to own a team in past years.
“He’s a guy who the League never would have approved in good times,” Boland said. “They’re afraid of him.”
Boland explained that the source and stability of Prokhorov’s wealth is in question and that Prokhorov’s financial state “would have been much more questioned by American sports leagues before this economic collapse.”
Operation of the Nets' arena will be problematic for several reasons. One difficulty will be finding people willing to buy tickets to watch the Nets.
The $1 billion arena is destined to suffer financially right from its expected opening in the 2012-13 NBA season, according to Boland.
“They will have trouble selling out the arena the first couple of years,” Boland said. “The Knicks are having trouble selling out and they’re in Madison Square Garden with four million people walking under it every day.”
Even though the Nets’ Brooklyn arena would seemingly benefit from the 2.5 million people who live in the borough and the resulting enthusiasm of Brooklyn finally getting a pro sports team after what will have been a 54-year pro sports drought, there are plenty of questions yet to be answered. First on the list is whether fans are willing to pay for tickets to watch a team which has no assurance of being among the NBA’s elite during the next several years.
There's also the problem of a glut of arenas in the region whose managements are chasing what little money corporations are willing to spend on luxury boxes.
Whether the common fan can afford to attend games at the Nets’ BK arena is far from the their only concern. Finding corporate partners willing to shill out money for luxury suites could become a tough exercise.
The Brooklyn arena, if and when it opens in 2012, would be just the latest modern sports mega-facility to open in the New York metropolitan area. Prudential Center (2007), Yankee Stadium (2009), Citi Field (2009), Red Bull Arena (2010) and New Meadowlands Stadium (2010) have all taken their rightful places in line. That’s not to mention the renovations at Madison Square Garden which by the time it’s expected to be finished in 2013 will have given the building’s interior a complete makeover.
Any corporation willing to splurge on luxury suites is an unpopular choice in these times. “Their shareholders would be groaning,” Boland said. But it does still occur, although the Nets can’t be assured that their 104 planned luxury suites will sell out immediately.
Posted by steve at 8:03 AM
May 27, 2010
Plan to move Madison Square Garden across the street revived; one argument is competition with the Brooklyn arena
Atlantic Yards Report
Madison Square Garden is supposed to be under renovation, but the plan to move it to the Farley Post Office across Eighth Avenue--this time, without expansion of the transit hub--is apparently revived.
And one argument by developer Steve Roth of Vornado Realty Trust involves competition with the new Brooklyn arena, according to the Times:
According to these officials, the developer’s pitch to Mr. [James] Dolan and Mr. [Hank] Ratner went something like this: The renovation of the 42-year-old arena could be more expensive and more disruptive for the Knicks, the Rangers and the Liberty than anticipated. And in the end, the site would still be inferior to the new arena for the Nets that is under construction in Brooklyn.
NoLandGrab: But it would still be the World's Most Famous Arena, with cachet that Bruce Ratner will never touch.
Posted by eric at 1:11 PM
Was the Barclays Center used to lure the 2014 Super Bowl?
Atlantic Yards Report
Would you believe that New York Used Barclays Center To Help Lure 2014 Super Bowl, as claimed by NetsDaily?
Why, surely, yes, that was the deciding factor, no?
Well, you'd have to go to the links. The evidence isn't there.
From a New York Post article headlined Apple fans all feeling Super:
"America came to the rescue of New York, and that's something I think that New Yorkers have never forgotten," Bloomberg said. "This is a little bit of our chance to say thank you."
State economic development chief Peter Davidson told The Post that the under-construction Barclays Center in Brooklyn will be added to the list of venues hosting Super Bowl-week gala events, including the Javits Center and the James A. Farley Post Office.
The Jets' Johnson wasted no time in raising the possibility of a Jets-Giants championship game in four years.
From a Brooklyn blog post headlined EXCLUSIVE: New Brooklyn arena in line to host events during Super Bowl week in 2014:
Peter Davidson, executive director of the Empire State Development Corp., told the Post yesterday that the planned Barclays Center for Prospect Heights would be a perfect place to host some of the gala events that will be held in the New York area during the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII.
NoLandGrab: Would you believe NetsDaily is allegedly a real sports site and not a fantasy sports site? Us, neither.
Posted by eric at 1:04 PM
May 7, 2010
MSG Reno to Exile Liberty... to Newark?
Runnin' Scared
by Neil deMause
We'd have chosen death over Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards arena, but it sounds like we might get (the) Liberty instead. Maybe.
And with MSG renovations slated to last through 2013, there's even the possibility of a one-season stay in Brooklyn, given that Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards is still — officially, at least supposed to be complete by late 2012. Liberty officials didn't immediately return calls seeking more info on the team's plans.
And for those wondering, the Garden renovations — now officially pegged at a mind-numbing $775 million to $850 million — will be footed entirely by MSG, which is currently in the process of being spun off by Cablevision as its own corporate entity. Yes, MSG will still be getting its $11million-a-year property-tax break — at least until the city council decides that it's time to finally do away with the yearly subsidy that Ed Koch established in the 1980s and neglected to ever set an end date for. But at least the renovations won't be backed by new public dollars — unlike some other arenas we could mention, not to mention the now-dead plan for moving MSG across the street. Maybe if we're extra lucky, they'll even make the blue seats blue again.
Posted by eric at 2:28 PM
April 2, 2010
Finally, the Nets have a prayer! New arena to have ‘meditation’ room
The Brooklyn Paper
by Stephen Brown
Call it Zen and the art of basketball!
The Brooklyn Paper has learned that the Barclays Center will be the first sports arena to feature a meditation chamber — an intriguing element that is one of the few unreported details of the widely covered home of the future Brooklyn Nets.
The concept was envisioned by the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, the fiery pastor of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church on Atlantic Avenue, who has played a behind-the-scenes role to acquire various “community benefits” from developer Bruce Ratner.
This meditation room appears to be one of them.
“The idea is to say to people there are values in reflection, contemplation,” explained Daughtry, who gave the convocation at the groundbreaking ceremony for the arena last month.
“Whenever you’re in the arena, you can go to meditate.”
Daughtry suggested that the “meditation room” was a watered-down version of what he initially wanted in the arena: a chapel.
“I got plastered for that,” he said. “You can’t use public funds for religious purposes.”
NoLandGrab: Public funds? Didn't Bruce Ratner famously say that "this isn't a public project?"
Additional coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Brooklyn Paper gets all excited about Daughtry's "meditation room" (aka "atrium")
Norman Oder pours a little cold water on The Brooklyn Paper's story.
That link goes back to the Brooklyn Paper's coverage, which neglected to point out Daughtry's claim that the project site was a "long-neglected, rodent-infested, garbage-strewn strip of geography." Nor did the Brooklyn Paper's coverage of the state Senate oversight hearing last May point out Daughtry's regular heckling.
An "atrium" and the CBA
Daughtry has previously (as reported) called it an "atrium," but the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) says "Meditation Room."
Posted by eric at 10:47 AM
Special Report: Questioning the Status of the Lighthouse Project
Let There Be Light(house)
Islander fans clinging to the idea that their favorite hockey team will end up at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn would do better to hope for a Sunday visit from the Easter Bunny — at least no one's published evidence that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist.
Meanwhile, the only words from Queens and Brooklyn are from inconsequential mouthpieces in each district, such as Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and the Queens Chamber of Commerce President. Not one word has come from the horse's mouths except when Bruce Ratner said that it was "unlikely" when citing the Isles to Brooklyn scenario. That could be a clear indication that Wang and company have no interest there and might have shutdown shop until Queens begins in earnest down the road. However, even though Brooklyn has many natural disadvantages, it has one major advantage: the arena is financed and currently under construction. After the painful Lighthouse process, with a better-funded opposition beginning to sharpen its knives in Queens, would Mr. Wang really want to go back to that well?
NoLandGrab: "Unlikely" is one of the truer words Bruce Ratner has ever uttered. And the arena is not yet under construction, nor is it fully financed yet, since arena infrastructure bonds remain unsold.
Posted by eric at 10:22 AM
March 30, 2010
Record price for Warriors could send team to S.F.
San Jose Mercury News
by Drew Voros
An article about the future of the Golden State Warriors holds up Brooklyn as the NBA's future gold standard.
And if you want to see what the future of NBA arenas will be, keep your eye on what is happening in Brooklyn.
Work began this month on the $1 billion (!) home of the New Jersey Nets, set to be completed in 2012.
Although the Nets arena is part of the $5 billion Atlantic Yards development that will include apartments, retail and hospitality businesses, this spectacular project with pro basketball as its centerpiece will be the new standard for the NBA.
NoLandGrab: Spectacular? We hereby present Drew Voros with a free subscription to NoLandGrab so he may learn the difference between "spectacular" and "craptacular."
Posted by eric at 10:47 PM
March 27, 2010
On 60 Minutes Sunday, an exclusive interview with Mikhail Prokhorov; no sign it will look closely at Atlantic Yards
Atlantic Yards Report
So Russian mogul Mikhail Prokhorov, expected majority owner of the New Jersey Nets, sits down for an exclusive interview with 60 Minutes, to be broadcast Sunday.
From the teaser:
Prokhorov, perhaps Russia's richest man, discusses the Nets, his vast wealth and the surprisingly unusual way he made most of his money in his first American television interview to be broadcast this Sunday, March 28, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"I am real excited to take the worst team of the league and turn it to be the best," says Prokhorov. Asked by Kroft if he really thinks he can pull it off, the 6-foot-8-inch billionaire responds, "I am confident. Do you remember in the Frank Sinatra song, 'New York, New York?' If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere," he tells Kroft with a laugh.
Given the indication that the interview will focus on Prokhorov's celebrity and likely look closely only at his fortune, my comment:
So, 60 Minutes has a "get," an exclusive interview.
Here's what 60 Minutes (apparently) doesn't get: Prokhorov, as team and arena owner, would be the beneficiary of hundreds of millions of dollars in direct subsidies; city, state, and federal tax breaks (and tax-exempt bonds); and the extraordinary power of eminent domain.
Do you think New York legislators and officials would've have slobbered quite the same way for a sports team and arena--one that the NYC Independent Budget pegs as a money-loser for the city--if they knew they were helping out Russia's richest man?
More here:
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2009/09/thought-experiment-what-if-prokohorov.html
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2009/09/net-gain-to-ratner-loss-to-public-ibo.html
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2010/03/jay-z-markowitz-cult-of-celebrity-and.html
Posted by steve at 8:00 AM
March 24, 2010
Get used to it because it's being built
Kensington Stories
You know I’ve kept quite silent on this whole Atlantic Yards project, because I know my wife and sister in law are “morally” against the whole idea. So at Sunday dinners in Fort Greene, or the dinner table right here in Kensington, I have basically kept my big Brooklyn mouth shut and just listened. And the reason is I actually want to see a professional arena built in Brooklyn. I mean Keyspan Park is great, and so is that Aviator complex down on Flatbush Avenue. But compare to anything else around those places are basically “little toys” in the real world of pro sports.
Now, don’t get me wrong folks, if someone told me that my house was going to be squashed to build something I don’t think I’d be that happy about it. And maybe I’d even walk around with a Bruce Ratner mask with little devil horns.
But the truth is that whole area down by Union Street is a big old rat hole.
NoLandGrab: Union Street? For a guy who blogs about "growing up in Kensington and Windsor Terrace," he doesn't have much of a grasp on Brooklyn geography.
Posted by eric at 12:25 PM
March 20, 2010
Prudential Center adds jobs as Nets’ arrival approaches
NJBiz
By Joe St. Arney
This story about the move by the New Jersey Nets to Newark's Prudential Center gives a good idea of what kind of "economic engine" Atlantic Yards will be. The Prudential Center is adding staff in preparation for the arrival of the Nets. With only an arena and, perhaps, one residential tower, permanent job creation for Atlantic Yards looks more likely to be in the 100's, nothing like the 8,000 jobs as promised by developer Bruce Ratner and his tool, the ESDC.
Devils Arena Entertainment, operators of Newark’s Prudential Center, plans to add more than 200 employees in preparation for the arrival of the New Jersey Nets pro basketball franchise and an expanding events schedule, according to a news release.
Throughout the week, interview time slots have been available to applicants, with nearly half the positions filled by residents of the Essex County city.
The operating group plans to increase usher and ticket-taker staff again later this summer to accommodate their first season with a resident NBA team. Centerplate, the arena’s concessionaire, also plans to increase their staff by over 150 employees during that same time period.
Posted by steve at 8:51 AM
March 16, 2010
Fantasy Hockey
Seems that a number of forlorn hockey fans on Long Island are not yet familiar with Bruce Ratner's penchant for the tall tale.
NYI Point Blank, Brooklyn latest...Envy on the Coast vid...lineup stuff
Although Gary Bettman does not see the borough as a realistic option for the Islanders, Brooklyn’s new arena will have the capability of hosting hockey games and Bruce Ratner says Charles Wang’s team is invited. Still, Ratner is rooting for Wang to get his wish of staying in Nassau County.
“It’s an option,” said Ratner in an interview last week on WFAN. “It’s not likely, but it’s always an option. First, we have to hope that Charles Wang does get his arena built and the Islanders stay (on Long Island) and they have a great place to play. That’s foremost.
NoLandGrab: People. As designed, the arena can't accommodate hockey. Ratner keeps dangling the "possibility" of hockey to help justify revenue projections to help sell bonds. Trust us, Kansas City will grow on you. Good barbecue.
Actually, "it's not likely" are some of the truer words Ratner has ever spoken.
Save the Isles, Brooklyn is an option!
Even though Gary Bettman really talked down the idea of the Isles going to Brooklyn, Chris Botta reports that Bruce Ratner says there is still a chance.
NLG: Good grief, this is like a game of telephone.
Brooklyn Islanders, …or maybe they CAN accomodate hockey after all
Via Islanders Point Blank, a snippet from the press release handed out at the Atlantic Yards groundbreaking, announcing a partnership with IMG:
In addition to college basketball, IMG will assist BSE in staging college hockey, high-profile tennis events and high school sports at the Barclays Centers.
NLG: Yeah, and maybe Brett Yormark is telling the truth. Yeah, that's the ticket. Hockey. On ice. Yeah, that's it.
Posted by eric at 10:50 PM
March 13, 2010
Nets CEO on New Brooklyn Stadium
Fox Business
Nets CEO Frank Yormark is featured in this video segment.
Posted by steve at 7:56 AM
March 9, 2010
More Inside Baseketball
Daily Transom [NY Observer.com], Inside the Barclays Center
Now that Atlantic Yards is all but cleared for construction, Forest City Ratner is showing off what the interior will look like.
The new renderings are almost as space-age as the recent exterior shots, with stage lights beaming around in all directions. Aside from that, it mostly just looks like an arena, though the Post has a run-down of its bells and whistles. Notably, there's a feature designed to increase home-court advantage by aiming reflective materials back at the court, thus amplifying crowd noise. Which might be a good idea if the team weren't 7-56 and probably prefers not to hear what their fans are screaming.
Metro NY, Nets arena reveals its ‘intimate’ inside face
With the groundbreaking for Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development scheduled this week, the Nets released new interior images of the 675,000-square-foot Barclays Center to rise at the corner of Brooklyn’s Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. The $1 billion arena, slated to open in 2012, will create “intimate seating” to keep 18,000 basketball fans close to the action, officials said.
Famous architect Frank Gehry was ditched last year for the less expensive designs of Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects.
BOCOCALand, Barcley’s [sic] Center Interior Revealed
Expect plenty of restaurants and a whopping six clubs inside the arena which will also play host to concerts. I know there’s been plenty of controversy around this behemoth development project, but I am not well versed enough to take a particular stand on it one way or the other. Please feel free to comment and let us know your thoughts.
NoLandGrab: We know that most people don't waste spend as much time on Atlantic Yards as we do, and we know that BOCOCALand is a relatively new blog, but is anyone in Brooklyn at this point not versed enough to take a particular stand when it comes to Bruce Ratner's eminent domain-abusing, subsidy-gobbling megaproject?
Posted by eric at 5:05 PM
New Brooklyn arena's interior design revealed
NY Post
by Rich Calder
 |
The Nets should finally have a true home-court advantage when they flee New Jersey for Brooklyn in 2012 as the team’s new $1 billion digs feature enough lower-level seating to keeps fans close to the action.
With the groundbreaking for the long-anticipated Barclays Center set for Thursday, the Nets today released renderings of the arena’s basketball and concert layouts that team officials boasted offer unparalleled sight lines.
...After reviewing the new renderings, Robert Boland, a sports management professor at New York University, said the Barclays Center’s interior has "a very retro feel to it," similar to Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
He said Barclays’ sight lines are better than Madison Square Garden’s – which is "no shock" because the Garden is 42 years old – but are "no better" than what the Nets currently offer fans at the Izod Center in New Jersey.
"The positive here is that there’s a lot of lower-bowl seating, which makes this is a great place to see a concert and should help the Nets sell more tickets, but it appears there’s too many seats behind the baskets that obstruct courtside views," said Boland, who rated the arena design "B-minus."
NoLandGrab: It appears from the renderings that the court-side seating is structural, which would render the arena incapable of accommodating an NHL-sized hockey rink — meaning no Brooklyn Islanders.
Related coverage...
Curbed, Atlantic Yards Update: New Renderings; Signage Debated!
Head on over to the Barclays Center website (or check out the gallery above) and you'll notice new interior renderings of the 675,000-square-foot bottle opener designed by Ellerbe Becket and New York's own SHoP (the architects once ran us through the design). A sports management professor told the Post that the arena has a retro feel and the sight lines are better than those at Madison Square Garden, but overall he rated the design a "B-minus." Feel the excitement!
Gothamist, Interior Of Planned Brooklyn Nets Arena Revealed
Two days before the official ground-breaking for the long-delayed Atlantic Yards megaproject, developer Bruce Ratner and the New Jersey Nets unveiled renderings of the interior of their planned Brooklyn basketball arena. After scrapping an original design by Frank Gehry over financial concerns and nixing a second design by the firm Ellerbe Becket after it was derided for being too dull, Ratner tapped Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects to draft up a new plan for the arena, which is dubbed the Barclays Center.
Posted by eric at 11:37 AM
March 8, 2010
ESDC says arena rooftop signage must meet design guidelines (which would seemingly ban it); also, arena philosophy, views from facade architect SHOP
Atlantic Yards Report
OK, so the rooftop Barclays Center logo that appears in a current rendering of the Atlantic Yards arena may just be a piece of architectural overstretch.
It seems to violate the Design Guidelines as stated in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) issued by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and an ESDC spokewoman hinted--though didn't state firmly--that such illuminated signage would be disallowed.
Posted by eric at 11:56 AM
Brooklyn lodgers
The Daily Blahg
by Filip Bondy
The Daily News columnist would prefer that the Nets take up permanent residence in Newark.
On Thursday, the Nets finally, supposedly will break ground on their new arena in Brooklyn, after signing a two-year lease with Newark to play in the Rock until the 2012-2013 season.
It's a shame the move to Newark isn't more than an interim commitment. That North Jersey city and region probably can support a good NBA team. And I've become so inured to Bruce Ratner's false deadlines, it's hard to believe this groundbreaking will actually happen.
But I think it will, I think the arena will get built, and my position on this hasn't changed since Day 1:
The move to Brooklyn is absolutely great for the Nets. I'm just not sure it's so great for the borough.
Posted by eric at 9:56 AM
March 6, 2010
The Nets Are Actually in Great Shape, If You’re Okay With Seizing Private Property on Behalf of a Billionaire
New York Magazine
By Ben Mathis-Lilley
They also, as of next week, will have an arena under construction in the middle of Brooklyn. Your elected government, having already closed a homeless shelter on behalf of Forest City Ratner, will now be evicting Prospect Heights residents and homeowners (using the threat of police force) to make room for the luxury-housing development of which the Barclays Center will be a part. Having a major sports team in Brooklyn will be exciting, but let's never forget this: Private property in a thriving neighborhood is being seized and destroyed in a 21st-century democracy so Bruce Ratner and the richest man in Russia can build a basketball stadium and luxury apartments. That the Nets' roster is in fine shape is great news, we guess, if you missed rooting for East Germany.
Posted by steve at 6:48 AM
February 24, 2010
Luxury suites at the Atlantic Yards arena: from 170 (2006) to 130 (2008) to 100 (2009) to 104 (2010)
Atlantic Yards Report
On Tuesday the Nets announced yet another effort to sell luxury suites at the Atlantic Yards arena/Barclays Center, and earlier today I pointed out a slight uptick since September in the number of suites, from 100 to 104.
However, we should remember how the number has decreased, overall. In the KPMG report prepared in 2006 for the Empire State Development Corporation, the Nets were estimating 170 suites, though analysts were skeptical.
...Indeed, by May 2008, the number of suites had been cut to 130.
Posted by eric at 5:52 PM
Barclays Center Suites to Become 'Your Home Away from Home'
Fourteen of 15 Brownstone Suites Sold
—First-of-its-Kind Loft Suites Launched in Market—
—Suite holders become members of Barclays Center Suite Alliance—
Nets Press Release via NBA.com
Is it possible that the Nets and Forest City Ratner don't see the irony in promoting an arena they plan to build over the bulldozed homes of Prospect Heights residents as "Your Home Away from Home?"
With construction ongoing at the Barclays Center site in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (BSE), an affiliate of Nets Sports and Entertainment, LLC, is introducing Barclays Center suites to prospective buyers as 'Your Home Away from Home.'
Construction is not "ongoing," certainly not in the case of the Barclays Center. They haven't yet broken ground for the arena, as residents and business owners are still in possession of their aforementioned properties, some of which are in the arena footprint.
BSE will initiate its public suite sale in March when prospective suite buyers can visit the multi-media interactive Barclays Center Showroom, located on the 38th floor of The New York Times Building in Manhattan.
Actually, the Nets initiated sales of suites 21 months ago.
The Barclays Center, to be located at Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, will be designed with 104 suites, including 68 Loft Suites that will be the first of its kind in entertainment venues in the New York marketplace. The Loft Suite will consist of 10 seats, more intimate than current suites in area sports facilities, and will be marketed in part to the 40,000 small to mid-sized businesses in Brooklyn.
"More intimate" = "smaller." Perhaps hey should have called them Studio Suites.
In addition to the Loft Suites, the arena will include 15 Brownstone Suites (16 seats each) -- 14 of which are sold -- six Studio Suites, and four Party Suites. The arena will also include 11 Backstage Suites, which will offer exclusive access to a Champagne bar.
Unless the Nets are holding back about other suites being sold — and restraint is not something we typically associate with Nets Sports & Entertainment President Brett Yormark — they must have had some cancellations, because 14 out of 104 suites is significantly less than the "20% sold" that Yormark claimed in May, 2008.
[Update: Atlantic Yards Report reminds us that the claimed number of suites as of May, 2008 was 130, so "20% sold" would've translated to commitments for 26 suites. So either nearly half of alleged Barclays Center suite-buyers have changed their minds (possible), or the initial claim was what we would politely call "Yormarkian hyperbole."]
Suite buyers will also receive membership into the Barclays Center Suite Alliance, which will offer great business to business networking opportunities.
Now there's some added value.
Re-launched in September 2009 with a new design to further celebrate Brooklyn, the Barclays Center Showroom includes a mock Loft Suite with immersive theater-style viewing to provide prospective suite buyers with the opportunity to experience actual sightlines from any suite during events.
How could they possibly celebrate Brooklyn any more than they already have?
Additionally, the Showroom offers a historical timeline of sports and entertainment milestones in Brooklyn and a dynamic video showcasing the Barclays Center and the renaissance of Brooklyn that is displayed on a high-tech media cube with four six-by-six-foot screens. Ongoing construction of the Barclays Center is also streamed live to the media cube via a construction camera at the site.
In that case, they're not currently offering any programming on the "high-tech media cube."
For more information on how to own a "Home" at the Barclays Center, please call 646-616-9500.
Unless you're Bruce Ratner, in which case you should call the Empire State Development Corporation for information on how to own other people's homes in Prospect Heights.
Click here to read the press release in its entirety.
Posted by eric at 10:18 AM
February 15, 2010
NHL Commissioner Casts Doubt on Brooklyn Islanders
NetsDaily
Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner, criticized Long Island politicians for delaying action on Islander plans for a[n] Atlantic Yards-like project centered on Nassau Coliseum but said Brooklyn may not make sense as an alternate location. “Does it make sense based on where the Islanders hockey fan base is to go to Brooklyn? I don’t know the answer to it,” asked Bettman, noting most fans live in Queens and Nassau.
NoLandGrab: The Islanders have a fan base? Well, yes, if the basis of comparison is the Nets', ahem, fan base. But need we remind Mr. Bettman that "Brooklyn's" ice would be too small to accommodate pro hockey?
Posted by eric at 10:49 PM
February 12, 2010
If Building 1 ever goes up, for three years the arena entrance would move (in part) to Sixth Avenue, far from transit hub; was impact studied?
Atlantic Yards Report
You have to read the fine print.
Because there, at the end of a Technical Memorandum issued by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in June 2009, came the surprising news that, if the office tower known as Building 1 is constructed later than planned, the main entrance to the Atlantic Yards arena would have to move from the western edge--closest to the transit hub at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues--to the north and east on Atlantic Avenue and Sixth Avenue.
Given that there's no market for office space right now, a delayed buildout is highly likely, if the tower is built at all. (Bruce Ratner told Crain's in November, “Can you tell me when we are going to need a new office tower?”
But the full impact of that change was not studied in ESDC documents, notably the impact on Neighborhood Character.
...
Missing from the Appendix is any analysis of Neighborhood Character, which is one of the chapters in the FEIS and one of the impacts to be studied.Sure, the impact would be temporary, but three years of an arena entrance closer to a residential neighborhood was never contemplated when the project was announced.
Posted by lumi at 6:05 AM
February 10, 2010
Barclays Center Private Suite Party Snowed Out, But You Are Still Invited for Feb 24
From Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB.net):
Ratner and his 4-47 Nets have been trying to sell these unaffordable non-housing units since May 2008. Apparently they haven't sold like hotcakes. Tomorrow's scheduled suite showing has been postponed until February 24th. Now you are invited to check out the gold-plated suites and see if you are interested...and you can meet Bruce Ratner and Brett Yormark! Just remember though, Ratner doesn't own the land he needs to build the arena that would house these suites. (They'll be shown in the showroom housed in the New York Times building.)
From the original listing in Socially Superlative:
As you may know, we have commenced construction on the Barclays Center, our new arena in Brooklyn.
We will be hosting a Private Suite Sales Event at the Barclays Center Showroom this Thursday, February 11th from 7pm-9pm.
We would love for you to be our guests that evening to discuss the volume and variety of hospitality options we will have available at the Barclays Center.
With 200+ events per year projected, the Barclays Center will feel like Your Home Away From Home.
Posted by lumi at 8:09 PM
February 4, 2010
Another look at the arena as site for graduations
Atlantic Yards Report
Would the Atlantic Yards arena be a site for high school and college graduations, as was once promised? Maybe, but there's reason for doubt:
- the arena itself would be too big and expensive
- the theater inside the arena isn't being promoted for graduations
- new, city-financed competition is emerging
Posted by eric at 9:25 AM
January 16, 2010
Will there be bollards (and how big)? Security questions regarding arena still unanswered
Atlantic Yards Report
Last July, when Forest City Ratner's MaryAnne Gilmartin was asked about security plans for the Atlantic Yards arena, she indicated a review was forthcoming.
Her response: "As the design is not complete yet, that review will take place obviously before the closing, but we're in constant contact with the city and expect to see the police department about the changes in design in the fall."
Well, the master closing took place last month, so presumably that review has taken place. But when the Brooklyn Paper asked the Empire State Development Corporation if bollards were planned along the lines of the recent installation outside Atlantic Terminal--an increase in size from initial plans--the ESDC wouldn't provide any details.
In the Huffington Post, Daniel Goldstein (of DDDB) and Alan Rosner raise questions and concerns raised about security that have drawn public responses. They conclude with a recommendation for Governor David Paterson:
What he needs do is direct his own State Office of Homeland Security to conduct a full study once complete plans are made available but before irreversible construction starts. Right now the only security plan that exists for the arena is a five-inch curb and some cameras to take pictures with.
Posted by steve at 11:08 AM
January 15, 2010
Construction on Barclays Arena commences
NYPost.com
by Stephen Witt
The Community Newspaper Group's pro-project reporter opines on arena construction.
If it looks like construction, sounds like construction and money is spent on construction, then it’s a good bet that the Barclays Center arena at the Atlantic/Flatbush avenues intersection is already under construction.
...As first reported locally by anti-project blogger Norman Oder in his Atlantic Yards Report, developer Forest City Ratner has also purchased $50 million worth of steel from Virgina-based Banker Steel for the arena.
Posted by eric at 12:49 PM
January 11, 2010
NBA's Nets Net Haier America As Partner For Barclays Center Arena
via NYSportsJournalism.com
Here's the Nets' press release announcing the Haier sponsor deal.
Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, an affiliate of Nets Sports and Entertainment, said that appliance and consumer electronics company Haier America has signed a deal to become a long-term partner for the planned Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Barclays Center is being planned as the new home of the NBA's Nets, which seeks to move from the Izod Center in New Jersey to Brooklyn for the 2011-12 season. Haier America joins a group of companies that have already signed on as partners for the Barclays Center, including ADT, EmblemHealth, MetroPCS, Cushman & Wakefield, MGM Grand at Foxwoods, Jones Soda Co., Phillips-Van Heusen, Anheuser-Busch and High Point Solutions. Financial firm Barclays has a 20-year naming rights deal for the arena.
OK, can they give it a rest with the "2011-2012 season" nonsense already? Their own financial documents show that ain't happening.
Under terms of the deal, the “Haier Experience Store” will be part of the Barclays Center and accessible to the public from outside of the arena during event and non-event days, enabling people to "interact with the Haier brand and its array of products." Haier will also receive a fully integrated marketing platform within the arena and will be a sponsor of the Nets.
"Haier Experience Store?" Seriously?
“The sponsorship of the Barclays Center provides Haier America with an extensive platform to promote both the Haier brand and our expansive line of innovative appliances and electronics,” Michael Jemal, chairman of the board of Haier America, said in a statement. “This opportunity aligns with our expectations for future brand growth and perpetuates the roots we are building in the local community fabric with what will be one of the most technologically advanced arenas in the nation.”
"Perpetuates the roots we are building in the local community fabric?" Who writes this stuff?
There's more here, if you can stomach it.
Posted by eric at 10:55 PM
Momentum strategy: Haier sponsorship deal for Barclays Center finally announced seven months after report, but is it really "lucrative" (as per NYT)?
Atlantic Yards Report
More than a year ago, on 12/2/08, Nets CEO Brett Yormark claimed there were nine founding partners, or sponsors, for the Barclays Center.
A 9/16/09 Barclays Center press release about suite sales cited eight founding partners, despite a 6/19/09 New York Times City Room blog report on Haier as "another lucrative sponsorship deal."
Strategic timing
Now, Sports Business Daily (subscribers only) finally confirms the Haier partnership "in a deal that comes two weeks after owner Bruce Ratner closed on the planned $800 million arena."
Actually, the timing might better be described as announced rather than signed the wake of the closing. It's an effort to demonstrate momentum for the arena.
Indeed, according to the summary on NetsDaily, “The closing helps us with the fence-sitters who wanted to wait until we closed on the arena deal,” said Brett Yormark.
Related...
SportsBusiness Journal, Haier is 9th founding deal for Nets [subscription required]
The New Jersey Nets have added appliance and electronics maker Haier as a Barclays Center founding partner, a deal that comes two weeks after owner Bruce Ratner closed on the planned $800 million arena in Brooklyn, N.Y. Nets Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Brett Yormark [said]...
Posted by eric at 10:48 AM
January 9, 2010
Banker Steel lands $50 million contract for NBA arena
The News & Advance
By Dave Thompson
A Lynchburg steel company has scored a contract for an NBA arena that will bring 50 new jobs to Lynchburg, company officials announced Friday.
Banker Steel officials said Friday that the company was awarded a $50 million contract to provide the structural steel for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The center, a sports and entertainment complex, will serve as the new home of the Brooklyn Nets, once their move from New Jersey is complete.
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Steel contract for Brooklyn arena awarded to Virginia firm
In a sign that Forest City Ratner is serious about beginning construction of the Atlantic Yards arena, despite potential legal challenges, Banker Steel of Lynchburg, VA, has received a $50 million contract for the structural steel for the Barclays Center, according to the News & Advance.
That means an increase in employment by 25%--50 people--at the factory.
Banker Steel has produced steel for several projects in New York, including the World Trade Center monument, a Columbia University building, and Forest City Ratner's East River Plaza big box shopping center.
Less than three months ago, company owner Dan Banker lent his plane to the three -member state Republican ticket, along with Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate, according to the Washington Post.
Bruce Ratner's a Democrat, of course, but steel knows no politics.
Posted by steve at 8:31 AM
January 6, 2010
What’s in a Naming Right? Certainly Not Cash
The New York Times
by Richard Sandomir
A Times story on the absence of a naming-rights sponsor for the new Giants/Jets football stadium in the Meadowlands touches on the Barclays deal for the planned Brooklyn arena.
For the Giants and the Jets, finding a naming-rights buyer for the new stadium will take time. If they planned to dedicate revenue from such a deal to help pay their construction debt, they will have to use money from other sources.
The market has been largely dormant and may never return to its prerecession peak, when Citigroup agreed in late 2006 to pay the Mets $400 million over 20 years to name the team’s ballpark Citi Field and Barclays followed soon after with a similarly priced deal to put its moniker on the Nets’ proposed arena in Brooklyn.
As Atlantic Yards Report will surely point out, the Barclays deal may never have been worth anywhere near $20 million per year. It surely isn't now, though the Nets still claim otherwise.
The recession and the departure of the star architect Frank Gehry led to the renegotiation of some terms of the Barclays-Nets deal. According to a bond document, the arena naming rights were halved.
The Nets insist that they have given Barclays more for its sponsorship money and that the bank’s total annual payments, including fees for other rights, remain unchanged.
NoLandGrab: All but the most naive among us learned a long time ago not to believe anything that comes out of the Ratner/Nets industrial complex.
Posted by eric at 10:26 AM
January 3, 2010
The politics of the New York Islanders
Business of Sports Examiner
by Evan Weiner
A report on the Islanders and Nassau Coliseum dangles the hockey-in-Brooklyn scenario.
Ratner, a political operative in New York City, is a lot smarter than Phoenix, Arizona politicians that were talked into building an arena that was built with perfect basketball sightlines that is virtually useless for any other sports event.
The financial difficulties of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes can be directly traced back to the Phoenix decision of the late 1980s.
The story that went around was that Ratner’s Brooklyn building was not going to be able to fit a hockey rink and would be useless for hockey and probably ice shows.
However, a person who worked on Ratner’s original arena plans said there was always a hockey element to Ratner’s plan.
NoLandGrab: Ratner may be smarter than the Phoenix pols, and the "original arena plans" may have had "a hockey element," but the current Barclays Center plan would have to go back to the drawing board to accommodate anything more than midget hockey, as Noticing New York made clear last month.
Posted by eric at 9:42 PM
January 1, 2010
So, where's the $324.8 million more for the arena going to come from?
Atlantic Yards Report
Eliot Brown of the New York Observer points to a major gap in funding for the Atlantic Yards arena, the need for $324.8 million, money not yet in hand but expected to be raised within a year.
The money would come from Mikhail Prokhorov (aka "New Investor"), additional financing, and new equity from Forest City Ratner or third parties.
FCR told investment analysts earlier this month it planned to invest $200 million in equity, but, as Brown writes, " it's not as if developers generally have $200 million just lying around." (Forest City hasn't yet publicly commented.)
And it's not clear to me what role the unmentioned taxable junk bonds would play in this.
Posted by eric at 10:46 AM
December 31, 2009
Ratner’s Next Nets Arena Challenge: Raising $324 M.
NY Observer
by Eliot Brown
The footprint of the planned new Nets arena in Brooklyn looks like a construction site. Developer and Nets owner Bruce Ratner closed on tax-free financing and other approvals for the project last week, and now fencing with flashy renderings of the project runs along Flatbush Avenue; traffic has been redirected to make way for equipment. The massive $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project, or at least the $900 million centerpiece basketball arena, is looking like a reality.
But a glance at a lengthy set of public documents linked with the $511 million in tax-free bonds that go toward the arena show that there is still more of the hill for Mr. Ratner to climb. If the developer doesn't raise $324.8 million within a year for the arena, he could be forced to refund the bondholders' money, returning the financing that makes the project possible, according to the documents.
...If the money isn't deposited by Dec. 17, 2010, the documents say, this would trigger a refund of the bonds, or "extraordinary mandatory redemption," in bond speak.
Some of this money will come from Mikhail Prokhorov, the tentative new buyer of the Nets, who has agreed to pay $200 million for 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of the arena-to-be.
Posted by eric at 10:22 AM
Yormark moves the goalposts, asserts Brooklyn "sometime in calendar year 2012," claims construction has commenced
Atlantic Yards Report
On 11/24/09, after the decision in the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case, Forest City Ratner and the Nets said "the intent that the Nets will play ball in the Barclays Center in the 2011-2012 NBA Season."
Yesterday, Nets CEO Brett Yormark offered some clarification, telling the YES network, "We will be getting into the Barclays Center sometime in calendar year 2012."
That means the 2012-13 season, I'd bet. Remember, a market study attached to the Barclays Center Arena Preliminary Official Statement (prepared by Goldman Sachs) states, "It is assumed that the arena will open in May of 2012. As such, the year ending June 30, 2012 only reflects two months of operations." And there's no revenue for 2011-12 ticket sales.
Here's Yormark on video:
YESNetwork.com, Nets CEO Brett Yormark on the move to Brookyn
Posted by eric at 10:06 AM
December 30, 2009
Curbed Awards '09 Architecture: Starchitects, Ugly Buildings & More!
Curbed
Atlantic Yards figures in two coveted Curbed Awards.
As is our yearly tradition, it's time to make up a bunch of awards and hand them out to the most deserving and important people, places and things in the real estate, architecture and neighborhood universes of New York City! Yep, it's time for the Sixth Annual Curbed Awards!
Our Favorite Architectural Sell-Outs
Dude, can you believe they're using that Vampire Weekend song in a fucking commercial now? Or that those dudes at that hip architecture firm SHoP scored a commission from fucking Bruce Ratner to redesign his fucking Brooklyn basketball arena at the same time they're remaking the East River waterfront? It's like there's nothing pure anymore.
...Don't Make Nicolai Angry, People
3) SHoP rolls out a new design for the Brooklyn Nets stadium: "Still falls short of the high architectural standards... the larger project remains worrisome."
Another look back at 2009...
Mobilizing the Region, 2009 NY Year in Review: A Struggle to Hold the Line
Land use and parking continued to be a missing link in the city’s sustainability efforts, best characterized by auto-oriented big-box developments like the Gateway Center Mall in the South Bronx and East River Plaza in Manhattan. The state-run Atlantic Yards project also survived several legal challenges this year, and developer Bruce Ratner officially closed on the project. Brooklyn Speaks, a coalition of city and borough organizations calling for a better Atlantic Yards plan, filed its first lawsuit over the project in November (the coalition has previously recommended a stronger transportation plan for the site).
Posted by eric at 9:22 AM
December 26, 2009
Bruce Ratner Wastes No Time Rubbing It In
Curbed
Bruce Ratner rushed to place branding on the blight he brought to Prospect Heights.
It took six years to close on the Atlantic Yards deal, but only a few hours to finally build something on the site: a salute to the sponsors and a preview of all that quality NBA basketball to come. A merry Landgrabiversary to all!
Posted by steve at 6:39 AM
Brooklyn Nets: A Reality Check
NetsAreScorching
by Mark Ginocchio
This blog entry looks back on when the proposed Atlantic Yards land grab was first announced and the struggle that ensued.
Obviously, this master plan of mine (and Bruce Ratner’s) hit some snags. Residents of the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn where the arena was to be built were not about to hand their land over to a developer without a fight. And then there was the whole issue of financing this big thing, which became even more questionable when the famous, and now former arena-architect Frank Gehry was waxing poetic about “Miss Brooklyn” skyscrapers. Meanwhile, the Nets got steadily worse where it mattered most to me – on the basketball court. The “Big Three” were traded away to create roster flexibility (aka, salary relief) and this year, the Nets got off to the worst start in NBA history. Then, there was all this talk that if the Nets weren’t in position to break ground in Brooklyn by the end of this year, the project was probably never going to happen. Yet, after so many letdowns with this team and this organization, it was hard for me to say if any of this Brooklyn stuff even mattered anymore.
Now, yesterday’s “master closing” announcement from Ratner and Co. is probably not the definitive victory dance in this fight – but is a clear sign that after all of these years, delays, lawsuits and controversies, this project is as close to reality as it’s ever been. And I must admit, I’m suddenly getting reacquainted with the 2003 version of myself (it’s like the Sport Fan’s version of The Lake House). Finally, the era of the Brooklyn Nets is upon us. For the first time in my life, I will have liked something before it became hip and cool to Brooklyn folk. Now all I need is my Strokes t-shirt and an apartment in Williamsburg and I’ll fit right in.
A letter in the comments section reminds us why the idea of building a shiny, new arena comes at a price that should give sports fans pause.
The reality is that in New York City today, a politically-connected developer can appropriate entire city blocks in your neighborhood, remove public streets, condemn private property, and create a construction wasteland lasting decades. And neither you nor the elected officials that represent you have any say whatsoever. Even if you love the idea of having the Nets play in Brooklyn, the politics should be unacceptable.
Posted by steve at 6:28 AM
December 25, 2009
New deal would give Islanders control of Coliseum
Newsday
Well, just two days after the Master Closing, here's one lie that we can likely put to rest — the Islanders are on the verge of locking in a new lease in Uniondale, so they will not be helping the Barclays Center arena meet its overblown revenue projections, something that was hinted at in the arena bond offering.
A new deal to give the New York Islanders control of the Nassau Coliseum could help end a long-standing roadblock to renovating the arena and building the Lighthouse Project.
The Islanders and SMG, the Coliseum's manager, have agreed to a sublease that would hand control of the arena and its revenue to the team. Outgoing County Executive Thomas Suozzi approved it this week.
In a letter, dated Monday, to incoming County Executive-elect Edward Mangano, Legislative Presiding Office Diane Yatauro and incoming Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt, Suozzi said he planned to approve the sublease "before the Christmas holiday."
Posted by eric at 9:11 AM
December 21, 2009
Alphabet soup: if the UDC aims to offer Sports Stadium Assistance, why was the BALDC created by the JDA (which finances machinery and equipment)?
Atlantic Yards Report
The text on the web page of the Bond Program offered by the state's economic development agency compounds questions raised by state Senator Bill Perkins about the legitimacy of the bonds issued for the Atlantic Yards arena.
It states:
Empire State Development is the parent organization for New York’s two principal economic development financing entities: the Empire State Development Corporation (formerly known as the Urban Development Corporation), and the Job Development Authority. In 1995, these agencies, which had previously functioned independently, were consolidated in order to increase efficiency, reduce overhead and enhance the delivery of the State’s economic development initiatives. Reorganized as Empire State Development, the combined agencies now function as a streamlined economic development organization whose primary mission is the facilitation of business growth and job creation across New York State.As part of this economic development role, Empire State Development Corporation oversees the issuance of debt under the programs of both the Urban Development Corporation and the Job Development Authority. On the UDC side, bonding programs include Corporate Purpose, Correctional and Youth Facilities, Sports Stadium Assistance, and various educational and civic related project revenue bonds. The Job Development Authority issues both taxable and tax exempt bonds to finance its business lending programs. These programs are designed to promote job growth by providing loans to assist New York companies to build and expand facilities and acquire machinery and equipment.
(Emphases added)
The questions
If the UDC is supposed to offer Sports Stadium Assistance, then why was the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation (BALDC) created instead by the Job Development Authority (JDA)?
And if the JDA aims to help companies "build and expand facilities and acquire machinery and equipment," then why is it financing an arena?
Posted by eric at 10:52 AM
December 14, 2009
Brooklyn Arena to Lead Tax-Exempt Sales as Similar Bond Gets 7%
Bloomberg.com
by Jeremy R. Cooke
The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, leads projects seeking municipal financing this week, as developer Forest City Ratner Cos. aims to meet a year-end deadline to sell tax-exempt bonds for the new basketball arena.
Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corp., a state arm created to help finance the anchor of a commercial and residential development known as Atlantic Yards, intends to issue $500 million of tax-exempt bonds rated at the lowest investment grades. The New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association plan to move into the new facility in 2012.
A toll-road project in Texas that also involves public financing and private investors found buyers last week for $400 million in similarly rated tax-exempt bonds at a top yield of 7 percent. The ability of the arena developer, led by Bruce Ratner, to sell bonds exempt from federal taxes expires in less than three weeks under Internal Revenue Service rule changes.
“If it’s structured right and priced right, there’s definitely demand,” said Dan Solender, who oversees about $12.5 billion as director of municipal bond management at Lord Abbett & Co. in Jersey City, New Jersey. “I think we saw that with the deal down in Texas.”
...The pending deal has required “a lot of analysis” by potential investors, Solender said.
NoLandGrab: Presumably, the Texas toll-road deal didn't involve significant overstatement of the number of vehicles that would be using the road, nor the notion that the road could potentially be retrofitted to accommodate Zamboni traffic.
Related coverage...
Field of Schemes, Nets bonds inch closer to sale
With 17 shopping days to go, the Atlantic Yards Nets arena bonds still haven't been sold, as bond issuers and buyers continue to haggle over the price. Bloomberg News speculates that $500 million in tax-free bonds could go for an interest rate of 7%, based on similarly rated bonds recently issued in Texas — this would qualify as worse than Bruce Ratner hoped, but better than he feared.
Meanwhile, the $147 million in taxable bonds that will accompany the tax-free bonds — trust me, you don't want to know why, but if you really need to, start here — have been assigned junk-bond status, which, Atlantic Yards Report notes, could carry interest rates as high as 14%. The interesting twist here is that the rumored buyer for these bonds is Nets soon-to-be co-owner Mikhail Prokhorov. Because Prokhorov would own 45% of the arena corporation that would be paying off the bonds to himself, he'd effectively be earning a 7.7% rate on his money — though given that, according to his deal with Ratner, he gets to take title to the whole arena if it defaults on the bonds, you could argue that he's effectively covered his risk in other ways.
I can't tell if this is brilliantly creative finance or a scam — but given the players involved here, that's probably about right.
Atlantic Yards Report, Municipal bond buyer on arena bonds: "there’s definitely demand" but "a lot of analysis" is required
A Bloomberg News article about the planned sale of $500 million in tax-exempt bonds for the Barclays Center arena suggests the interest rate would be 7%, the same as the interest rate for the second (and much smaller) phase of Yankee Stadium bonds and slightly above the 6.45% interest rate for the second phase of Mets stadium bonds.
(By contrast, the main bonds for both stadiums were sold in 2006 at interest rates of 4.57% and 4.7%.)
Noticing New York, To Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli: Investigate and Halt Issuance of Arena Bonds
Michael D.D. White enumerates the risky risks inherent in Bruce Ratner's arena bonds. Will the AG and the Comptroller open their mail?
The following an open letter from Noticing New York to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli calling for an investigation and halt to the proposed issuance of ESDC’s Brooklyn Local Development Corporation PILOT Revenue Bonds for Forest City Ratner’s proposed Nets basketball arena.
Posted by eric at 10:06 AM
Limited seating capacity, spoken-for suite revenue, Goldman Sachs statement all cast doubt on major league hockey in Brooklyn
Atlantic Yards Report
With Atlantic Yards arena bond issuers hinting at the possibility of retrofitting the planned arena at Atlantic Yards for hockey, Norman Oder explores the possibility.
Perhaps the Brooklyn arena (capacity 18,282 for basketball, according to the POS) could be designed to seat a number larger than 14,000 for hockey, but that's something the Atlantic Yards developer and public parties should tell us.
...
Actually, there's no minimum capacity for NHL arenas--the key is revenue--there are reasons to doubt a 14,000-seat arena for hockey could work in Brooklyn.Most NHL arenas seat more than 18,282, according to the Edmonton Journal. The smallest NHL arena is on Long Island, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, with a capacity of 16,234.
Then again, the Islanders have averaged only 10,774 fans per game over the last three seasons, according to the market study attached to the POS. And those Islanders, which have been losing a lot of money, would be the obvious candidate to move to Brooklyn.
There's more market analysis and detail in the full article.
NoLandGrab: If the issuers of arena bonds are trying to make them more attractive to prospective buyers, why aren't the developer and issuers explaining specifically how this would work? Could it be more smoke and mirrors?
Posted by lumi at 5:11 AM
December 9, 2009
Pro hockey at the Atlantic Yards arena? It looks doubtful
Atlantic Yards Report
In a long post on his Noticing New York blog, Michael D. D. White makes a strong case that the Ellerbe Becket arena design could not accommodate professional hockey and that any intimation in the bond offering that the Atlantic Yards arena could host the New York Islanders is a feint.
"Feint" is a more pleasant euphemism for "lie" or "fraud" or "Tiger Woods."
Note that White is working with an arena schematic from several months ago, so it's possible the design has been revised. But the onus is on developer Forest City Ratner and the public parties to come clean.
NoLandGrab: Norman Oder himself wrote just last Friday that "the basic orientation and design of the arena was not changed; the main change concerned the skin."
If these arena bonds are such a great investment, why won't Goldman Sachs just be honest about them?
Posted by eric at 9:52 AM
December 8, 2009
The Barclays naming right deal may not be a record, after all; will the revised agreement get noticed by the Times, which puffed it?
Atlantic Yards Report
The most important issue regarding naming rights for the Atlantic Yards arena is why the state simply gave them away--because they were part of arena financing, an Empire State Development Corporation official said not-so-convincingly last July.
That deserves coverage. But also deserving of coverage. especially in the New York Times, is the revelation that the Barclays Center deal, once touted as record-setting, may not be a record, after all. Or, if it remains a record, it's by a fraction.
...Now, however, we know the revised deal is $10 million a year for the arena plus other unspecified payments to the Nets. The total that is hardly double the deal in Atlanta and, given adjustment for inflation, may not even be any larger.
...The New York Times and the New York Daily News, however, haven't reported on the revised deal, though they--especially the Times--has treated the previous deal as fact multiple times. Given the parent New York Times Company's business relationship with Forest City Ratner, some more skeptical coverage is in order.
Posted by eric at 8:18 AM
December 7, 2009
The Craftily Negative Promise Offered For Bonds Being Sold For Nets Arena: It’s Not “Assumed” Islanders Hockey Team Is Coming to Basketball Arena
Noticing New York
Michael D.D. White puts on ice any fantasies of the Islanders some day playing in the Barclays Center.
In a marketing analysis commissioned by Forest City Ratner that has been made part of the Barclays Center Arena Preliminary Official Statement prepared by Goldman Sachs to market bonds for Forest City Ratner’s Nets arena bonds it says:
For purposes of this analysis, it has not been assumed that the New York Islanders would relocate to the Barclays Center.
This we-mentioned-but-we-can't-promise language is official statement language intended to keep people off the hook legally, but it does serve to introduce a definite (positive) possibility that, “Gee, just maybe, the Islanders will relocate to the Barclay’s Center.”
...Would a hockey rink fit? We think schematics posted by Atlantic Yards Report today probably answer that question in the negative. Evaluate the information and images we have to offer on this score. When you’re done you may also conclude that statements put into Goldman’s Preliminary Official Statement to help market the bonds are a joke (as well as misleading).
First, let's compare. How big is a basketball court in yards? An NBA basketball court is 94 feet x 50 feet. (31.33 yards x 16.67 yards) How big is a hockey rink? More than twice as long and 70% wider. The official size of a hockey rink is 200 ft long and 85 ft wide.
Posted by eric at 10:42 PM
Comparing the Gehry arena outline/orientation with its successor, thanks to an Ellerbe Becket interior design
Atlantic Yards Report
So, how has the planned Atlantic Yards arena changed?
No rendering of the interior of Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards arena design was ever released, to my knowledge, but we did get a schematic of the arena block, via the Design Guidelines attached to the 2006 Modified General Project Plan. (Click on graphics to enlarge.)
Nor has a rendering of the interior of the new Ellerbe Becket design (now with a facade by SHoP) been officially released, but I did get one, thanks to a Freedom of Information Law request to the New York City Department of City Planning.
...
Posted by eric at 5:20 AM
Did Planning Commissioner Burden leak the "hangar" rendering? FOIL request stymied
Atlantic Yards Report
So, was it really Amanda Burden, chairperson of the New York City Planning Commission, who leaked images of the Ellerbe Becket arena design (aka "hangar") of the Brooklyn arena to the New York Times?
The leak led to a scathing review by architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff and the subsequent hiring of trendy architecture firm SHoP to put a facade on the same building, generating two cheers from Ourossoff.
In June, Crain's blamed Burden, citing anonymous sources. But my Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the Department of City Planning (DCP) couldn't confirm it.
...From the DCP letter to me (click on graphic to enlarge):
Responsive records which are being withheld... consist of intra-agency emails reflecting staff opinions or deliberations.
Posted by eric at 5:10 AM
December 5, 2009
Nets arena go-ahead gets more good news
Courier-Life
By Steven Witt
Here's reporting that displays more of the Courier-Life's fawning coverage of all things Bruce Ratner.
It’s all systems go for the Brooklyn Nets arena, and perhaps an NBA championship banner hanging from the rafters following the 2011-12 playoffs in the borough.
The idea did not seem that far-fetched to current Nets owner Bruce Ratner after both Moody’s Investor Service and Standard & Poor’s gave investor grade ratings for the proposed issuance of $500 million in tax-free bonds.
The ratings, which were just above a junk bond rating, should help pave the way in financing the $1.06 billion Barclays Center arena at the Flatbush/Atlantic avenues intersection.
This following unquestioned information fails to indicate that an arena could not open before 2012 and also indicates there is now a new definition of the phrase "good team".
While the Nets have started off winless in their first 17 games at press time and are on the verge of breaking an NBA record for losses starting a season, Ratner said it’s all part of a plan to bring a championship contender team to the borough by the end of the 2011-12 season.
“This was really just a year we were rebuilding. We’ve had a lot of injuries. I think long term we have a very good team,” said Ratner.
Posted by steve at 8:39 AM
December 4, 2009
Brooklynites says Nets in Brooklyn must win; guess who are the two most positive
Atlantic Yards Report
The New York Daily News today, in an article headlined Brooklyn basketball fans warn New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner not to bring losing team to borough, queries a not-so-random selection of basketball fans, several of whom say they don't want a losing Nets team coming to Brooklyn.
But a team rep is positive, as are a couple of fans:
Other would-be Brooklyn Nets fans were disappointed by the record-breaking loss but held out hope the fortunes of the team will turn around.
Kelly Burwell, 40, of Crown Heights, said the losing streak was "heartbreaking," but added, "It's all going to change ...Everyone will want to play for the Brooklyn Nets."
That's what the Nets are banking on, too. "We're going to have an exciting and winning team in Brooklyn," said spokesman Barry Baum, adding the team would look to pick up key free agents over the summer and benefit from several first-round draft picks in the next few years.
"We'll probably get LeBron James, we'll probably get all the good players," said Greg (Jocko) Jackson, a former Knick and now director of the Brownsville Recreation Center.
"When (the team) gets to Brooklyn it's going to be 18 and 0."
Neither of those two seeming civilians are new to the Atlantic Yards dispute.
Burwell was quoted in an October 2006 New York Times article as one of those welcoming the team. And Jackson was quoted in a May 2006 Daily News ITeam blog as one of those receiving program support from the Nets.
Related...
NY Daily News, Brooklyn basketball fans warn New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner not to bring losing team to borough
Posted by eric at 9:55 AM
December 3, 2009
It’s half-off at Brooklyn arena, but Islanders 'could' join Nets
The Brooklyn Blog [NYPost.com]
Barclays Bank could be getting two horrendous teams for half off what it originally agreed to pay for naming rights to the planned Brooklyn arena.
New arena financing documents released yesterday leave the door open to the NHL’s Islanders joining the NBA’s Nets at the planned Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, and they also indicate that a once-record $400 million naming-rights deal the British bank agreed to pay over 20 years has been chopped to $200 million.
Barclays would now pay $10 million a year to the arena’s owner over the 20-year deal as part of a renegotiated agreement, according to a 772-page statement prepared by Goldman Sachs for the $900 million arena project sent out to potential investors.
...A source close to the deal said it is a far cry from the $20 million a year over 20 years that Barclays was once set to pay.
The Nets will "definitely be getting much closer to $10 million a year than $20 million,” the source said.
...The Goldman Sachs document says the Nets – who set an NBA futility record Wednesday by starting a season 0-18 -- are expected to be in the new arena by the middle of 2012, and for the first time indicates the Islanders could be leaving Long Island to join them.
“The New York Islanders could potentially become a tenant” at the Barclays Center, the document says.
But there’s one problem: When Ratner spiked Gehry’s original arena plan for a cheaper design, the size of the arena’s playing area was a casualty, and, as planned, it’s no longer wide enough to host pro hockey games.
NoLandGrab: Sure, the "Islanders could potentially become a tenant" if they quit playing hockey for a sport that would actually fit in the arena, like roller derby or a dog show. Is there anything they won't claim in trying to buck up Ratner's high-risk arena bonds?
Posted by eric at 11:55 PM
The mysteries of the $131 million in New York City equity and the number of arena events
Atlantic Yards Report
As I wrote yesterday, the bond ratings agency Moody's counts $131 million from New York City as an substantial equity component, but that doesn't make sense.
If Moody's is counting city funding for land and infrastructure--and considering the "project" the arena plus infrastructure--it should also count at least some portion of the state's $100 million for infrastructure.
That $131 million figure, nor any other component of equity, is not mentioned in the other ratings agency report on the project, from Standard & Poor's.
Arena events
According to the Standard & Poor's report:
Of the 220 expected annual events at the arena, 41 will be basketball (excluding playoffs) and the remainder will be concerts, family shows, etc. We believe this expectation to be aggressive.
Indeed, they should. After all, the arena sponsors most recently predicted "over 200" events, and the one-time prediction of 225 events a year depended on no competing arenas in either the Meadowlands or Newark.
NoLandGrab: And, unfortunately, there are competing arenas in the Meadowlands and Newark. Is there going to be some magical spike in demand for Sesame Street Live and $300 concert tickets? Not likely, which is just one more reason that the projected revenue stream supporting the arena bonds are as shaky as Jello. Caveat emptor.
Posted by eric at 2:53 PM
If all goes well, the Nets might play in Brooklyn for the last games in 2012
Atlantic Yards Report
A tidbit in the Standard & Poor's report rating tax-exempt bonds for the planned Brooklyn arena: "construction is expected to be completed by April 1, 2012."
If the Nets aim to play ball, as Bruce Ratner asserts, "in the 2011-2012 NBA Season," that would mean--extrapolating from the current schedule--that the team would play its last three home games in Brooklyn.
Don't count on it. (The Times reported June 2012.)
Posted by eric at 2:50 PM
December 2, 2009
Ratner's Yards Bonds Rated 'Barely' Investment Grade
Brownstoner
On the heels of last week's eminent domain ruling, Forest City Ratner took another step towards realizing its vision for a basketball arena in Brooklyn when Moody's Investor Service gave the $500 million in tax free bonds being used to finance the Barclays Center a crucial investment-grade rating. According to a largely positive story in Crain's yesterday afternoon, "the “Baa3” rating reflects several factors, including the strength of New York City as a media market, existing sponsorship support for the team, the large amount of equity the developer and its partner are putting in the project and strong reserve funds." And check out this quote in The Times from a vice president at Moody's: “The lawsuits are not an issue as far as the rating is concerned. The rating assumes that the lawsuits will be settled and that the project will move forward." A more skeptical article in the New York Observer noted that while technically investement-grade, the bond rating was only one step above junk level, reflecting significant risk factors like relocation, weak team finances and "uncertain demand for premium seating."
Posted by eric at 2:24 PM
Ex-Net Jason Kidd 'fesses up: AY is "about a real estate play" (not "doing the right thing")
Atlantic Yards Report
Nets point guard Jason Kidd, at an 8/23/06 press
conferenceevent before the Empire State Development Corporation's public hearing on the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement:"Getting to know Brooklyn and getting to know the community has proven to me that [Nets principal owner] Bruce [Ratner] is doing the right thing."
Kidd, now with the Dallas Mavericks, had a different message for today's New York Daily News:
"It's just one after another. It (the Nets' downfall) was something that was going to eventually happen. It reminded me of when I was with Dallas the first time (in the early '90s) and (H. Ross Perot Jr.) bought the team and it wasn't about basketball. It was about a real estate play. That is what happened with the Nets."
Posted by eric at 10:34 AM
Atlantic Yards report: Arena financing doesn't all add up
The slippery, risky Atlantic Yards bond deal
Did you notice that the Atlantic Yards financing deal keeps changing and has some very unclear numbers?
No infrastructure bonds
In September, the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation (BALDC) agreed that it was willing to authorize up to $400 million in tax-exempt bonds for Atlantic Yards infrastructure. Now that plan is off the table.
PILOT bonds lowered in a week
Last week, the BALDC contemplated issuing up to $825 million in tax-exempt and taxable bonds for the arena. Yesterday, the amount of tax-exempt bonds had declined from $600-$650 million to just $500 million, in order to reassure investors.
Risky tactics denied but not ruled out
Officials of the BALDC say they won't do the following things, but won't definitively rule them out:
- issue additional bonds
- bail out investors who lose on arena bonds
- issue tax-exempt bonds for infrastructure
And that ain't all of it.
An updated article in the Bond Buyer, headlined Atlantic Yards Debt Gets Rated, quotes a ratings agency analyst explaining why the PILOT bonds for the planned Barclays Center got an investment grade.
But the number of arena events is inflated:
Out of the 225 days a year the arena is expected to hold events, only 40 to 45 of those will be Nets games, [Moody’s analyst Richard Donner] said.
“While the Nets are important as an anchor tenant, the arena is reliant upon other revenues,” Donner said. “We view that as a positive.”
However, a 9/16/09 Barclays Center press release stated, "Overall, the arena will host over 200 events annually."
And, as we've known for years, the original projection of 225 events a year depended on the closing of the Meadowlands Arena (now the Izod Center) and no construction of an arena in Newark.
But there's an arena in Newark.
So, does Moody's know what it's doing?
Funny, but Moody's won't say...
Ratings agency Moody's, asked why it assumes 225 events a year at the AY arena, won't discuss it
Given that a Moody's analyst told the Bond Buyer that its just-above-junk rating for $500 million in Barclays Center PILOT bonds depended in part on 225 events a year, I thought it was worth following up.
Noting that the arena sponsors most recently predicted 200 events a year (an 11% difference), I asked if Moody's was confident of the stated total of 225 events and, if there were 200 events, how might that change the rating.
Moody's spokesman John Cline responded, "I'm going to have to direct you back to the release. That is our comment."
The ratings agency release said nothing about the number of events; that was elicited in an interview.
My take: Moody's made a mistake.
NoLandGrab: Did these guys learn anything from events last year that damned near brought down the world's economy? Apparently not.
Posted by eric at 10:22 AM
Tax-exempt bonds rated just above junk, down to $500 million; arena cost confirmed at more than $1 billion
Atlantic Yards Report
In another crucial advance for the Brooklyn arena, the tax-exempt bonds for the planned Barclays Center--the cost of which is now estimated at $1.06 billion--have been rated investment-grade, though just above junk.
It should be enough to get the bonds sold to major institutional investors, though, as the Bond Buyer notes, bond insurance--which reassures investors but makes it more expensive for those paying back the bonds--remains in question. (The Times notes that bonds for the new Yankees and Mets stadiums got the same grade.)
Also, the amount has been reduced from $600-$650 million to $500 million, plus another $146 million in riskier "subordinated bonds," according to a report issued by Moody's Investors Service. (Those bonds are "likely to be sold to one of the project company's sponsors," reports Project Finance magazine, which says the split is indicative of the difficulty in getting an investment-grade rating.)
The Moody's report concerned the proposed issuance of $500 million of PILOT [payments in lieu of taxes] Revenue Bonds, Series 2009 (Barclays Center Project) by the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation. The bonds must be sold by the end of the year to qualify for a tax exemption, which would save the developer well over $100 million.
...Bond primer
Moody's primer: Baa Obligations rated Baa are subject to moderate credit risk. They are considered medium-grade and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics...the modifier 3 indicates a ranking in the lower end of that generic rating category.
A key giveaway and a key to the rating
One thing clear from the report: if the state hadn't given away naming rights to developer Forest City Ratner, the arena would not be built.
Also, key to the credit rating is an on-time construction schedule--not the safest bet, given the history of Atlantic Yards.
Posted by eric at 10:02 AM
November 30, 2009
Mayor vows NYC will go ahead with public works
Staten Island Advance
Mayor Bloomberg reaffirmed today that New York City would move ahead with a over $5 billion in key public works projects despite the recession.
Here is the text of his remarks as prepared for delivery on 1010 WINS News Radio:
..."And last week, New York state's highest court moved us closer to realizing a major piece of that future, with its 6-1 decision concerning Brooklyn's proposed Atlantic Yards development. The court's ruling was a long step forward for a project that will spur intensive investment in new offices, stores, and thousands of units of new housing. It will also produce a new Brooklyn home arena for the Nets professional basketball team. All told, Atlantic Yards is expected to create some 8,000 new permanent jobs in Brooklyn. More immediately, building it is also going to produce nearly 17,000 of the new union construction jobs that New Yorkers need."
NoLandGrab: "8,000 new permanent jobs?" That's a lie overestimate by several orders of magnitude. Even as originally planned, the project would create roughly 2,500 new jobs, if the office tower once dubbed "Miss Brooklyn" were erected. But even Bruce Ratner admits demand for Atlantic Yards office space is non-existent.
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: if Atlantic Yards is so terrific, why not just be honest about it?
Posted by eric at 11:37 AM
November 26, 2009
Nets CEO Yormark optimistic about the bond sale, says team will recover from losing streak
Atlantic Yards Report
New Jersey Nets CEO Brett Yormark appeared yesterday on WFAN's Boomer & Carton to talk about the team and Court of Appeals' dismissal of the Atlantic Yards lawsuit.
"It was a big moment for all of us, especially Bruce Ratner," Yormark said, saluting his boss. "He's been fighting so many battles over the last couple of years and, yesterday gave him a chance to feel good about what he's done over the past couple of years."
I guess that's one way of looking at it.
"We feel really good about the financing for the arena," Yormark added. "I think you'll hear some very positive news in the next couple of days from the rating agencies."
Posted by lumi at 8:03 AM
November 25, 2009
Ratner says team will move mid-season, but Times says June 2012
Atlantic Yards Report
Developer Bruce Ratner said yesterday in a statement that "the intent [is] that the Nets will play ball in the Barclays Center in the 2011-2012 NBA Season."
The New York Times reported today:
The developer expects that it will take about 28 months to build the arena, enabling the Nets to move from East Rutherford, N.J., to Brooklyn around June 2012.
The season's over by then.
NoLandGrab: Norman Oder is discounting the possibility that the (0-14) Nets could, with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird and George Mikan, be headed to the NBA Finals in June of 2012.
Posted by eric at 1:04 PM
November 23, 2009
Bloomberg architecture critic Russell: "Ratner won’t keep any promises that prove inconvenient"
Atlantic Yards Report
Yet another architecture critic has slammed the new design for the Atlantic Yards arena and offered some (misplaced) nostalgia for the forsaken Frank Gehry plan.
Still, James S. Russell, the critic for Bloomberg, grasps a fundamental issue that has eluded too many observers: "[Developer Bruce] Ratner won’t keep any promises that prove inconvenient."
Posted by eric at 9:31 AM
November 12, 2009
Arena bonds down to the wire? ESDC likely waiting until mid-December
Atlantic Yards Report
It looks like the sale of tax-exempt bonds for the Atlantic Yards arena would occur, at the earliest, in mid-December, two months after the date once predicted by developer Bruce Ratner.
A press release (bottom) from the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) today announced a meeting November 16 of the ESDC's Bond Finance Committee.
Was that regarding Atlantic Yards arena bonds? (Seemingly the latter would involve the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation, or BALDC).
No, said ESDC spokeswoman Elizabeth Mitchell. (The ESDC is issuing other bonds.)
Coming in December?
So, when might arena bonds be on the agenda? "We expect by mid-December," Mitchell responded.
That suggests that the ESDC--perhaps nudged by bond rating agencies?--doesn't want to issue arena bonds until and unless the state Court of Appeals rules in favor of the ESDC's use of eminent domain.
A decision is expected in the next weeks.
But a December date already represents a two-month delay for Ratner, who told the 10/1/09 New York Observer that, after bond ratings were determined in "about two weeks... then we'll start selling them."
NoLandGrab: Ratner, who once claimed his Nets basketball club would be playing in Brooklyn by 2006, has been wrong before.
Posted by eric at 10:13 PM
November 10, 2009
Barclays Center promoters invoke borough authenticity ("Brownstone Suites") to "soften" entrance into Brooklyn
Atlantic Yards Report
Suite sales of the non-existent arena have been soft, so the marketing effort is being relaunched, with suites meant to evoke the history of Brooklyn:
The Barclays Center Showroom has been re-launched to sell suites and "to further celebrate Brooklyn and the heritage of the NETS basketball team." Among the features: "new floor-to-ceiling graphics evoking Brooklyn and its rich culture, history, and recent resurgence" plus "a historical timeline of sports and entertainment milestones in Brooklyn."
NoLandGrab: Expect the cultural and historical richness of a local TD Bank (formerly Commerce Bank) lobby.
And, of course, the Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment logo uses script that invokes the Brooklyn Dodgers.
...
What's up? Why are there Brownstone Suites and Loft Suites? Well, the Brooklyn strategy pursued by arena supporters sounds not unlike that practiced by others launching new retail and entertainment businesses like the bar Brooklyn Social, maintaining names, signage, or details from the past."New residents are using this idea of authenticity to soften their entrance into Brooklyn," said former Brooklynite Jonathan Silverman, now at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, at the Dreamland Pavilion conference last month.
Posted by lumi at 6:54 AM
November 8, 2009
Businesses score points before NJ Nets games
Crain's
This item (requires registration on Crain's site) lauds the Nets organization for helping their sponsors to network with each other.
Sponsors of professional sports teams typically pony up big bucks to reach consumers. But a new program dreamed up by the New Jersey Nets, The Nets Chamber of Commerce, paves the way for some 400 sponsors, vendors and companies owned by season ticket holders to meet each other.
...
Participants, including companies like Aflac and ADT Security Services, receive invitations to game-night networking events at the Izod Center, facilitation of 10 introductory meetings with other members and access to a password-protected business-to-business Web site hosted on NJNets.com.
Already, Mr. Yormark says, HighPoint Solutions and Barclays—which bought the naming rights to Nets owner Bruce Ratner's proposed Brooklyn arena at Atlantic Yards—have made a business deal. The Nets are seeing benefits, too. HighPoint has upped its sponsorship to become the official information networking equipment provider at the new arena.
NoLandGrab: HighPoint's website mentions offices 'in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Chicago, and Los Angeles'. In addition to helping to create a false air of inevitability to the arena's construction, this article also manages to point out how the project is not really about creating economic activity in Brooklyn.
Posted by steve at 10:10 AM
October 31, 2009
Would the AY arena, like the new Yankee Stadium, suck retail inside?
Atlantic Yards Report
WNYC radio this week reported on a curious phenomenon: how the new Yankee Stadium gets Yankee fans to spend more money inside the ballpark rather than on the streets around it.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn suggests that's a cautionary tale for boosters of the Atlantic Yards arena.
Is it? Surely in part. After all, the official arena web site proclaims:
The Barclays Center concourses are designed to be wide, graciously active and accommodating with well distributed food and beverage locations... Prominent, active retail spaces are integrated into the main public concourse so as to contribute to the street life and activate the internal space.
...
On the other hand, only some people would be arriving directly to the arena block by train or subway. Others would be taking buses or driving to parking lots, such as the interim parking lots sketched in the Atlantic Lots scenario created by the Municipal Art Society.
So those visitors would have the opportunity to go to retail outlets nearby on Vanderbilt Avenue, Dean Street, Atlantic Avenue, and Flatbush Avenue--likely a very mixed result, pleasing some retailers yet frustrating those in the relatively quiet residential district of Prospect Heights.
Posted by steve at 8:00 AM
October 30, 2009
On the projected arena opening day, construction schedule proves to be a fantasy
Atlantic Yards Report
Happy opening day!
Remember--today was supposed to be opening day for the Atlantic Yards arena, at least according to the construction schedule attached to the December 2006 approvals of the project by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).
Norman Oder says I told you so here.
Posted by lumi at 6:36 AM
October 26, 2009
Number of projected Brooklyn arena events declines to 200, but the state couldn't have adjusted revenue estimates
Atlantic Yards Report
A 9/16/09 Barclays Center press release about suite sales slipped in some new information:
In addition to NETS Basketball, most suite buyers will receive access to other Barclays Center events, anticipated to include world-class concerts, college sports, the circus, ice shows, and much more. Overall, the arena will host over 200 events annually.
That number represents a small but steady decline in Forest City Ratner's official projections and an implicit acknowledgment of a competing arena in Newark.
It also suggests that the economic projections by both Forest City Ratner consultant Andrew Zimbalist and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) were overstated, since they based sales tax assumptions on about 225 events.
And, even though the projection of 200 events obviously can't be confirmed, that number backs up the more conservative estimates made by the New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO).
What happens to the projected benefits if the number of events for a Brooklyn arena declines? Back in 2006, the Empire State Development Corporation acknowledged:
If there were fewer events and lower attendance at the arena, fiscal benefits associated with the arena (sales tax on tickets, parking, and concessions) would be lower than those reported in the [Environmental Impact Statement].
NoLandGrab: This change would presumably increase the projected losses to the city, as calculated by the NYC Independent Budget Office.
Posted by lumi at 6:54 AM
What happened to the Haier deal to be a founding partner at the Barclays Center?
Atlantic Yards Report
On 6/19/09, the New York Times's City Room blog reported on "another lucrative sponsorship deal [for the Barclays Center], with Haier, the giant appliance manufacturer from China," which was "expected to be announced within the next several days."
"Nothing is ready to be reported,” Nets CEO Brett Yormark said, and he was right. That deal, which would have made Haier the ninth founding partner, or sponsor, for the arena, was never announced.
Indeed, a 9/16/09 Barclays Center press release about suite sales stated:
The Barclays Center currently has eight Founding Partners, including ADT, Anheuser- Busch, Cushman & Wakefield, EmblemHealth, MGM Grand at Foxwoods, MetroPCS Communications, Jones Soda Co., and Phillips-Van Heusen.
Posted by lumi at 6:49 AM
October 24, 2009
GAME P-7: Nets 110, Sixers 88
The Star Ledger
By Dave D'Alessandro
Near the bottom of this article about the performance of the Nets in pre-season play is this mention of the team playing in Newark. The move to Newark is presented as an interim move until an arena is built in Brooklyn, but looks suspiciously like a "Plan B" should those plans fall through.
If you missed it, Brett Yormark made his first official confirmation about the team’s willingness to play in Newark as the Atlantic Yards project is being built.
“After the master closing for our Brooklyn transaction this fall,” he said, “we may consider an agreement to play our home games at the Prudential Center through the time we move to our new home in Brooklyn in the 2011-12 NBA season.”
Right. You already knew that, but he just figured you needed to hear it.
Posted by steve at 9:06 AM
October 22, 2009
NJ Nets warming to the idea of a move to the Prudential Center
The Star-Ledger
By Dave D'Alessandro
The Nets are considering playing their regular season home games at the Prudential Center in Newark while a new arena is being built for them in Brooklyn, several team officials said Wednesday night.
After drawing large crowds for two preseason games in Newark — including nearly 16,000 Wednesday for a game against the New York Knicks — the Nets are warming to the idea of spending a few years at the Prudential Center as long as they can get out of their lease at Meadowlands without having to pay an $8 million penalty.
A temporary move to Newark could happen as early as next season, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak for the club.
NoLandGrab: And then the team could just stay in Newark, if the Brooklyn land grab doesn't pan out.
Posted by lumi at 7:08 AM
October 18, 2009
Other locales, including Suffolk, want Islanders
Newsday
By Randi F. Marshall and Eden Laikin
Here's more speculation about the hockey Islanders playing in an arena that has no ice rink.
Brooklyn, meanwhile, is much further along in its effort to redevelop the Atlantic Yards area, where officials hope to break ground this year on a new arena and real estate project that would bring the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association to the borough.
Sources with knowledge of the situation say that there have been no conversations between Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner and Lighthouse partners Wang and Rechler. And they say that as designed now, the arena there could not house a National Hockey League team because it doesn't meet NHL regulations.
But that's not deterring Brooklyn borough President Marty Markowitz.
"I know we would welcome them as the Brooklyn Islanders," Markowitz said. "Let's get the Brooklyn Nets playing here. Once an arena is built, all things are then possible."
NoLandGrab: The phrase "redevelop the Atlantic Yards area" is problematic. "Atlantic Yards" is the name of a development, not an area. The proposed project would be in the Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, and the will be bringing more developer-caused blight than any development to the neighborhood.
Posted by steve at 8:51 AM
October 17, 2009
Not Seeing the Light
Long Island Exchange
By Joe Pietaro
Recent reports have hockey New York Islanders owner Charles Wang abandoning his plan to build the Lighthouse development on Long Island. This would result in the Islanders looking for a new venue. This item repeats the possibility of having the Islanders play at the arena for the proposed Atlantic Yards project, even though the arena would not be large enough for hockey.
The Atlantic Yards project may be a pipedream, but until it is dead and buried there is still a possibility it will be erected. Perhaps the Nets arena will look more attractive if there is a hockey team in place to join them. How ironic would that be? When the Coliseum was first built for the Islanders, the Nets were the redheaded stepchildren playing second banana.
NoLandGrab: "Pipedream" does not correctly describe the proposed Atlantic Yards project. If nobody has yet coined "pipenightmare," consider it done.
Posted by steve at 6:56 AM
October 16, 2009
Nets arena snags equity, bonds near market
ProjectFinance
The developer of a new arena for the Nets basketball team in Brooklyn, New York, has lined up an equity commitment from Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group. It is set to come to market shortly with a roughly $700 million tax-exempt bond issue for the arena. Assured Guaranty, the last remaining viable monoline, is in line to insure the bonds.
"In line" is overstating the case, at least according to The Wall Street Journal.
The issuer and its underwriter Goldman Sachs are targeting a bond coupon of about 6.5%, or roughly 220bp over where the 30-year treasury currently stands. Project and municipal finance issuers have encountered strong issuer appetite in recent months, though spreads have widened in the last two weeks. Assured is rated AAA/Aaa by S&P and Moody's, though Fitch recently downgraded it for a second time, to AA-.
article [subscription or free-trial registration required]
Posted by eric at 12:50 PM
Newark Mayor Booker says he's now focusing on a temporary Nets move to the Prudential Center
Atlantic Yards Report
The announcement of Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov's deal to purchase the NJ Nets threw a wrench in Newark Mayor Corey Booker's efforts to get the team to move to Newark, though Booker is still trying to strike a deal for a temporary move to the Prudential Center.
Posted by lumi at 6:12 AM
October 14, 2009
At first preseason Nets game in Newark, crowd seems low-key, but attendance is vastly higher than the Izod Center turnout
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder goes on a field trip to "The Rock":
It depends, apparently, what you're used to. Last night's first-ever Nets game in Newark's Prudential Center (against the Boston Celtics, who won 91-88 in a last-minute comeback) drew a mostly low-key crowd that filled perhaps three-fifths of the arena.
It didn't seem much different from a lackadaisical regular season Nets game, and that, to the Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro, was a sign of success. He wrote:
The last thing one expects from a preseason game is something that actually resembles a regular-season game -- in turnout, volume, and intensity -- but the Nets actually got all that Tuesday night.
...
It was obvious why Newark is superior in many ways to the Izod Center, with the arena a long two-block walk from the city's Penn Station, but the Brooklyn arena, should it be built, would be even better for commuters using public transit. Those going to The Rock must cross a couple of very wide streets in pedestrian-unfriendly Newark, while a new subway connection from the Atlantic Avenue hub would offer direct access.There's lots of parking in Newark--right across and down the street from the arena. That's because elaborate promises of urban redevelopment have yet to come to fruition. While there's a little arena-related retail and entertainment nearby, the new facility hasn't been a major catalyst.
...
The Rock has much better video signage (see video above) than the Izod Center, whipping digital advertising around the arena clockwise like a video game. Presumably a newer arena would have even more bells and whistles, helping Nets CEO Brett Yormark appeal to even more sponsors. Seats at The Rock are much more comfortable than at the Izod Center--duh. The staffers at the concession stands seemed equally slow.Yes, they're still closing streets adjacent to the arena. In Newark, the building is set a block back from the two crossroads, Market Street and Broad Street, so the streets being closed are smaller ones. In Brooklyn, given the plan to build the arena up against Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, should streets close (despite local denials that that would happen), the traffic impact would be much greater.
Posted by lumi at 6:41 PM
October 8, 2009
Blasting From the Past: Ouroussoff on a Stand-alone Arena (Two Cheers Forward, And One Absolutely Cheerless Look Backward)
Noticing New York
Michael D.D. White notes some contradictions in Nic Ourousoff's musings.
Now for the Ouroussoff quote we promised at the beginning of this post.- - As noted, Ouroussoff’s “two cheers” for the doctoring elements of the SHoP design consisted of praise for elements that will only be in place for so long as the arena exists as a stand-alone structure. But in March of 2008 Ouroussoff had some exceedingly derogatory things to say about how a stand-alone arena would be “a piece of urban blight.”
...Here is what Mr. Ouroussoff wrote in his March 21, 2008 article (emphasis supplied)
So if the decision to proceed with an 18,000-seat basketball arena but to defer or eliminate the four surrounding towers is defensible from a business perspective, it also feels like a betrayal of the public trust.
Mr. Gehry conceived of this bold ensemble of buildings as a self-contained composition — an urban Gesamtkunstwerk — not as a collection of independent structures. Postpone the towers and expose the stadium, and it becomes a piece of urban blight — a black hole at a crucial crossroads of the city’s physical history. If this is what we’re ultimately left with, it will only confirm our darkest suspicions about the cynical calculations underlying New York real estate deals.
Posted by eric at 9:25 AM
From hoops to hockey? Markowitz, contemplating Islanders' move to Brooklyn, disregards the planned arena's limitations
Atlantic Yards Report
Now Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz tells the New York Post that the New York Islanders, whose destination is uncertain, should come to Brooklyn.
Of course, as the Post notes--but Markowitz apparently disregards--the planned Atlantic Yards arena would not be able to accommodate hockey.
Related coverage...
NY Post, Islanders are Brooklyn's goal
Borough President Marty Markowitz yesterday threw Brooklyn's puck into the ring to land the NHL Islanders, saying, "Brooklyn is the only place they should consider" if team owner Charles Wang makes good on a threat to flee Nassau County.
"Put every place else on ice," Markowitz told The Post. "We've got lots of hockey fans, and we'd even let them keep their name since we're technically still on Long Island."
NoLandGrab: And the arena would be, technically, too small to accommodate hockey. Did Markowitz take a high stick to the helmet, or does he know something we don't?
Posted by eric at 9:09 AM
October 6, 2009
The Greatest Off Season in the History of the World
SBNation
Did you hear? A Russian billionaire bought the Nets and is going to move them to a state-of-the-art arena in Brooklyn! Crazy, right!?
NoLandGrab: Arena? What arena?
Posted by lumi at 5:14 AM
October 3, 2009
Ratner to sell $700M in bonds for Nets arena
The Real Deal
A reminder of developer Bruce Ratner's attempt to sell bonds to finance the proposed Nets arena.
Developer and current New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner will soon sell $700 million in tax-free bonds to fund a new basketball arena for his team, he said earlier this week. The bonds must be sold before the Dec. 31 Internal Revenue Service deadline. The news comes on the heels of a deal between Ratner and Russian metal tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, under which Prokhorov's holding company, Onexim, will provide $200 million in financing for the arena. In exchange, Prokhorov will receive an 80 percent stake in the Nets, a 45 percent stake in the arena, and an option on 20 percent of the rest of Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, valued at $4.9 billion. [Observer]
Posted by steve at 9:12 AM
September 30, 2009
New Barclays Center Design Eyes Atlantic Yards
eOculus
by Lisa Delgado
The official publication of the American Institute of Architects' NY chapter reports on the September 14th presentation by Bruce Ratner's most-recent architects.
Some questions about the project remained unanswered. Eliciting grumbles from community activists who oppose Atlantic Yards, Bell chose not to allow questions pertaining to the process surrounding the complex, explaining that the session’s purpose was to focus purely on the new design. And while the architects explained many specifics of that design, just how the arena will be integrated with the complex’s future towers remains shrouded in mystery. During the Q&A, one audience member asked what would happen to the oculus if another building slated for that spot were constructed in the future. Pasquarelli replied that the whole canopy might be removed or extended, or perhaps new escalators or elevators could even go through the oculus. As time goes by, it will be interesting to see just how this project — and the opposition surrounding it — plays out.
Additional coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, An architect-centered take on the curious September 14 "community information session"
So e-Oculus, the publication of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), offers a (predictably) architect-centered take on the curious September 14 event that was both an AIA continuing education event and a "community information session"--or maybe a "public informational session."
The article, headlined New Barclays Center Design Eyes Atlantic Yards, does not look askance at the moderator's distracting musings:
“Where do the things in dreams go? Do they pass to the dreams of others?” asked Rick Bell, FAIA, quoting from Pablo Neruda during a recent talk on the new design of Barclays Center. A bit like dreams, memories of the sports-and-entertainment arena’s previous, rejected designs hovered over the proceedings: Gehry Partners’ glassy, circular design, which got scrapped for a more economical (and bland) version by Ellerbe Becket. SHoP recently joined up with Ellerbe Becket to create a sexier new design, the subject of the evening’s talk.
Norman Oder posted a comment on the eOculus article page:
One important reason why “community activists” wanted more questions answered: the Empire State Development Corporation billed this as the second promised “community information session.” However, the session was held after the period for public comment had closed. And Bell acknowledged he had no idea how a community info session was (awkwardly) grafted on an AIA continuing education session.
Posted by eric at 10:02 AM
September 26, 2009
U.S. finally embraces foreign sports owners
National Post
By Jeffrey Goldfarb
This article sees the sale of the Nets to oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov as a herald of more foreign ownership of U.S. sports franchises.
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to invest US$200-million in return for a 80% stake in the New Jersey Nets basketball team, 45% of the Barclays Center development project and an option for as much as 20% of Atlantic Yards Development Co.
The U.S. sports establishment finally seems to have embraced all the global economy has to offer. The country's professional teams have happily imported players and exported game broadcasts and merchandise to great monetary gain. But with few exceptions, they have remained averse to foreign owners. The financial crisis seems to have brought this protectionist streak to an end.
New York property developer Bruce Ratner is selling 80% of the National Basketball Association's New Jersey Nets and a 45% stake in the team's new arena to Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov. The 6-foot-7 playboy could be the first non-North American to control a major U.S. sports franchise without any strings attached.
...
Ratner is just another overextended millionaire under financial pressure, while Prokhorov was a rare shrewd oligarch, converting much of his holdings to cash right before the world went to pieces. The deal is still no slam dunk even if the towering Prokhorov might become the only NBA owner able to attempt to match his players on the court.
Three-quarters of the league's owners must sign off on the transaction. Ratner also needs to secure additional financing to break ground in December on the ambitious US$4.9-billion Brooklyn development where he plans to relocate the team, or risk losing tax-free government bonds that have been pledged and a lucrative sponsorship deal from Barclays.
If those hurdles can be cleared, it could prove a major victory for U.S. sports. The Nets deal may ultimately hinge on a real-estate investment, but Prokhorov could bring advanced Russian training habits to the team and build its brand in new parts of the world.
Posted by steve at 8:57 AM
September 24, 2009
New Jersey Nets Sale
WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov agreed to purchase the New Jersey Nets yesterday. U.S. Congressman William Pascrell (D-NJ 8th) has concerns about the sale and New York Times reporter Charles Bagli offers context on the deal and what it means for the Atlantic Yards development.
Posted by eric at 6:11 PM
MEET MIKHAIL PROKHOROV
NewYorker.com
by Keith Gessen
Some background on Bruce Ratner's savior from The New Yorker.
Being a Russian oligarch these days isn’t easy. The best and brightest of them are in exile or in jail; others, after feasting on leverage during the commodities boom, now have tummies full of debt. Of those still in the game, Mikhail Prokhorov is the richest, with an estimated net worth, according to Forbes, of $9.5 billion. At six-foot-seven, he is also the tallest, though this alone cannot explain the complicated process whereby he appears ready to buy the New Jersey Nets and build a stadium for them in Brooklyn.
...We’ll see. In Norilsk—a city constructed by labor camp prisoners and now so polluted that no vegetation grows within twenty miles of the city center—Prokhorov and his partner had first to remove a stubborn sitting factory director, Anatoly Filatov, before taking over the plant. This took a long time. In the downtown Brooklyn area known as Atlantic Yards, a neighborhood almost equally devoid of vegetation due to the “development projects” of current Nets owner Bruce Ratner, Prokhorov will have to get past the no less stubborn Daniel Goldstein, the man who almost single-handedly has been holding up the construction of the stadium for the past five years. The obvious joke here would be that Prokhorov will make Goldstein an offer he can’t refuse, but, in fact, according to one government official I spoke to recently, back in the mid-nineteen-nineties Prokhorov and his partner couldn’t figure out how to remove Filatov and had to appeal to the government for help. This is unlikely to impress Goldstein.
NoLandGrab: A couple corrections. The area near downtown Brooklyn, not in it, is known as Prospect Heights, not Atlantic Yards. And Daniel Goldstein, whose lynchpin role in, and leadership of, the Atlantic Yards opposition can't in any way be underestimated, would be the first to tell you that it's hardly been a single-handed effort.
Posted by eric at 11:51 AM
Get your morning rush: Oligarch to bail out Ratner
Yesterday, the saga of Atlantic Yards got weirderer when developer and Nets owner Bruce Ratner announced that the playboy Russian financier/oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov would step in with some cash to bail out the floundering project in exchange for a majority share of the team.
The NY Times, Richest Russian’s Newest Toy: An N.B.A. Team
Mr. Prokhorov’s deal also stands out because there is little foreign ownership of any kind in major American sports. Last May, Chinese investors reached a deal to purchase 15 percent of the N.B.A.’s Cleveland Cavaliers. And the majority owners of Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners are Hiroshi Yamauchi, a former executive of Nintendo, the Japanese video-game company, and Nintendo USA, the company’s American subsidiary.
The agreement between Mr. Prokhorov and the Nets amounts to a rescue package for the developer Bruce C. Ratner, who purchased the team in 2003 for $300 million with the intent of taking it out of New Jersey, where it has had a tenuous fan base, and moving it to Brooklyn.
...
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the local group that has fought Mr. Ratner’s development plans, criticized the deal on Wednesday, with a spokesman, Daniel Goldstein, contending that the “only reason Ratner would make this deal is because he is in dire financial shape.”Mr. Goldstein said that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and others who supported the project were, in effect, agreeing to the use of “massive taxpayer subsidies to enrich a Russian oligarch.”
Atlantic Yards Report, Unanswered questions remain about the Prokhorov deal, "certain contingent funding commitments," and subsidies for foreign billionaires
Over the original shock and awe of the deal, Norman Oder questions the lack of details:
Ratner and his ownership group bought the Nets for $300 million in 2004. If 80% of the team goes for $200 million, that's a $40 million loss. Then the arena's a gift. There's got to be more to it, but we don't know what "certain contingent funding commitments" have been pledged.
NY Post, Russian buyer for New Jersey Nyets
The Post reports that the deal "ensures" that the Nets will make the move to Brooklyn... um, if Ratner can get the land — and secure arena financing.
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!
A billionaire Russian playboy is buying the Nets in a buzzer-beating deal that all but ensures the team moves to Brooklyn by 2011.
...
The deal does have an out clause for Prokhorov -- it's contingent on Ratner acquiring land for the arena. The state's seizure of the land has been hit with numerous legal challenges, and the case will be argued before New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, next month.
NoLandGrab: What the article doesn't say is that the courts will be hearing an eminent domain case. Yes, the plan is to use eminent domain for a team and arena to be owned by a Russian oligarch. What's the big deal if we exchange an American oligarch for another?
The NY Daily News, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has deep pockets to offer Nets
The press is making a big deal about how Prokhorov will have to pass the NBA team owners' vetting and approval process, but the Daily News's Mitch Lawrence points out that with the league president backing the deal, approval is assured:
Subject to getting approval from 75% of the league's owners, Prokhorov will become the league's first owner from outside the U.S. or Canada. Rest assured, he'll get the votes, because David Stern was seen smiling yesterday when someone mentioned the former nickel magnate taking over the nickel-and-dime operation over in the swamps.
"That's the latest phenomenon - having international investors in pro sports leagues," Stern said. "If you look at the Premier League in England, they've got Russians investing in it, along with Europeans and even people from the United States. When you look at what's going on in the world now, soccer and basketball are the most popular sports. So it's going to be good to see, from our standpoint. He is going to want to help bring our game and our brand to Russia and help develop that there, and that's very good. Plus, he's going to want to help us over here."
The Star-Ledger, Politi: Fans should walk away from 'crazy' NJ Nets and possible new owner now
According to columnist Steve Politi, now that the Nets lead the league in crazy, fans should make their way to the nearest exit:
The new owner of the Nets is a hard-partying Russian oligarch who boasts that his mission in buying the team is to bring “NBA technology” — whatever that is — back to his native country.
Mikhail Prokhorov is a mysterious billionaire who was once arrested in his French ski chalet under the suspicion of soliciting prostitution, later explaining after the charges were dropped that he just “likes beautiful people.”
So what does it mean? Well, for starters, the Nets once again lead the league in crazy.
...
Bruce Ratner bought this franchise to make his real estate deal in Brooklyn a reality. Now, five years and countless millions in losses later, he has to sell the same team to make that happen.
...
If you plan on plopping down your disposable income for the Nets, supporting the team that has taken the words “New Jersey” off its road uniforms and is giving away reversible jerseys that support opposing players, you’re nearly as crazy as the franchise itself.
The Star-Ledger, Billionaire nears deal to buy Nets
They don't call him a marketing genius for nothing — NJ Nets CEO Brett Yormark puts a bright face on the fact that the franchise has alienated its local fan base and has to strike a deal with a Russian oligarch to stay afloat:
"For years we've dreamed of globalizing this franchise, and we're going to get there," Nets CEO Brett Yormark said last night. "We're marketed heavily in China now, we have Barclays' connection to Europe, and now you have this established person from Russia who brings tons of resources and knowledge of basketball, a passion and a commitment.
"All that creates a great environment where chasing championships will be the norm," Yormark said. "I think our New Jersey fans will be excited about it, and it will carry over into Brooklyn."
ESPN: NetsAreScorching, Breaking News: Prokhorov/Ratner Sign Letter of Intent to Partner on Atlantic Yards Development
Well folks, this is pretty huge. We’ll see where things legally stand once the Oct. 14 hearing in Albany regarding the use of eminent domain for the project passes, but considering it’s only been about a week since the “richest man in Russia” was linked to the Nets and this deal was announced, things are clearly moving at an accelerated pace with the end of the year still being the supposed finish line for Brooklyn to happen.
ESPN: NetsAreScorching, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn: Some Additional Reaction
Q&A with Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Daniel Goldstein:
NAS: How critical does the hearing on Oct. 14th in Albany become now to the future of the AY opposition?
DDDB: No more or less critical today than it was yesterday. Ratner has legal hurdles and financial hurdles. The legal hurdles didn’t change today, and while the financial hurdles may have changed a bit, this is clearly not where Ratner wanted to be. His potential deal with Prokhorov, if it survives scrutiny seems to be a desperate deal of last resort that doesn’t go far enough for Ratner. On top of that, today’s announced deal brings even more moving parts in while diminishing Ratner’s control.
ESPN: NetsAreScorching, Reflection on Russian Billionaires and Ownership
I think the good far outweighs the bad here, and that’s before we bring Brooklyn into the equation. Opponents of the move will say it’s never going to happen - they’re going to throw more lawsuits out there to delay the process and upend the development. They might succeed. But again, Prokhorov isn’t looking to come into the NBA to be a second class citizen. If the NBA approves Prokhorov as many expect, it will be a clear signal that David Stern and others want basketball in Brooklyn more than anything - even if that means bringing in a Russian oligarch with a questionable past who might become a headache a la Mark Cuban.
MetroNY, Russian oligarch has deal for Nets
Who is this pouty Russian playboy financier that everyone is talking about?
Prokhorov
The 6-foot-7 basketball fan is worth $9.5 billion in Forbes’ estimation.
› WHO: Mikhail Prokhorov, 44
› WHAT: Self-made billionaire, industrialist. Single. Once ran Norilsk Nickel, largest producer of nickel in world. Now runs Polyus Gold, largest gold mining operation in Russia. His Onexim Group is buying a controlling stake in the Nets.
› REGRETS: Being detained by police in chic French ski resort of Courchevel on suspicion of providing prostitutes to his guests. No charges were filed.
› HOBBIES: Kickboxing
› NICKNAME: Proko. At least that’s what Nets fans seem to be calling him in blog posts.
DDDB.net, Parsing Pre-Prokhorov Statements from Team Ratner
As a reminder that you can't believe ANYTHING Bruce Ratner and his henchmen say, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn takes a look back to statements made a few short weeks ago.
DDDB.net, Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing? Fuhgodabouddit.
We meant we are so pleased that our tax dollars, public and private land taken by eminent domain abuse will be used to make Prokhorov a member of the NBA and will forward the development of the sport of basketball in Russia.
High five?
Pravda.ru, Mikhail Prokhorov Buys New Jersey Nets to Build Them New Arena
For whatever it's worth, Pravda.ru speced the planned Nets arena for a seating capacity of 32,000 — it's more like 18-19,000. The article also conflates the details of a rumored deal with the one officially announced yesterday.
GlobeSt.com, Ratner, Russian Fund Strike Arena Deal
Meanwhile, the project faces a December deadline to break ground on the arena or jeopardize the tax-exempt status of the bonds. Ratner alluded to this timeframe in a statement issued last week after the Empire State Development Corp. approved the modified design for the Barclays Center. "We now need to work aggressively to break ground by the end of the year," he said in last week’s statement. "We look forward to achieving these goals."
Bleed Scarlet, Head games
The unapologetic thief, Bruce Ratner, announced plans yesterday to sell the Nets to a Russian billionaire. Still holding out hope that legal challenges will run out the clock on this one.
The Boston Herald, Russian billionaire to buy 80 percent of the NBA’s Nets
Posted by lumi at 7:46 AM
September 23, 2009
From Russia, with Rubles
Here's a sampling of stories about the latest chapter in the long, strange trip otherwise known as Atlantic Yards.
AP via Crain's NY Business, Nets, Russia's richest man agree to deal
Could the New Jersey Nets become the Nyets?
The basketball team once known as the New Jersey Americans is a step closer to being owned by Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, who on Wednesday said he has a deal to buy 80 percent of the NBA team and nearly half of a project to build a new arena in Brooklyn.
The proposed blockbuster deal would give the Nets' current principal owner, Bruce Ratner, the needed cash to move forward with the centerpiece of his Atlantic Yards development, which includes plans for retail and residential projects.
It would make Mr. Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire and former amateur basketball player, the NBA's first non-North American owner.
...Brooklyn's famed Russian enclave of Brighton Beach is only a few miles from the proposed arena, but for many Russian emigrants Mr. Prokhorov symbolizes everything wrong in their homeland — a smooth operator who made a fortune when Russia sold off its state industrial treasures for a song.
NY Daily News, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov to become majority owner of Nets
The NBA board of governors still has to approve the deal but it seems like commissioner David Stern is all for it.
"We are looking forward to the Nets' move to a state-of-the-art facility in Brooklyn, with its rich sports heritage," Stern said in the release. "Interest in basketball and the NBA is growing rapidly on a global basis and we are especially encouraged by Mr. Prokhorov's commitment to the Nets and the opportunity it presents to continue the growth of basketball in Russia."
Deadspin, Russian Dude Will Build Arena, Buy Nets, Annex New Jersey
Russian basketboligarch Mikhail Prokhorov has gone from maybe chipping in a few dollars to build a new arena for the Nets to offering to take over the whole dang team—and maybe the entire NBA while he's at it.
The whore-loving nickel salesman initially laughed off the rumors that he was being courted to invest in the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets, but then admitted that he had indeed been approached to become a "shareholder" of the team. He did have a counter-proposal, however. It was: "Why don't you just give me all the shares and get out of my way?"
The Wall Street Journal, Nets, Atlantic Yards to Get Russian Infusion
Forest City Enterprises Inc. and Nets Sports & Entertainment tentatively agreed to sell a stake in its long-delayed Brooklyn, N.Y., entertainment and residential complex as well as 80% of the Nets basketball team to Onexim Group, a private investment fund headed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
The agreement comes almost six years after New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and developer Bruce Ratner struck a deal for a $4.3 billion project to remake downtown Brooklyn with Atlantic Yards, a 22-acre residential and commercial real-estate project, and the $950 million Barclays Center arena that would bring the New Jersey Nets to the borough.
PolitickerNJ.com, Pascrell questions sale of Nets to Russian billionaire
New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell asks the questions that his New York counterparts have so far failed to raise.
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) wants the National Basketball Association to review a deal for a controversial Russian billionaire to purchase the New Jersey Nets.
..."Mr. Prokhorov's background raises questions about his fitness to be the owner of a high-profile NBA franchise," Pascrell wrote to NBA Commissioner David Stern. "Both Mr. Prokhorov's business and personal history have come under intense scrutiny in his home country and abroad."
..."According to documents released by the Empire State Development Corporation, taxpayers are providing over $2 billion dollars in financing and direct grants towards the Atlantic Yards project," Pascrell said. "This represents a significant investment and risk by the taxpaying public. Should this sale go through, a large stake in the project, as well as a majority stake in the Nets, would be controlled by a foreign corporation, a first for the NBA."
Pascrell says that taxpayers would be "directly subsidizing the profits and business risks of this foreign corporation, whose investment will be reportedly smaller then the public's, instead of benefiting the taxpaying public.
"Especially during these tough economic times, this is, at best, a questionable use of taxpayer money and it is a question that should be explored," said Pascrell.
Forbes.com, From Russia To The NBA, With Money
Beleaguered New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner, whose efforts to build a state-of-the-art arena and housing and commercial complex in Brooklyn have been stymied time and again by politics and economic challenges, has pulled off a drastic play to get his new playground: giving up his team.
..."I've never seen a deal like this," says Don Erickson, who runs Erickson Partners, a Dallas-based sports valuation specialist. The slumping commercial real estate market has most banks demanding that developers take higher equity stakes in projects--often 30% or more--along with a personal guarantee, according to Erickson. After losing a reported $70 million over the past two years, Forest City Ratner wasn't prepared to make that type of commitment.
"It put Ratner in a difficult position; he wasn't going to get construction financing," Erickson says.
Atlantic Yards Report, Could 80% of the Nets be sold for $200 million? Either Ratner's a sucker or (more likely) much of the deal is obscured
I'm reading the news coverage of the deal announced today, and pretty much everyone is taking it at face value that Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov can invest $200 million and gain an 80% share of the Nets and 45% of the Atlantic Yards arena.
Ratner and his ownership group bought the Nets for $300 million in 2004, as I noted earlier today. If 80% of the team goes for $200 million, that's a $40 million loss.
Ratner would look like even more of a sucker if Prokhorov could simply sweep up nearly half of the arena with that investment.
But Ratner's no dummy. The "certain contingent funding commitments" mentioned in the press release surely hold the key to the deal.
NoLandGrab: Sure, Ratner's no dummy, but the fact that he's making this deal with Prokhorov makes it pretty clear that Ratner had no choice but to make this deal with Prokhorov.
Bloomberg News, Prokhorov to Buy Nets, Share of Arena From Ratner
The $200 million deal comes three months before the deadline for Ratner to break ground on the arena or lose financing through tax-exempt bonds issued by a New York state agency. Barclays Plc also had the right to pull out of its 20- year, $400 million naming-rights deal for the arena if construction hasn’t started by that date.
The Star-Ledger, Russian billionaire agrees to deal to become NJ Nets majority owner
Remarkably, a Forest City release emphasized the new viability of the Atlantic Yards project, and didn’t mention Prokhorov and the Onexim Group wresting control of the team until the third paragraph.
...
The ownership transfer, Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco reiterated in an e-mail, “is contingent on the move.”
So if the Atlantic Yard project is forestalled or abolished, Forest City retains controlling partnership.
HoopsWorld, NBA PM: Nets Sale Details Revealed
New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner and Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov have agreed to a deal in which Ratner's ownership stake will be sold to Prokhorov.
...
It also ensures the new Nets stadium will be done and also ensures the Nets will continue their planned path in moving from New Jersey to Brooklyn.
NLG: "Ensures the new Nets stadium will be done?" Not exactly.
Rocky Sullivan's Pub Quiz via Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Greetings from Scott Turner: The Weirdness Comes Out To Play
It continues Bruce Ratner's running theme: BROOKLYN CAN'T GET IT DONE. The sad fact is, Bruce Ratner is skint. He doesn't have the dough for Atlantic Yards, can't get more public funding, the banks aren't lending to him, and his only choice is a Russian oligarch -- a class of business practitioners with reputations in the company of robber barons and Sham-wow pitch men.
Himself from Cleveland and the Upper East Side...architects from Los Angeles and Indiana...landscape designers from Philly...construction management firms also from Philly...corporate sponsors from all over the country...and now a majority owner of the Nets from Russia.
NY1 News, Russian Tycoon Strikes Deal To Buy Most Of N.J. Nets
Brownstoner, Nets Will Have New Owner; FCR Will Have New AY Partner
Russia Today, Russian buys controlling stake in New Jersey Nets
The Brooklyn Paper, It’s official! Russian billionaire buys Nets and invests in Atlantic Yards
Brooklyn The Borough, Atlantic Yards Sugar Daddy Is Also A Russian Oligarch
The Cleveland Leader, Ratners Deal With Russian Oligarch
The Deal, Nets get a new owner after all
Posted by eric at 9:39 PM
Russian Billionaire Signs Deal to Become Nets Owner
The New York Times
by Charles V. Bagli
A Russian billionaire, an amateur basketball player the size of an N.B.A. power forward, signed a tentative $200 million deal Wednesday that would make him the principal owner of the New Jersey Nets and an investor in the team’s new home, an arena planned for Brooklyn.
Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the richest man in Russia and president of Onexim Group, would become the first foreign owner of an N.B.A. team who is not Canadian. Prokhorov, who once owned a stake in the CSKA Moscow basketball team, wrote on his blog Tuesday that he intended to improve Russian basketball by using N.B.A. training methods and sending Russian coaches to the United States for internships.
“We are delighted to join in this exciting project and to participate in the landmark development of global sports in this entertainment arena in the heart of New York City,” Prokhorov said in a statement. “I have a long-standing passion for basketball and pursuing interests that forward the development of the sport in Russia.”
Prokohorov, 44, has bragged that he will be “the only N.B.A. owner who can dunk,” according to one executive who has spoken with him.
The deal comes as the developer Bruce C. Ratner, who owns the Nets, is rushing to complete the financing for an $800 million arena at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn and start construction by the end of the year. Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, has been eager to bring in a major new investor because the team loses tens of millions of dollars a year and the arena project has been hobbled by costly legal challenges and three years of delays.
NoLandGrab: It's pretty clear from the terms of the deal that there was no way in hell Ratner was going to pull this off without a massive outside investment — and whether he still can with that investment remains to be seen.
Posted by eric at 2:50 PM
PRESS RELEASE: FOREST CITY RATNER COMPANIES AND ONEXIM GROUP ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP IN BROOKLYN
(Brooklyn, U.S.A. and Moscow, Russia) - September 23, 2009 - Forest City Ratner Companies (“FCRC”), Nets Sports and Entertainment (“NSE”) and Onexim Group announced today that they have signed a letter of intent to create a strategic partnership for the development of the Atlantic Yards Project, a 22-acre residential and commercial real estate project in Brooklyn and the Barclays Center, the future home for the NBA's Nets.
This partnership will ensure the successful completion of a world-class entertainment venue in Brooklyn, the relocation of the NBA Nets basketball team and the economic and housing benefits of the Atlantic Yards Project.
In accordance with the agreement, entities to be formed by Onexim Group will invest $200 million and make certain contingent funding commitments to acquire 45% of the arena project and 80% of the NBA team, and the right to purchase up to 20% of the Atlantic Yards Development Company, which will develop the non-arena real estate.
Bruce Ratner, the Chairman and CEO of FCRC, said, “Mikhail and Onexim will be great partners for this project. I am thrilled that smart global investors appreciate the exciting economic potential of Brooklyn. We are one step closer to achieving our goals of creating much needed jobs and economic development for Brooklyn and the city.”
Mikhail Prokhorov, President of Onexim Group, said “We are delighted to join in this exciting project and to participate in the landmark development of global sports in this entertainment arena in the heart of New York City. I have a long-standing passion for basketball and pursuing interests that forward the development of the sport in Russia. I look forward to becoming a member of the NBA and working with Bruce and his talented team to bring the Nets to Brooklyn.”
NBA Commissioner David Stern said, "We are looking forward to the Nets' move to a state-of-the-art facility in Brooklyn, with its rich sports heritage. Interest in basketball and the NBA is growing rapidly on a global basis and we are especially encouraged by Mr. Prokhorov's commitment to the Nets and the opportunity it presents to continue the growth of basketball in Russia."
The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of next year upon certain conditions being fulfilled, including approval by the NBA's Board of Governors. The Raine Group and Goldman, Sachs & Co. advised FCRC and NSE. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to FCRC and NSE. Hogan & Hartson advised Onexim Group.
About Onexim Group
Onexim Group, one of the leading Russian private investment funds, was founded in 2007 by Mikhail Prokhorov and has a diversified portfolio of investments in the metals and mining sector, financial services, energy and nanotechnology, real estate and other industries. Onexim Group and Mr. Prokhorov also support many sports, cultural and charitable programs in the communities in which we live and work.
About FCRC
Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises, owns and operates 30 properties in the New York metropolitan area. Forest City Enterprises, Inc., an $11.7-billion NYSE-listed national real estate company, is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the United States.
Posted by eric at 2:12 PM
Russian Oligarch Will Save Nets to Save Russian Basketball
Lack of financing for Brooklyn arena makes strange bedfellows
NBC New York
by Josh Alper
That would make him the first non-North American owner of an NBA team, something that wouldn't seem like such a big deal until you read Prokhorov's statement about his interest. It's partly a real estate deal, partly a sports deal and a whole lot of a nationalist attempt to use entry into the NBA as a way to make Russia a more powerful basketball nation. According to Prokhorov, the "qualitative conditions" of the deal are:
- Russia would achieve a position of equality among the elites of world basketball
- access to all modern technology and training methods with the possibility of using them in Russia
- apprenticeships for leading Russian trainers and managers in the NBA
- the ability to send our best students to NBA training camps.
In post-Soviet Russia, the Nets buy you!
It sounds utterly ridiculous, but the Nets are so desperate for financing that anything is possible. The big loser in this deal would clearly be Bruce Ratner, who would essentially have to give away control of his team and his real estate dream project in order to save both of them. It would be almost Shakespearean, except that it's the Nets and a widely reviled arena project and a crazy Russian billionaire whose plan hinges on the idea that access to the Nets would somehow be a benefit to basketball in Moscow.
So not Shakespeare so much as Monty Python, then.
More coverage...
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Desperate Ratner Set to Make "Ridiculous" Deal With Oligarch?
Speculation fueled by Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov's blog post about his offer to buy the Nets from failed basketball owner Bruce Ratner and make a loan to fund the bond Ratner needs to fund the world's most expensive arena (or whatever the scrambled deal is, we'll have to wait and see as it is likely to be announced later today) continues. Prokhorov is excited to turn the Nets into a boomtown for Russian basketball interests. Who woulda thunk it?
NoLandGrab: We suppose this is a good time to remind everyone that for Bruce Ratner, "it's 100 percent about basketball."
Posted by eric at 12:21 PM
Prokorov to buy New Jersey "Nyets"?
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Local photog Tracy Collins has updated his photoshopped image of the Hagan sister's Atlantic Yards footprint mural (via, flickr Atlantic Yards Photo Pool).
The buzz is that an an official announcement is coming regarding the takeover of Bruce Ratner's floundering NJ Nets by the Russian billionaire Mikael Prokorov, in exchange for Prokorov's commitment to finance the arena.
NY Daily News, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov confirms interest in funding Nets' planned arena in Brooklyn
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov confirmed his interest in funding the Nets' planned Brooklyn arena Tuesday, saying on a blog in Russian that he is negotiating a deal with the team's current ownership group that could lead to him taking over the franchise.
Prokhorov, a 43-year-old tycoon with an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion, said he has "recently received a proposal to participate in a business project of building a new arena in Brooklyn (New York)." He added that he could also secure a "substantial stake in the project" as well as take over control of the team for a "symbolic price."
Owner Bruce Ratner reportedly is trying to get Prokhorov to fund the construction of the Barclays Center with a $700 million bond. The "symbolic price" Prokhorov is referring to is reportedly $1.
Sources close to the deal in New York say that within 48 hours, Prokhorov and Bruce Ratner, the current controlling shareholder of the Nets and the arena project, will announce that Prokhorov’s takeover of the club is contingent on local opposition to the arena failing; and to the banks agreeing to lend Prokhorov the money. He and the banks, Ratner too, don’t have much time. A tax exemption will expire for the project if it fails to commence on December 31. How much money Prohkorov has agreed to put up himself, and how it will be secured for repayment, have not been disclosed yet.
Sports Business News, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has claimed he has sent an offer to the shareholders of NBA team the New Jersey Nets to buy a controlling stake
The NBA does not bar overseas owners, but transfer of ownership requires background checks on the new owner and approval by 75 per cent of the league's 30 owners.
The Nets' move to Brooklyn has been dogged by legal disputes, financing problems and challenges from local community groups, and in June current team owner, the developer Bruce Ratner dropped renowned architect Frank Gehry from the project to cut costs.
Atlantic Yards Report, The Prokhorov intrigue: he sounds serious
AYR's Russian expert recommends that readers, "Pay no attention to the robot translation. I think he is serious."
Gringcorp, the Gumby Fresh blogger who has been trying his best to bring us "Arena Financing for Dummies," chimes in:
There's something else going on here. The google robot isn't rendering it perfectly.
But:
"Under the deal the group will attract a similar loan to western banks (I think, if successful, the deal will simply unique!)."
Replace the "to" with "from" and you have an intriguing set-up. My guess is the banks are providing letters of credit rather than loans to the arena.
You also have a financing potentially divorced from the dictates of the bond/market/ratings agencies. No-one's done this in sports for quite a few years.
Associated Press, Russian tycoon says he's made offer to buy Nets
In the blog posting Prokhorov writes that his interest in a deal stems from a desire to improve Russian basketball by getting access to NBA training methods and sending Russian coaches for internships in the league.
Curbed.com, Poorly-Translated Russian Billionaire Saving Atlantic Yards?
So the whole deal is a smokescreen for a red takeover of the NBA? Suddenly this Atlantic Yards thing is getting interesting!
NY Newsday, Russian billionaire might buy, move Nets to Brooklyn
Prokhorov, 44, a former nickel magnate and current chairman of Russia's largest gold producing company, has an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion, according to Forbes. He said on his blog that he was initially approached by the Nets about joining in on the $4-billion Brooklyn development plan, which includes a new arena for the Nets and has been slowed by political and financial hurdles.
The Nets, NBA and Ratner each had no comment last night.
Prokhorov said on his blog that his counteroffer was to extend credit toward the Atlantic Yards project "to build a new arena in Brooklyn" and controlling interest in the team "for a symbolic price." Reuters cited sources that estimated the overall price Prokhorov would pay for the arena project and the franchise to be about $700 million.
DDDB.net, Prokhorov: The Oligarch Cometh to Atlantic and Flatbush?
NBA FanHouse, Russian Tycoon Tells Nets Owners He Wants the Team
I don't think it's unfair to say current Nets majority owner Bruce Ratner is primarily concerned with Barclays getting built at this point so that he can eventually move forward with the rest of the surrounding Atlantic Yards development. Ratner has been slammed by the economic downturn and tough legal challenges to the Atlantic Yards project. Selling off Barclays Center before ground is broke -- and giving up the top tenant in the process -- isn't ideal, and it's certainly got to be a bit embarrassing for a power broker like Ratner.
NJ.com, Nets Notes
The Nets, perhaps measuring the blowback of becoming the first team to sell out to a foreign interest, did not issue any reaction from owner Bruce Ratner. Team president Rod Thorn admitted he is “not in the loop” and merely concedes that “there’s some smoke there,” but some investors regard a sale as imminent.
The Crossover, THE RUSSIAN INVASION!
The NBA front-office (Stern and Jackson) would presumably look past the Prokmaster General’s hooker fetish in light of his bank balance. The bottom line is that more money would be coming into the NBA, and in today’s economic shit-storm, isn’t that all that really counts?
Posted by lumi at 5:51 AM
September 20, 2009
Does Ratner have a Plan B for the Brooklyn Nets? Not beyond more government concessions, I'll bet
Atlantic Yards Report
What happens if the proposed Nets arena plan falls through? Norman Oder looks at the possibilities.
... think we've already seen Plan B. Plan B means renegotiating the deal when possible. Forest City Ratner has long been said to have cash flow difficulties. After Thursday's approval by the ESDC to amend the city and state funding agreements, the developer will get the final $40 million of $200 million pledged, without having to fulfill certain milestones.
Moreover, the developer apparently will get some portion of the additional $105 million the city has set aside for infrastructure; rather than the city spending it, the money would go directly to FCR.
...
There's no reason or incentive for Forest City Ratner to move the Nets to another site in Brooklyn. The Atlantic Yards side is "a great piece of real estate," to quote CEO Chuck Ratner of parent Forest City Enterprises and, crucially, it sits across the street from Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal malls.
Parking lots at Forest City Ratner's MetroTech would help with arena overflow. That's all called synergy. And he can't build Atlantic Yards without the arena.
...
The Coney Island site that Borough President Marty Markowitz once promoted is now destined for residential towers and green space, according to the recent rezoning.
There have been reports about putting a roof on the U.S. Open Stadium in Queens, and a new arena has been suggested as part of a megadevelopment over the yet-undeveloped Sunnyside Yards in Queens.
But Brooklyn's the place with the huge financial upside. If the AY arena falls through, the easiest place for the team to go is Newark, because there's already an arena there and the New York market can surely support two basketball teams. But Ratner wouldn't be the owner, unless--and this is a big if--it comes as part of a package for urban development in Newark.
That's unlikely, given that Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner has no experience in New Jersey, and developers like to know the local political byways.
Beyond Newark, the most likely destinations would be cities with a new arena but no team, like Kansas City or a former NBA city with an arena that needs renovation, like Seattle. That would mean a sale of the team.
Posted by steve at 11:03 AM
Two Views Of Mikhail Prokhorov: One Zany and One Not
First, the zany:
Deadspin, Evil Russian Mastermind To Buy Nets In Crucial 'Phase 1' Of Operation
After a quick rundown of the Russian billionaire, this item lists what could happen if he acquires the Nets.
But buying the Nets is only 'phase 1' in Prokhorov's plot to conquer the world through NBA dominance. Here is what the rest of his scheme might look like:
- Overcharge for domestic beer; use profits to contaminate American water supply with deadly Omega virus.
- Build giant army of Andrei Kirilenko superclones who can shoot both threes and meddling British agents with perfect accuracy. If Kirilenko's not available, Arvidas Sabonas will do (he's Russian, right)?
- Destroy Palace of Auburn Hills with doomsday device, the eponymous Moonraker.
- Create "Russian Dictator Night" promotion, where first 500 Russian dictators get to have picture taken with Nets' gaurd Keyon Dooling.
- Frame Pat Riley in humiliating sex scandal, then kill Michael Beasley with boobytrapped cypher machine.
- Swing trade to solidify low-post defense.
- Entice Pau Gasol to commit suicide; inherit his Spanish castle to use as HQ, and trillion dollar fortune to finance Soviet terrorist plots.
Now here's the not-so-zany:
Daily News, Reported Nets backer and Russian millionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov has suspect background
By Julian Garcia
The Russian billionaire who is on the verge of funding the Nets' long-awaited move to Brooklyn is a hard-partying bachelor who was arrested in 2007 on suspicion he was involved in an upscale prostitution ring.
Mikhail Prokhorov, recently named the 40th wealthiest man in the world by Forbes, has an estimated net worth of $9.5 billion. And while Forbes estimates that the 43-year-old tycoon lost approximately 51% of his fortune in the last year, Prokhorov is still reportedly close to issuing a $700 million bond through his investment firm, Onexim, that would help Nets owner Bruce Ratner build the long-delayed Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn.
Prokhorov, who reportedly could also take over a majority stake in the team if a deal is reached, was arrested in January 2007 while on vacation at a French ski resort when police cracked down on a suspected prostitution ring. According to numerous reports at the time, Prokhorov told investigators that he flew beautiful women in from Russia because he enjoyed their company.
However, investigators suspected that Prokhorov had supplied the women as prostitutes to his wealthy friends and kept the billionaire in custody for several days before releasing him and dropping the charges. Prokhorov later told the French press that "my winter vacation in France was spoiled by local police, who arrested me and my friends without giving any reasonable explanations." A Ratner spokesperson refused to comment on Prokhorov's controversial past.
Posted by steve at 10:11 AM
Barclays Center officials want Islanders to consider Brooklyn as future home
Cup Crazy's National Hockey League blog
This rumor of the Islanders eventually playing at a future arena seems particularly suspect. As far as we know, the proposed Nets arena will be unable to host hockey events.
Remember any talk in the recent past about the idea of the New York Islanders heading west to Brooklyn? It may not be a pipe dream for some fans.
According to Chris Botta of New York Islanders Point Blank, a National Hockey League source has told him that the team was approached by officials in charge of the Barclays Center project to consider their proposed arena as a future place to play. The state did approve the revised plans of the $800 million Atlantic Yards facility on Thursday (three days ago), but whether or not it will ultimately be built still is a question mark.
Posted by steve at 8:33 AM
September 18, 2009
Is Russia's richest man interested in the Nets and the arena deal?
Atlantic Yards Report
Well, maybe. But, as NLG points out, Mikhail Prokhorov has been the subject of rumors before regarding sports teams. And that main Reuters story didn't exactly translate well, given that it claimed Prokorhov would be issuing the bonds himself. On his GumbyFresh blog, the pseudonymous Gari N. Corp, who knows bond finance--yes, I've met him--breaks it down.
Posted by eric at 8:48 AM
September 16, 2009
PAUL GOLDBERGER: FRANK GEHRY’S REPLACEMENT
NewYorker.com
Either New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger really likes the new SHoP design for Bruce Ratner's basketball arena, or he's just hungry for a grilled cheese.
The results are good enough to take the architectural argument against the project off the table. Maybe it’s as good as Gehry’s building. The new one certainly seems to try less hard; it’s more relaxed than Gehry’s project. It has a lot of rust-colored metal making swoops and curves, but there is also a lot of glass, opening the arena up to the outside. This arena is going to be every bit as connected to the street life of downtown Brooklyn as Gehry’s would have been. It’s not the box everyone feared.
But then again, so what? The rest of Atlantic Yards still remains—too big, and too indifferent to the fabric of residential Brooklyn, which it abuts. This is a mega-project that looks less and less convincing as the months go on. The arena was predicated on the presence of blocks and blocks and blocks of apartment towers, but the city would be better off if Ratner could simply build the arena and leave it at that.
Atlantic Yards Report, New Yorker architecture critic Goldberger: just keep the arena; AYR: what about the parking?
Norman Oder raises a very good point.
Better off, of course, can be calculated in different ways. One commenter already pointed out that the NYC Independent Budget Office calls the arena a net loss for the city, while toting up huge subsidies for the developer.
Beyond the vacuum
And the the building can't be considered in a vacuum. For example, the arena requires some 1000 spaces of "interim" surface parking on a block in Prospect Heights bookended by the new Prospect Heights Historic District. (There would be a lot of "street life" on the residential block between the parking and the arena.)
That block, which already lost the Ward Bakery, retains several buildings, one of which is a handsome factory retooled into office space.
Beyond the potential loss to the city, keep in mind that the Empire State Development Corporation's override of zoning and use of eminent domain was predicated on several public purposes, including affordable housing and transit improvements; the former, at least, would be precluded. And the "blight" of the open rail yards would continue, with no incentive to deck them over.
Posted by eric at 8:31 PM
September 15, 2009
Barclays Center Aerial Photo
Photographer Jonathan Barkey just posted the latest version of his photo, which includes a rendering of the SHoP design for Bruce Ratner's Barclays Center Nets arena.
The latest iteration of Forest City Ratner's Brooklyn Atlantic Yards basketball arena design comes from Kansas City-based Ellerbe Becket in collaboration with SHoP Architects of New York. Model photographed during public display in Brooklyn Borough Hall. Aerial photograph of the Vanderbilt railyard and vicinity was originally made for The Municipal Art Society of New York.
Both images and photocomposite are Copyright Jonathan Barkey, All Rights Reserved. See License Agreement.
Posted by lumi at 5:50 AM
Arena architects talk shop; AIA runs interference on questions of process and ethics
Atlantic Yards Report
Well, the second community information session promised by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) on Atlantic Yards, held last night at Brooklyn's Borough Hall, was much less eventful and enlightening than the first one held July 22, when representatives of the ESDC and developer Forest City Ratner faced, answered, and evaded a series of tough questions.
There was some helpful data: arena construction should take 26 months (the goal apparently is All-Star Break 2012); the arena would be 137 feet tall at its peak; and the floor of the arena would be 25 feet below grade.
And they suggested that the arena must be able to serve as a standalone as well as a composition with the other towers initially designed to wrap them.
When exactly those other buildings would be built was unclear, though the models leave spaces for them. Apparently there's no plan now to build foundations for them. Such bigger questions were missing--and the architects didn't stick around to answer them, as Forest City Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco quickly whisked them away from an impromptu press conference.
(Above, Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP architects, Bill Crockett of Ellerbe Becket, and Rick Bell of the AIA NY. Photos by Tracy Collins)
Last night's meeting was one of the weirdest twists in the Atlantic Yards public information saga — it was originally scheduled as a continuing education lecture sponsored by the Center for Architecture and somehow morphed into an information session sponsored by the Empire State Development Corporation.
Posted by lumi at 5:36 AM
September 13, 2009
Really Now! The subject of Rendering the Atlantic yards Arena Realistically Revisited
Noticing New York
Michael White was very happy to see an attempt at more realistic renderings for the proposed Nets arena. He has some suggestions for further improvement.
We cannot be happier that this work was done, but the new rendering didn’t fix everything we think should be corrected about the original image. It kept the phantom vaportecture buildings behind the arena (that are not promised or assured to be built) rather than replacing them with the empty parking lot space the public will likely live with for years/decades. It also kept the rest of the neighborhood in the obliteration of a denying shadow. We decided to make an effort to correct at least these two flaws. See our rendering below.
Other corrections can be made and perhaps somebody else can do a better job than our try here. The lighting of the arena needs to be toned down, both the overly bright interior lights and the ethereal lighting of its skin. Further, the real honest living details of the rest of the actually existing neighborhood need to be supplied.
Posted by steve at 8:06 AM
“Over a 30-year period, the arena would cost the city nearly $40 million more in spending under current budget plans than it will generate in tax revenues”
Reason Hit & Run
By Damon W. Root
New York City's Independent Budget Office released a sobering report this week that throws more cold water on real estate developer and New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner's plans to use eminent domain and assorted government subsidies to build a new Nets basketball stadium in Brooklyn:
Over a 30-year period, the arena would cost the city nearly $40 million more in spending under current budget plans than it will generate in tax revenues (present value, 2009 dollars). The costs total nearly $170 million from financing city expenditures on the arena and the loss of existing tax revenues at the site.
There's also this fun fact:
For the developer, Forest City Ratner Companies, the mix of special government benefits result in total savings of $726 million.
Posted by steve at 7:15 AM
Atlantic Yards Money Pit?
The Architect's Newspaper Blog
This quick summary from earlier this week shows how there was some rain on Bruce Ratner's parade of new renderings for the proposed Nets arena.
When Forest City Ratner released new designs by SHoP Architects of the Barclays Center yesterday, it was seen as an effort to right a listing ship. But no sooner had those copper-hewed renderings hit the presses than the city’s Independent Budget Office released a report [PDF] today noting that the arena will cost the city $40 million in revenues over the next 30 years as a result of financial incentives granted to the developer. Furthermore, the city lost a potential $181 million in lost opportunities through tax breaks and incentives provided to the developer, which cost the state $16 million and the MTA $25 million, though the report also notes both will release a net gain of $25 million and $6 million, respectively, if the deal goes through
Posted by steve at 7:07 AM
Altantic Yards: Same Ol' Shit
Someones Something About Design
This cranky blog entry appears to confuse the Vanderbilt Yards with a project named Atlantic Yards and call a working railyard and surrounding neighborhood a "black hole". It's not clear if the author is upset because the developer has presented a bad design for the proposed Nets arena or just that the proposed Atlantic Yards project hasn't been built.
So apparently, this is the latest design for the giant black hole that sits in downtown Brooklyn known as Atlantic Yards. Though this design is far me aesthetically pleasing design than a giant stadium or generic condo towers (as was previously proposed some 2 years ago) nothing has yet changed in downtown Brooklyn. For all their lofty ideas, the developers have yet to break ground.
Posted by steve at 6:35 AM
September 12, 2009
So, wouldn't an honest arena rendering show some traffic congestion?
Atlantic Yards Report
This new image of the Atlantic Yards arena, produced by SHoP architects, has been criticized for its helicopter perspective, "vaportecture" towers, and failure to show traffic backed up after Fifth Avenue was demapped.
But there's a bigger problem. Oft-congested Atlantic and Flatbush avenues appear to be barely burdened. A reader sent me the altered--and, likely, more accurate--rendering below. Maybe the architects, when they appear in public Monday night, can explain.
Posted by steve at 9:43 AM
September 11, 2009
Oh, so the second community information session is a continuing education opportunity for architects
Atlantic Yards Report
Brutally weird.
The long-delayed second community information session, to be held in conjunction with Forest City Ratner and the Center for Architecture, will be "focused on the new arena design," the ESDC said in a press release yesterday.
Now, it sure looks like the ESDC is piggybacking on some other professional opportunity. (Yes, you should RSVP.)
From the Center for Architecture:
A Conversation With the Architects of the Barclays Center
CES: 1 LU, 1 HSW
When: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14Where: Brooklyn Borough Hall, Courtroom, 2nd floor
The Empire State Development Corporation hosts a discussion on the new designs for the Barclays Center with building architects, Bill Crockett, Director of Sports Architecture at Ellerbe Beckett and Gregg Pasquarelli, Founding Partner of SHoP
The Center for Architecture will moderate a discussion on the recently unveiled designs for the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn. The arena, being developed as part of the Atlantic Yards Development project, is scheduled to break ground by the end of the year. The architects will talk about their collaboration, the foundations for their design and their vision for this landmark building.
Images of the new design and model will be available for public viewing at Brooklyn Borough Hall from 10:00 am on September 14th through 5:30 pm Friday, September 18th. (Hours: Monday, 9/14: 10 am – 6:00 pm; Tuesday, 9/15: 8:30 am – 5:30 pm; Wednesday, 9/16: 8:30 am – 8 pm; Friday, 9/18: 8:30 am – 5:30 pm)
Posted by eric at 5:47 PM
Jay-Z: many talents, but arena timelines are beyond his expertise
Atlantic Yards Report
Nets part-owner Jay-Z was on David Letterman the other night and was asked about the potential move of the team.
JZ: We're trying to get to Brooklyn. I think early December is the new date that we'll break ground and hopefully it will happen.
DL: How long will that take to get that stadium up and running?
JZ: Hopefully a year.
DL: A year--whoa. Good luck there.
Indeed. it's questionable that (symbolic or limited) groundbreaking would happen in December. And it's impossible to build an arena in a year. Two years, at best. The original design was to take 30-32 months.
Related coverage...
NBC New York, Jay-Z's Next Blueprint: The Nets Arena
Throw in the continuing issues with financing and this hasn't stopped being a boondoggle just yet. Still, the Nets are putting on the full-court press. Jay-Z took some time while visiting with David Letterman, video courtesy of Ball Don't Lie, to bang the drum, although his time table is a year shorter than the one Ratner threw out on Wednesday.
NoLandGrab: There was video, but YouTube has removed it due to violation of terms of service.
Yahoo! Sports, Video: Jay-Z on the Nets' move to Brooklyn, wooing LeBron
Rapper and "business, man" Jay-Z was a guest on "The Late Show with David Letterman" Wednesday night to promote his new album, "The Blueprint 3," and upcoming 9/11-benefit concert in New York. After comparing nicknames and marital experiences, "Hov" and "Dave-Z" talked a little about the Nets' move to Brooklyn, the likelihood of wooing LeBron James to his team and Shaq playing in Cleveland.
Posted by eric at 3:29 PM
Atlantic Yards Arena Design Process
Restless
This item could just as easily been posted below, with news that the planned Atlantic Yards arena will be akin to flushing money down the you-know-what.
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Posted by eric at 1:37 PM
IBO: Arena is Robin Hood in Reverse
New York City faces a whopping budget gap, the MTA is nearly broke, unemployment lines are growing, and, oh yeah, Bruce Ratner's "economic engine" is going to be a money-loser for taxpayers. Think that'll cause Mayor Bloomberg to pull his support? Think again.
NY Observer, After Negative Report, Bloomberg Cheers Louder for Atlantic Yards
Confronted Thursday with an Independent Budget Office report that alleges the centerpiece Nets arena is a net-money loser for the city—which is incentivizing the project with $169 million in discretionary subsidy—Mr. Bloomberg loudly hailed the project, implicitly comparing the private development to the city's finest public assets.
“I don’t know what the IBO studies would have shown back when they tried to establish the value of Central Park or Prospect Park or anything else,” he told reporters. “These are the kinds of projects you have to do because without that we don’t have a future, and we’re going to get this one done.”
NoLandGrab: If you're still trying to decide whether or not Mayor Bloomberg is an out-of-touch billionaire or not, this ought to clear it up. Does he maybe not know that Madison Square Garden and Madison Square Park are two different things?
Crain's NY Business, City gives more than gets at Atlantic Yards, study says
The [IBO] report concluded that new revenue generated from the Barclays Center Arena would fail to compensate the city for its capital contribution to the project and lost property taxes. It said the project would cost the city $39.5 million over 30 years.
Meanwhile, the various tax benefits and capital contributions received from the city and state mean that Forest City's savings would equal roughly 80% of the expected cost of the $900 million arena, which is slated to open in late 2011. The analysis also said that the state would net $25 million from the project.
“This deal gives an extraordinary advantage to the developer, and I think it is outrageous,” said New York State Assemblyman James Brennan, one of several elected officials who called for the study.
...In a statement, Forest City said the analysis was wrong. The developer noted that the report seemed to intentionally lowball the city’s sales and tax revenues while applying all city and state subsidies to the arena alone, ignoring the rest of the project.
NoLandGrab: Oh, well if Forest City says it's wrong, then that's good enough for us. 'Cause they're known for their straight-shooting. We suppose the IBO report still won't be enough to cause Crain's to editorialize against the project.
NY Daily News, Report: City may lose 40M in Atlantic Yards plan-Total subsidies $726M
It's a reversal from a 2005 report by the budget office that found the city would make $25 million more in tax revenues than it would spend on the arena. That's because the city's contribution to the arena has gone up, said office Deputy Director George Sweeting.
"The arena conceivably would make money for the city if you weren't doing the subsidies, although, then it might be hard for [Ratner] to finance it," he said.
The report found that the city will take an additional $180 million hit in "opportunity costs" - mostly property taxes it could collect if the arena weren't exempt.
This just in: Pot calls Kettle black.
Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco noted the budget office did the report at the request of several elected officials who oppose the project. "An analysis conducted for opponents without speaking to the responsible parties is anything but independent," he said.
Gothamist, Nets Arena Will Be $40 Million Net Loss to Taxpayers
Just when you thought developer Bruce Ratner was about to turn the corner in the P.R. war over his proposed $800 million arena for the Nets in Brooklyn, along comes the city’s Independent Budget Office with a big bucket of ice water.
WNYC Radio, Report: Atlantic Yards Arena Will Cost City More Than It Receives in Taxes
But when the IBO, a nonpartisan agency, calculates what it calls opportunity costs, the picture is universally grim. The state, city and the MTA will lose out on a potential $220 million more, largely because they are giving away land for free, selling it for less than they could get otherwise, or foregoing property taxes on the arena property.
amNY, Report: Atlantic Yards arena a money sucker
The Atlantic Yards arena isn't looking like such a slam-dunk for the city.
metro, Taxpayers’ net loss on arena
The troubled Nets arena planned for Brooklyn was supposed to raise city revenue, but instead it’s going to be a net loss for taxpayers, according to a report released by the city’s Independent Budget Office on Thursday.
NY Post, Atlantic Yards a Net loss for city
The long-stalled Atlantic Yards project, sold as a surefire way to fill the city's coffers, is looking more like a money pit, according to a new study.
...The analysis also criticizes the cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority for selling Ratner the site at below-market value.
Brownstoner, IBO Reports Net Loss from Atlantic Yards Arena
Bloomberg Watch, Reading List: Bloomberg Pays for a Day in a Middle Class Home, Ignores IBO Report for Atlantic Yards
Posted by eric at 12:00 PM
More new-arena-design deconstruction
Here's a selection of yet more reactions to Forest City Ratner's latest stab at an arena design (all images, SHoP Architects, PC).
NYObserver.com, A Brief History of Atlantic Yards Designs
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The Observer has a slide show of the evolution of the designs for Bruce Ratner's planned arena, which still — and may forever be — just a bunch of illustrations and models.
On Wednesday, developer Bruce Ratner unveiled new designs for his planned Nets basketball arena in Brooklyn, an Ellerbe Becket and SHoP-designed complex notable for a set of wavy, dark orange metal bands that wrap around its exterior. (Though it's worth adding that missing is any design of the rest of the $4.9 billion project—which envisions 6,400 apartments and a commercial tower—as the previous designs by Frank Gehry were dropped in the name of cost.)
Now that Mr. Ratner has pledged construction will start by year’s end, which depends on a successful financing of his arena and resolution of a pending eminent domain lawsuit, it seems worth a look back at some of the various renderings and plans over the years.
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Leon Freilich, Verse Responder: The Ratner Arena
The Ratner Arena
A whale that swallows
With avid ease
Tax-free bonds
And subsidies.
Noticing New York, The Surrounding Light Smears Ratner’s Atlantic Yards Arena
You can tell how eager the developer was (not!) for the public to see it by the fact that the design wasn’t released until just after ESDC closed its period for public comment. Here though is what we find to be the most fascinating element of the rendering which also convinces us that they don’t want the public to really see the design even now: Fifty percent of the colored rendering of the arena is not a rendering of the arena at all. It is a rendering which, borrowing the same colors in which the arena is depicted, shows with abnormal emphasis the blurred lights of the passing traffic on Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues! Gosh Golly! The lights of the passing traffic are going to be prettier than the arena itself?
NY Observer, New Atlantic Yards Design Less Bad Than It Could Be
The consensus on yesterday’s renderings of the new Atlantic Yards’ arena -- with its futuristic, clamshell shape and weathered steel facade – seems to be that the new design is, well, passable.
...While the new design may temper charges that Ratner pulled an epic bait-and-switch when he dumped Gehry earlier this year, the bean counters at the Independent Budget Office have already obscured the luminous glow of the new drawings. In a report issued today, the IBO said the arena will cost the city nearly $40 million dollars over the next 30-years. In 2005, the IBO had estimated the city would net a modest gain on the project.
Atlantic Yards Report, Deceptive rendering: where's Fifth Avenue traffic?
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, The "Sleeper House" Inspires the New Atlantic Yards Arena Design
Curbed, Ouroussoff: Hope for Atlantic Yards, Not So Much for Midtown
Can't Stop the Bleeding, Ratner Redux : Nets Unveil Spruced Up Airplane Hanger
UnBeige, Ellerbe Beckett and SHoP's Atlantic Yards Arena Designs Unveiled
ArtInfo, New Atlantic Yards Design Released
Posted by eric at 8:54 AM
New Arena design for Atlantic Yards
The Brian Lehrer Show [WNYC Radio]
Architectural historian Francis Morrone and New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger joined Brain Lehrer yesterday to talk about the latest Atlantic Yards arena design.
Additional coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, Architecture critics slam Markowitz for claiming arena "celebrates Brooklyn's industrial heritage"
Appearing today on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show, architecture critics Francis Morrone and Paul Goldberger gave generally positive reviews to the new Atlantic Yards arena, though they acknowledged it couldn't be judged in isolation, given the controversies about the design, funding, and viability of the project as a whole.
"It's a building that will have some meaning to some people who are not actually going into it to attend a basketball game," Goldberger said. "The question is: is liking that building enough, given the context in which it exists?"
"Considering it solely as intellectual exercise, I think it's the best of the arena designs," Morrone said. He criticized original architect Frank Gehry for saying he drew inspiration from the Brooklyn Bridge.
Goldberger acknowledged a "troubling bait-and-switch" to the process, given that Gehry was crucial to getting the project passed but then was cast aside.
..."It's a project that I would probably be behind 100 percent if Forest City Ratner were proposing to place it on the site of the Atlantic Center Mall," said Morrone, who's also a member--though it wasn't mentioned--of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Advisory Board.
"That's a great idea," assented Goldberger, architecture critic for the New Yorker.
Posted by eric at 8:30 AM
September 10, 2009
Report Finds Net Loss to City From Atlantic Yards Arena
City Room
by Sewell Chan
We opted to post this story separately from the previous round-up of stories on the IBO report in order to point up some of the nonsense coming out of the NYC Economic Developerment Corporation.
The proposed basketball arena that has long been the centerpiece of the contentious Atlantic Yards development near Downtown Brooklyn would result in a net loss to the city of nearly $40 million over 30 years, according to a new report prepared by the city’s Independent Budget Office.
The report stands in contrast to an earlier report in 2005 by the same office, which concluded that the 18,000-seat arena would result in a net fiscal benefit for the city. Since then, city subsidies for the project — now estimated to cost $772 million — have grown. So has uncertainty about the project, which would transform a 22-acre site that is currently centered around a below-grade railyard owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
...City officials tried to play down the report’s significance on Wednesday.
David Lombino, a spokesman for the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said in a phone interview, “The report is sloppy and contains numerous inaccuracies.”
NoLandGrab: "Sloppy and contains numerous inaccuracies?" Why, that sounds exactly like the testimony of Lombino's boss, EDC president Seth Pinsky, at the May 29th NY State Senate hearing on Atlantic Yards. From Atlantic Yards Report's coverage of that hearing:
Deceptions from NYC EDC's Pinsky
Similarly, Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, in prepared testimony maintained that the project would produce more than half a billion dollars in new tax revenues to the city, but acknowledged later that he was using a study from 2005, which calculated new revenues on 2 million square feet of office space.
Only one office tower, with less than one-third of the previous square footage, is now part of Forest City Ratner's announced configuration, and it's on indefinite hold. He later added: "We’re in the process of updating that analysis… we expect it to still be an extremely positive number."
OK, maybe sloppy and inaccurate is too kind — how about knowingly misleading and blatantly untrue? But wait, there's more.
[Lombino] said the report factored in costs associated with the entire project — the arena and the planned mixed-used development around it — while only counting the benefits from the arena.
NLG: "Only counting the benefits from the arena?" Is that like not counting the costs of the project? Here's AYR again, on the May 29th hearing:
NYC EDC calls it a "fiscal impact analysis." It acknowledges no offsetting costs or subsidies, so it's not a "cost-benefit analysis," despite Pinsky's deceptive use of the term.
Click thru for more of EDC's tall tales.
NLG: We don't know what's worse — that the NYC Economic Development Corporation doesn't have a clue, or knowingly misleads the taxpayers for the benefit of a private developer.
Posted by eric at 2:52 PM
New-new-n-improved Barclays Center news roundup
Here's a roundup of this morning's news headlines from local (and not-so-local) media:
amNY, New Atlantic Yards design unveiled, legal challenges remain
Interesting bit of news:
This morning, the Independent Budget Office is expected to release a report analyzing how much the city will make off the development versus lost tax revenue and capital spending on the project.
NY1, Atlantic Yards Developer Unveils New Arena Plans
This will be Brooklyn's new arena, and this time it's for real, says the developer.
NY Daily News, Bruce Ratner unveils futuristic Atlantic Yards Nets arena design after critics blasted 'barn' design
It's the new, new Atlantic Yards.
...
"The Barclays Center will quickly become an iconic part of the Brooklyn landscape," Ratner said.
NoLandGrab: Fer sure, it's "iconic"
Associated Press, New design unveiled for NBA arena in Brooklyn
In drawings and models, the woven steel bands give the building the appearance of being covered in wicker.
...
Developer Bruce Ratner said the two firms have been working with "Mercury-like speed" in advance of a crucial December deadline. The development, dubbed Atlantic Yards, needs to break ground by then or lose access to the tax-free bonds financing much of the project.
LA Times, Ghost of Gehry: Third try for Brooklyn arena design
An excerpt of "some quick thoughts" on yesterday's announcement:
--The announcement itself was peculiar, coming not in the New York Times or any other media outlet but via old-fashioned press release. Clearly Forest City was not going to spoon-feed any renderings to the NYT given recent pieces condemning the developer for getting rid of Gehry, but it's still something of a surprise that another New York publication didn't get the nod.
--All of this may be for naught, as there's still a good chance that Atlantic Yards -- the whole blessed thing -- is dead in the water.
...
--The new architect pairing is, no matter how you slice it, an odd one, matching Ellerbe Becket's Midwestern love of barn-style "fieldhouse" arenas with the fluid (and politically savvy) approach of Manhattan-based SHoP. For some background on SHoP, here's a profile I wrote on the firm for Metropolis magazine back in 2001.
...
--Still, perhaps because the design was produced rather quickly -- SHoP has been on the job only since June -- the arena seems to sag deflatedly from certain angles, rather like a basketball needing some air, which can hardly be the kind of architectural symbolism the Nets were hoping for.
SBNation.com, Nets Reveals Plan for a Spaceship in New York City
Yup, they said, "Spaceship."
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Long-Awaited Barclays Arena Design Is Finally Unveiled
That's "Long-Awaited" if you mean since June.
WNYC News Radio, New Designs for Nets Basketball Arena Reduce Cost, Flash
NBA Fanhouse, Cheaper Nets Arena Design Unveiled As Brooklyn Move Reaches Critical Moment
Posted by lumi at 7:26 AM
September 9, 2009
Atlantic Yards Basketball Arena v3.0
More reaction to yet another iteration of the "Brooklyn" Nets' we'll-be-playing there-any-minute-now arena (available only in renderings and models).
City Room, New Design Unveiled for Atlantic Yards Arena
Bruce C. Ratner is hoping the third time is the charm for his planned basketball arena for the Nets near Downtown Brooklyn.
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Ratner, the chief executive of Forest City Ratner, unveiled the latest design for the 18,000-seat arena, which is the centerpiece for his 22-acre Atlantic Yards development at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues.
The original design by the architect Frank Gehry called for a $1 billion development that had four residential and commercial buildings hugging the glass-walled arena. It was scrapped in a cost-cutting move this year when the developer sought to build something less expensive. Mr. Ratner then turned to Ellerbe Becket, a firm that has designed many professional basketball arenas. But when its initial renderings of a structure resembling a brick airplane hangar leaked out in June, they were met with nearly universally negative reviews.
Stunned by the reaction, Mr. Ratner brought in a second architect, SHoP, to collaborate on the more glamorous design that was released Wednesday.
Field of Schemes, New Atlantic Yards arena designs! Collect 'em all!
The latest redesign of the New Jersey Nets' proposed Atlantic Yards arena in Brooklyn is out, and it looks like... a Claes Oldenburg handbag? A giant eyeball, as arena opponent and last man standing Daniel Goldstein insists? The previous design, only wrapped in one of those metal-grille facades that are all the rage these days?
Post your suggestions below. In the meantime, I'm mostly interested that the surrounding condo and office towers still appear to be made of some sort of translucent plastic — either the developers realized they didn't look so hot filled in, or it's an oblique admission that they're really vaportecture.
Gothamist, New Atlantic Yards Renderings Show Yet Another New Nets Arena
Still, to opponents like Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, these new renderings are just lipstick on a boondoggle. They've also been released after the public comment period closed, and omit details on the rest of the 22-acre Atlantic Yards site, which once-upon-a-time was to include 16 towers, 6,430 housing units, and a 511 foot tall structure called Miss Brooklyn (remember her?). Though there do seem to be some ghostly buildings hovering in the background, proving that Atlantic Yards phantoms are hardly done haunting Brooklyn.
Nevertheless, the Empire State Development Corporation declined to conduct a full public review of the dramatically changed plans, and Ratner's expected to get final state approval next week. But hurdles, as ever, remain—the state's highest court has agreed to hear the eminent domain lawsuit brought by opponents who say the ESDC is trying to seize private property to benefit Forest City Ratner, not the public.
Crain's NY Business, Developer unveils third version of new Nets home
Forest City Ratner releases artists' renderings for its proposed Atlantic Yards venue. It's not a Gehry, and not an airplane hanger, but what IS it?
Crain's asks: "What would you nickname the proposed Barclays Center?"
Brownstoner, New Barclay's Center Design Revealed
Regardless of your position on Atlantic Yards, there's no denying it's sexier than the most recent renderings, though that's not saying a whole lot.
GlobeSt.com, FCRC Unveils New Arena Design
Originally, the arena, and the mega-project as a whole, were designed by architect Frank Gehry. However, facing challenges in financing the project, FCRC scrapped the Gehry design in early June. Early images of the scaled-down Ellerbe design, which FCRC has said were preliminary, came in for criticism as hangar-like.
NetsAreScorching, NEW BARCLAYS RENDERINGS
9/9/09 will not only be known as Beatles day around the planet. Forest City Ratner has released their latest iteration of renderings for the Barclays Center, the prospective future home of the Brooklyn Nets.
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, Atlantic Yards Arena 3.0
We thought it might be instructive to show the three designs side by side. What do you think?
AP via WTEN.com, New design for Brooklyn arena unveiled
A new design for the Brooklyn home of the New Jersey Nets features weathered steel and glass, with a canopy that juts out like the bill of a baseball cap.
The Brooklyn Paper, THIS JUST IN! New Atlantic Yards arena designs are here!
From “The Hanger” to … “The Clamshell”?
Runnin' Scared, 3rd Atlantic Yards Design Emitted
Today developer Bruce Ratner unveiled a third design for his stalled Atlantic Yards project. (The first had been done by architecture superstar Frank Gehry; when it was scrapped for "value engineering" reasons, Ratner engaged Ellerbe Becket, who delivered a Pee-Wee's Playhouse set; SHoP Architects PC did the current revision.)
NY1 News, Atlantic Yards Developer Unveils New Arena Plans (with video)
"It's supposed to be 16 towers, eight million square feet," said Goldstein. "The state's going to approve it next week, yet there are no designs for anything other than this arena, which the city Independent Budget Office has called a money-loser. So what do we have here?"
The Howeva Files, The Nets Stadium's 18th Possible Design
If you are like me, you think the thing looks like a giant fat beetle. After games, I can imagine this thing scurrying up Brendan Fraser's leg like it did in The Mummy.
SportsBusiness Daily, First Images Of Revamped Barclays Center Design Released [subscription required]
BP MARKOWITZ STATEMENT ON NEW DESIGN FOR BARCLAYS CENTER AT ATLANTIC YARDS
“As I have said all along, Brooklyn is the greatest city in America. We’re ready to get back into professional sports’ big leagues, and this arena is going to make it happen. I am thrilled that the new design delivers not only a luminous, iconic structure that celebrates Brooklyn’s industrial heritage with its steel and glass exterior, but one that harmonizes with the architecture of the surrounding neighborhoods and creates a welcoming environment for the public at street-level.
Of course, I remain optimistic that this project will create thousands of jobs and bring much needed affordable housing and even more vitality to Downtown Brooklyn. Now it’s time to break ground and let our union workers get to work building this beautiful Barclays Center, an economic engine that will generate revenue and spur economic development in Brooklyn and New York City for years to come!”
NoLandGrab: Is there any question that Marty would enthuse about any design for a basketball arena? And the NYC Independent Budget Office has already called Marty's "economic engine" a net fiscal loser for the city.
Posted by eric at 3:17 PM
Arena design released: "Weathered steel and glass" (but what about the rest of the project?)
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder reproduces the press release, with some commentary and images interspersed. Noteworthy: the arena has shrunk by about 20%.
Well, the new designs of the Atlantic Yards arena have been released and, while it's surely an improvement over the Ellerbe Becket "hangar," the buildings around it are, at best, mirages, there's no Phase 2 (of course), and it's hard to believe that the arena--as previously stated--would be 150 feet tall. The renderings portray it as far more modest.
Posted by eric at 1:40 PM
BARCLAYS CENTER PRESS RELEASE: ELLERBE BECKET AND SHoP ARCHITECTS TO COLLABORATE ON BARCLAYS CENTER AT ATLANTIC YARDS
New, Innovative Design to Create Iconic Brooklyn Landmark
(Brooklyn, NY) – September 9, 2009 – Bruce Ratner, the Chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), the developer of Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, announced today that the award-winning architectural firms Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects will collaborate on the design of the Barclays Center, the new world-class sports and entertainment venue that will serve as the anchor of the planned development and home to the NETS Basketball team.
FCRC also released new design images of the 675,000 square-foot arena, which will be located at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues in Brooklyn. The images can be seen at www.barclayscenter.com. The images and a model will also be available for public viewing at Brooklyn Borough Hall beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 14, 2009.
“The Barclays Center will quickly become an iconic part of the Brooklyn landscape,” said Mr. Ratner. “The design is elegant and intimate and also a bold architectural statement that will nicely complement the surrounding buildings and neighborhoods. The Barclays Center will be innovative in its look and use of materials, including weathered steel and glass, and will be the best place in the world to watch a basketball game and other forms of sports and entertainment.”
Several images were released today that show the Barclays Center from different perspectives, including each major arrival point at the site perimeter. The arena was designed to accommodate other buildings on the arena block that will be part of the Atlantic Yards development, including three mixed-income residential buildings and the commercial building known as B1, along with the Urban Room that will provide access to the Barclays Center.
The building consists of three separate but woven bands. The first engages the ground where the weathered steel exterior rises and lowers to create a sense of visual transparency, transitioning into a grand civic gesture that cantilevers out into a spectacular canopy at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues. The canopy, which is 30 feet above ground level, contains an oculus that frames the pedestrian’s view of the arena. The second, a glass band, allows for views from inside and outside of the arena. The third band floats around the roof of the Barclays Center and varies in transparency, the weathered steel creating backlit patterns.
The woven band of the canopy will flow out over the arena entrance, creating a seamless visual transition and helping to frame a large viewing portal into the seating area. The main concourse is placed right at street level, allowing a direct view to and from the street. Large areas of glass at street level make it not only pedestrian-friendly, but also encourage a strong visual connection to the surrounding urban neighborhood.
Construction is expected to begin on the arena later this year, with an anticipated opening during the 2011 – 12 NETS season.
link [PDF]
NoLandGrab: If that's not enough for you, click through for the rest of the press release, including bits about how an urban arena must delight its neighbors and how the arena "Founding Partners" will have branded "neighborhoods," like "ADT Plaza" and the "EmblemHealth Entrance." For real.
Posted by eric at 1:19 PM
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: New Ratner Arena Design is Irrelevant
Six Years Into Project And No Designs For the Promised Affordable Housing
BROOKLYN, NY— Forest City Ratner’s new design for its proposed Atlantic Yards arena in Brooklyn—the developer’s sixth fanciful design—was released today. The new arena design, something like a big eye ball at Atlantic and Flatbush, lacks some key elements—such as the entire rest of the proposed project.
“The arena design is irrelevant. Designs continue to come and go, but they change nothing. It's all lipstick on a corrupt pig, window-dressing on a boondoggle. Ratner faces a serious eminent domain court challenge and other litigation, he doesn't have the land or any of the financing he needs for the arena, and won't be able to break ground this year, if ever,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “The project is still a sham, still a phantom, with no designs for the promised affordable housing and no designs whatsoever for anything besides a money-losing arena. It is unconscionable that any elected official could support this farcical project any more.”
The Atlantic Yards proposal—an arena and 16 towers including 6,430 residential units in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn—is expected to face a rubberstamp vote by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) board on September 17th. Developer Bruce Ratner and the ESDC claim the project will take ten years to build and hasn’t changed from its initial approval in 2006. Such claims are not credible—the project would take at least twenty years to construct and has changed radically since its 2006 approval. All Ratner is able to show, six years since unveiling his mega-project proposal, is the sixth version of his arena design and nothing else. The previous five designs all failed, and this new one is likely to do the same.
Ratner promises thousands of units of affordable housing, but the designs released today show nothing but an arena, which the City’s Independent Budget Office has shown to be a financial loser for New York City. Additionally, since the project has changed so radically and would take twice as long to construct as the ESDC claims, the state is required by law to conduct a new environmental review.
“With no guarantees for the promised affordable housing, no designs for that affordable housing and no commitment to acquire the rail-yard land for the affordable housing, this glitzy new design for a money-losing arena, at the expense of everything else, should be the last wake up call needed for Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg to scrap a project that can no longer deliver any of the developer’s promises,” Goldstein concluded.
Posted by eric at 1:00 PM
BREAKING: New Atlantic Yards Arena Design Revealed
Curbed
Looks like Curbed got to reveal the Atlantic Yards arena redesign, after The New York Times savaged the last version ("development partnership" only goes so far).
After getting taken to the woodshed for booting Frank Gehry off his controversial Atlantic Yards project and replacing Gehry's Barclays Center arena design with a cut-rate airplane hangar, developer Bruce Ratner told everybody to just wait one doggone minute before they judged the future home (maybe?) of the
New JerseyBrooklyn Nets. Word leaked last week that Ratner had added Manhattan avant-gardists SHoP to the design team, and now the fruits of that collaboration with Midwest architecture firm Ellerbe Becket have been unveiled. So, uh, what the hell are we looking at for the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic?The renderings and plans are available on the new Barclays Center website, now scrubbed free of Gehry's celebrated but ultimately doomed plans.
Click thru for additional images.
NoLandGrab: Well, it's no longer an airplane hangar, though commenters on Curbed have called it everything from "Clamtastic!" to reminiscent of a bottle opener and a toilet.
Us? We're going to call it the "Barclays Panini Maker."
Posted by eric at 12:42 PM
ESDC PRESS RELEASE: Empire State Development Announces That Preliminary Review Process For Barclays Center Arena Has Been Completed
ESD staff has been working with FCRC & architects throughout the summer to ensure that design complies with guidelines set forth in MGPP
Empire State Development (ESD) today announced that the preliminary review process for the new Barclays Center arena design has been completed. ESD staff has been working closely with the developer throughout the evolution of the arena design to ensure that it adheres to the design guidelines laid out in the MGPP. The design collaboration by Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects will debut later this morning. ESD also announced today that the second public information session will be held on Monday, September 14.
ESD, in conjunction with FCRC and the Center for Architecture, will host a public information session focused on the new arena design at Brooklyn Borough Hall on Monday, September 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The images and model of the design will be available for public viewing at Brooklyn Borough Hall beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 14.
Details on Monday's public information session will be released later this week.
The plan for the Atlantic Yards project includes 16 buildings for residential, office, retail, community facilities, parking, and possibly hotel uses. These buildings provide approximately 5,325 to 6,430 housing units, 2,250 of which will be affordable. The Project also contains 8 acres of publicly accessible open space. The project spans over a 22-acre area, roughly bounded by Flatbush and 4th Avenues on the west, Vanderbilt Avenue on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the north, and Dean and Pacific Streets on the south. The Project is expected to create thousands of construction and permanent jobs.
NoLandGrab: We'd love to know what a "preliminary review process" entails, but we're pretty sure that it features frequent use of the phrase "yes, Bruce." As for the new design adhering to the design guidelines, it does because they say it does.
Posted by eric at 12:31 PM
Nets CEO Yormark predicts financing wrapped up in 45 days, arena in "11-12 season"
Atlantic Yards Report
On Fox Business News today, Nets Sports and Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark answered questions from the unskeptical Alexis Glick.
While the segment was ostensibly about the Nets' pioneering effort to sell naming rights to practice jerseys, at about 3:00 Yormark predicted that the arena would open in the 2011-12 season.
Yormark has regularly shifted the goalposts; last December he insisted the arena would open in three years.
Glick led her arena inquiry with "Everybody wants to know the truth. Is the stadium being built in Brooklyn...?" to which the "marketing genius," who has historically demonstrated a casual relationship with the truth, replied:
We're very excited about our move to Brooklyn. Obviously, there's been lots of delays. But this fall is the fall we've all been waiting for. We'll wrap up financing in the next 30 to 45 days. We will break ground in the next few months. We will get past the remaining litigation--there's one last piece out there. We expect to win that case, like we have the other 25 that have been brought against the project. This is the fall we've been waiting for. Barclays is on board, All of our eight other founding partners are on board. We relaunch our suite sales effort later this month. So we're excited about the future, and we'll be in Brooklyn for the 11-12 season.
AYR notes:
There haven't been 25 lawsuits or even 25 court decisions. Glick didn't ask how long it would take to build the arena--at least two years, right?--and how that would impact a move across the river.
NoLandGrab: If reporters fail to question this made up scorecard, then why shouldn't guys like Yormark use it? On the other hand, it makes you wonder if anything Yormark just said is true.
Posted by lumi at 5:15 AM
September 5, 2009
Atlantic Yards Developers Bring in Local NY Firm SHoP, Perhaps to Quell Residual Anger
Media Bistro
By Steve Delahoyde
Here's another reaction to the naming of architects ShoP to work on the proposed Nets arena.
Remember the great and mighty uproar that occurred upon no one being surprised that Frank Gehry was getting kicked off the Atlantic Yards project? The one that helped create the vicious Kansas City vs. New York City feud? Although those initial fires have subsided, there's some new news surrounding the project, with the NY Observer learning that the developer, Forest City Ratner, has brought in a local architecture firm, SHoP, to lend Ellerbe Becket (the group that took over the project) a hand. The Observer couldn't find out how long SHoP has been involved with the project, but read-between-the-lines speculates that this could have been done to fight off some of the bitterness after the Gehry firing and as the developers prepare to unveil the new plans for the new Nets arena and surrounding buildings later this month. Here's a bit:
While certainly not the starchitect that is Mr. Gehry, SHoP is something of the hot local architectural firm these days -- a relatively young practice that designs often iconic buildings with highly distinctive exteriors and skins. Last year the would-be developers of a new South Street Seaport tapped SHoP to design a remake of the area, and the Bloomberg administration turned to SHoP to design its new East River waterfront esplanade.
Posted by steve at 6:05 PM
September 3, 2009
NoLandGrab SHoPping Guide
Curbed, BREAKING: Atlantic Yards Going SHoPping for New Arena!
Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has been taking a beating ever since he booted starchitect Frank Gehry off his controversial Atlantic Yards megaproject and swapped out the Gehrmeister's Barclays Center arena for a cheapo design from Midwest hacks Ellerbe Beckett (complete coverage here). Now Ratner is looking to save a little face, at least when it comes to architecture geeks. The Observer drops the bombshell that Ratner has brought aboard NYC-based rising starchitects SHoP to assist in the design of the arena. Desperation? Ellerbe Beckett's design has been widely panned by even Ratner's politician buddies, and renderings of the new-look $800 million Barclays Center are due at the end of the month. Still, it's up to SHoP to save us from The Hangar. Can they do it?
Examiner.com New York, SHoP Takes Over at Atlantic Yards
The New York Observer speculated that this might be a "face saving move" for developer Forest City Ratner. However. SHoP has no experience designing stadiums, but they have created notable designs such as that for Southstreet Seaport, a pedistrian bridge and the East River Waterfront esplanade.
Fogelson-Lubliner, Atlantic Yards Update
According to the Observer, our back (Atlantic) yards are now going to be in the hands of New York City based architects SHoP. If this project is going to happen, we’re happy(er) to have it in their hands than the previous architecture firm. Although the article states this is to be a collaboration between the two???
Brownstoner, Atlantic Yards Taps New Arena Architect
After dropping Frank Gehry, the firm has been on the lookout for a new architect as well as for a way to save face. They settled on SHoP, a New York-based firm that is young and in demand....
Posted by eric at 9:41 PM
Post-Gehry, Atlantic Yards' Nets Arena To Be Designed by New York Boutique SHoP
The NY Observer
By Eliot Brown
After dropping famed architect Frank Gehry from the Nets basketball arena planned for Brooklyn, the developer of the massive mixed-use project has brought in New York-based architecture firm SHoP to assist in the design of the venue, according to a person informed of the decision.
The developer, Forest City Ratner, plans to unveil renderings of the $800 million arena later this month.
The choice seems a face-saving move for Forest City, as a substantial backlash from public officials and the press followed its decision to drop Mr. Gehry in the name of cost.
Atlantic Yards Report, Observer: the new buzzy architect working on the arena is SHoP
Stealing some of Forest City Ratner's thunder, the New York Observer reveals the name of the new architect working on the Atlantic Yards arena--though not any new renderings.
...
Surely City Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden, who reportedly leaked the "hangar-like" design of Ellerbe Becket (which replaced Frank Gehry), is now pleased that a firm with some cachet is on the job. She already likes SHoP.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, SHoP Hops Into Atlantic Yards Fight. Arena Design Besides the Point
We have nothing to say about SHoP other than—welcome to the fight.
It is important to note that while there is a new firm designing the arena (and presumably they'll be working with Ellerbe Becket) there are no new renderings. Ratner waited until after the public comment period on the Modified General Project Plan ended on August 31st. Presumably the new renderings will be released soon before, or even on the day of, the ESDC's September 17th board meeting, when the board is expected to rubberstamp the project, again, no matter what the arena looks like and no matter that the rest of the project has no designs at all.
Daily Intel, Signs of Hope for a More Exciting Atlantic Yards Arena Design
The young firm, which has never designed an arena, will work alongside Eberle [sic] Beckett — experts at efficient, if uninspiring, stadium design.
...
Of course, elsewhere in the Observer, they're reporting that underlying fundamentals of commercial real-estate investments are going to cause a massive plateau on mortgage defaults in the next two years, so we're not going to hold our breath on seeing any of this executed.
Posted by lumi at 6:47 AM
August 17, 2009
From the Times: Money Walks: In Hard Times, Sports Is Bad for Business
Atlantic Yards Report
A New York Times article today suggests that high-rollers are no longer able to spend on luxury suites at baseball games and at the U.S. Open because the high cost exceeds what they can now get reimbursed as business expenses:
Baseball’s deliberate pace and the increasingly lavish suites and box seats have made major league games an ideal setting for doing business. But for bankers, brokers and others in the financial industry, accepting an invitation to a game has fast become taboo.Not only are companies cutting their entertainment budgets, but they are also facing increased scrutiny from regulators, shareholders and politicians — pressures that have forced workers even at healthy firms to avoid being seen at sporting events.
This is particularly true in New York, the capital of the financial industry, where the most expensive seats at the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, or at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, home of the United States Open, far exceed what many firms allow employees to accept from clients.
Presumably this extends to basketball, as well, and might just make Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment readjust expectations for revenue from the planned Brooklyn arena. And wouldn't that make the team that much less likely to pay off the arena bonds?
NoLandGrab: A Jets' season-ticket-holding friend of ours told us yesterday that the team, in an unprecedented move, is now offering half-season packages. When the NFL starts to have to scramble to sell tickets, everybody's in trouble.
Posted by eric at 9:10 AM
August 12, 2009
Class of '99
One year. Eight new arenas. How they changed the industry then and are reinventing themselves today.
Portfolio.com
by Don Muret
This uncritical look at the '90s sports-facility building boom (it's penned by a writer from SportsBusiness Journal, whose business is promoting sports business) includes a look at the inspiration for the "Barclays Center."
In addition, Conseco’s tight basketball-specific layout is a design that New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner wants to emulate at the proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“Before those buildings opened, there was a tendency to come up with one-size-fits-all arenas,” said Jay Cross, a former sports executive involved in developing arenas in Toronto and Miami. “It was the first attempt to design a building unique to the culture of those cities.”
NoLandGrab: "The first attempt to design a building unique to the culture of those cities?” How exactly is a design emulating Indianapolis's culture "going to evoke Brooklyn like never before?"
Posted by eric at 10:47 AM
August 11, 2009
Waiting for the "September surprise"? That's when Forest City Ratner will unveil new arena designs
Atlantic Yards Report
Someone called me yesterday about scheduling an Atlantic Yards-related event in September.
I pointed out that any AY event that month has to be scheduled around the "September surprise," when Forest City Ratner, with fanfare, unveils the next design of the Atlantic Yards arena, wins back certain members of the chattering class, and allows Mayor Mike Bloomberg to look City Planning Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden in the eye.
Sure, I speculate, but look at the evidence. Yesterday CEO Bruce Ratner told the New York Times:
[CEO] Mr. [Bruce] Ratner said he expected to release new images of the arena before Labor Day. “I think the final architecture will be really beautiful,” he said.Labor Day is Monday, September 7. The final day for people to submit comments to the Empire State Development Corporation on the 2009 Modified General Project Plan is August 31.
When will it be?
Presumably the designs will be finished before August 31--but there's no need to flummox the public by releasing them during the comment period, right? Will they be released Friday, September 4?
Friday is traditionally the day people expect extended arts coverage in the Times, so it could be a good way to win back architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff, who dissed the latest arena design, by arena specialists Ellerbe Becket, as a "monstrosity."
NoLandGrab: If the arena is going to be "really beautiful," why not let us see it now so we can sing its praises to the ESDC?
Posted by eric at 9:34 AM
Facility Notes
SportsBusiness Journal
In N.Y., Charles Bagli writes while many city projects "have been slowed or stopped by a flagging economy," Atlantic Yards is the "largest project in the city moving forward." But Nets Owner Bruce Ratner "must clear a number of important hurdles before starting…
article [subscription/registration required]
Posted by eric at 9:18 AM
July 25, 2009
Politi: NJ Nets owner Bruce Ratner knows damage, not damage control
The Star-Ledger
By Steve Politi
Here is strong commentary on how the New Jersey Nets have fared under Bruce Ratner's ownership.
Bruce Ratner inherited a championship team and gutted it. He stumbled into a growing fan base and alienated it. Now, for his final act, he is seeking anyone rich and dumb enough to help him rip the Nets from this community.
Congratulations, Bruce. You make the Secaucus Seven look like the Rooney family.
The real estate magnate, as first reported in The Star-Ledger, is desperately trying to sell his crumbling vision for Brooklyn to a reclusive billionaire, a Russian businessman and his co-investors. But at some point, don't you think they'll ask what, exactly, that vision is?
There is no blueprint for his arena. There is no world-class architect designing the complex. There is no financing in place for the project, and there is still the messy matter of the Court of Appeals hearing that, if lost, would sabotage the entire Atlantic Yards deal once and for all.
Other than that, it's a great investment.
...
Sadly, we should have known all along where Ratner's heart is. It was never in fielding a winning basketball team. It was never with the fans who saw a glimmer of hope with those back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals, only to have their team turned into a laughingstock again.
Ratner gutted the Nets, chased away fans, and for his final act, he is looking for somebody rich and foolish to help him back up the moving vans. There is only one positive for Nets fans.
At least if he sells, the next guy can't be any worse.
Posted by steve at 8:25 AM
July 2, 2009
Ratner promises Atlantic Yards arena redesign
The Forest City Ratner chief said the Atlantic Yards basketball arena renderings leaked to the media last month were premature and do not reflect his intentions for the project.
Crain's NY Business
by Erik Engquist
Promises, promises.
So, Bruce, you'd have us believe that you spent a bunch of money to produce several renderings to submit to the Department of City Planning (whose commissioner, Amanda Burden, leaked them to the press) that do not reflect your "intentions for the project?" Uh, wha?
Bruce Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, has told senior members of the Bloomberg administration that the Atlantic Yards basketball arena renderings leaked to the media last month were premature and do not reflect his intentions for the project, city sources say. While Mr. Ratner is said to have reaffirmed his commitment to a "world-class" design, he faces the challenge of improving it without substantially raising the cost.
Frank Gehry had designed a $1 billion arena that impressed architecture critics but proved unaffordable when the economy tanked and credit markets froze. Missouri-based architectural firm Ellerbe Becket was brought in and proposed a $772 million arena that resembled an airplane hangar. To say that the design did not meet the expectations of Amanda Burden, chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, would be a vast understatement.
"One of the key goals of the Atlantic Yards project was to transform an area with development that incorporates world-class architecture, a dynamic streetscape, and significant public amenities," she said in a statement issued by her spokeswoman. "Bruce Ratner has given the city a commitment that he will design the Atlantic Yards in a way that respects both the letter and the spirit of what was envisaged in 2006, when the project received its original approval."
NoLandGrab: Bruce Ratner has twisted the truth about Atlantic Yards so often that it has now become habitual. And Amanda Burden really needs to come out in public and say what she supposedly says in private: that Atlantic Yards was a bad idea that has only gotten worse.
Posted by eric at 3:34 PM
June 29, 2009
As Arenas Sprout, a Scramble to Keep Them Filled
The NY Times
By Charles V. Bagli
...those who study sporting facilities say empty seats may become even more commonplace here, as New York faces a glut of sports arenas.
...
At least two of the existing arenas already lose money, and experts say further casualties are almost guaranteed.
The article takes account of the existing and planned arenas — Bruce Ratner's Barclays Center, Newark's Prudential Center, the Izod Center in the Meadowlands, the Nassau Coliseum, and Madison Square Garden — and explains how each, especially Ratner's arena, is hoping to cannibalize the others.
Atlantic Yards Report, The Times's "arena glut" story suggests Barclays Center is on the way, marginalizes IBO's analysis as the work of "critics'
An article in today's New York Times, headlined As Arenas Sprout, a Scramble to Keep Them Filled, makes some valuable points, including the money-losing (Newark) Prudential Center's need to attract the Nets and/or have the Izod Center close down, but deserves several footnotes, since it in some places frames the Barclays Center too generously.
...
The Times skates over an important issue:The competition in the New York area is not just for fans and performers, but also for public subsidies, corporate sponsors and well-heeled tenants for luxury suites.
More importantly, the Times neglects to question whether, given the glut of arenas, federal tax-payers, via tax-exempt bonds, should subsidize a new arena to tune of $100 million-plus.
Also of great importance is that this article undermines the report, authored by Andrew Zimbalist and commissioned and released by Bruce Ratner, that predicted that a new Nets arena would be a net gain for the public, provided that it would "host 224 events during the year (assuming the eventual closing of CAA, no new arena in Newark, no NHL and no minor league hockey events at the Atlantic Yards arena.)"
Crain's NY Business, Top Row
The Yanks are filling a smaller share of home-game seats, vs. 90.7% in "08, though their new home holds fewer fans.
Trailing the pack of local pro teams, Bruce Ratner's NJ Nets reportedly only filled 75.8% of their seats during the 2008-09 season.
Posted by lumi at 5:55 AM
June 23, 2009
MTA says arena would open in 2012, not 2011
Atlantic Yards Report
Oops, an MTA official let slip something we knew all along:
It was an aside during the presentation yesterday by Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chief Financial Officer Gary Dellaverson, but he clearly said (upon review of my recording) that "now until 2012 is the anticipated construction of the arena."
That's the date that I've been using as a best-case scenario for an arena opening, even as Forest City Ratner still claims it could open in 2011.
NoLandGrab: This kinda stuff never stopped Atlantic Yards developer and NJ Nets owner Bruce Ratner from misleading the public and press about the arena opening date before. We don't expect Ratner to be stricken by a bout of honesty any time soon.
Posted by lumi at 6:59 AM
June 18, 2009
Web readers ask: What WAS that pro-arena editorial?
BrooklynPaper.com, Letters
Readers of The Brooklyn Paper were overwhelmingly dismayed — actually, stronger words are required — by last week’s editorial supporting Bruce Ratner’s now-Frank Gehry–less basketball arena plan (“Just do it,” editorial, June 12). In fact, we got more comments than we’ve ever received on an editorial. Here’s a fair synopsis.
...“Gehry or not, Brooklyn doesn’t need this arena. The economic development in this part of Brooklyn was just fine before the city and Ratner became involved. This is a land and power grab, not an opportunity for economic development. Please, spare us Brooklyn Paper’s editorial crying. Crying for the corrupt and powerful is no way to live.”
Charles, Park Slope
“Brooklyn has muddled along without a major league sports franchise for decades. It will do fine with or without Ratner’s pick-pocketing. Good riddance to the abuse of process, lack of transparency, and back-room deals by those who don’t make the borough their home.”
Freddy, Park Slope
Read on for plenty more where those came from.
Posted by eric at 11:16 PM
June 16, 2009
So, where would they put the practice facility? And would the team bond with Brooklyn?
Atlantic Yards Report
With some lack of precision, [SportsBusiness Journal] reports:
In addition, the Nets are building a practice facility next to Barclays Center, on the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic streets, something that was not part of Gehry’s design. The add-on ties in with the team’s effort to form a close bond with Brooklyn’s 2.5 million residents by having the players spend more time on-site, Yormark said.
Well, Flatbush and Atlantic are avenues, not streets. If the practice facility does occupy that wedge area, then it could block any plans for the once-promised Urban Room. (Maybe they could call it the Urban Room.)
Attached practice courts are nothing new in NBA arenas. They're included in the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (model for Brooklyn), the TimeWarner Center in Charlotte, and the Verizon Center in DC, among others.
Posted by lumi at 5:32 AM
June 15, 2009
Evoking Brooklyn like never before
Nets Daily has posted some excerpts from a SportsBusiness Journal update on the Conseco Fieldhouse, we mean new Barclays Center, complete with some novel new spin from Nets' CEO Brett Yormark.
SportsBusiness Journal, Nets’ arena vision: ‘Brooklyn brand’ [Subscription required]
With sports architect Ellerbe Becket officially replacing renowned civic designer Frank Gehry on the New Jersey Nets’ Barclays Center project, the Nets are redeveloping their venue plans by focusing on the “Brooklyn brand.”
Nets Daily, Yormark Provides Details on Arena Design…and New Practice Facility
Before flying off to China Saturday, Brett Yormark provided Sports Business Journal with details on the new Barclays Center design…and a Brooklyn practice facility. The design includes a tighter seating bowl entered from street level, a mix of large and “mini-suites”, more in-house TV feeds, and plenty of natural light, said Yormark. Bottom line: “the building is now going to evoke Brooklyn like never before.”
Nets Daily, Excerpts: Sports Business Journal on New Arena Design
Yormark needs to rethink his alleged "I only sleep three hours a night" routine, because every time he opens his mouth, he sounds more and more delirious.
Gehry had never designed a big league arena before Nets owner Bruce Ratner called, whereas Ellerbe brings experience in building multiple NBA arenas that will help get the job done in time for a planned 2011 opening.
NoLandGrab: That was the whole point — the big sell on the arena was that it would be Gehry's first big-league arena. And Metrotech will freeze over before a Brooklyn arena opens in 2011.
"The biggest change is that the building is now going to evoke Brooklyn like never before,” he said. “There’s such a legacy there. Wherever I travel, it is an international brand. They wear it on their hats and on their chests. We’re going … to brand Brooklyn in a big-time way, and it will start with the look and feel of the building."
NLG: Yes, nothing evokes Brooklyn like a knock-off of an Indianapolis design knocked off from another Indianapolis design. There is, however, a Brooklyn, Indiana. Brooklyn, New York is pretty well branded already, no?
The 18,000-seat arena’s two suite levels will be called the Brownstones and the Lofts.
NLG: In memory of the brownstones and lofts Ratner is tearing down?
Here's confirmation that the Urban Room is d-e-a-d.
In addition, the Nets are building a practice facility next to Barclays Center, on the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic streets, something that was not part of Gehry’s design. The add-on ties in with the team’s effort to form a close bond with Brooklyn’s 2.5 million residents by having the players spend more time on-site, Yormark said.
NLG: Nets players are sure to be psyched that they'll have to drive in from their homes in New Jersey on off-days, too. And nothing says "lively public space" like a closed practice facility.
Is it just us, or is this whole plan getting weirder and weirder by the day?
Posted by eric at 10:40 AM
June 11, 2009
Gehry or not, Brooklyn needs this arena
The Brooklyn Paper, Editorial
Indianapolis knock-off or no, the Brooklyn Paper is gung-ho for Bruce Ratner's arena.
Bruce Ratner’s bid to save his Atlantic Yards basketball arena by simplifying its design was predictable, but for our part, we’ll stick with consistency: Whatever serious reservations we’ve had about the larger Atlantic Yards project, the plan for the arena — though no longer the grandiose one envisioned by Frank Gehry — still merits support.
Consistently wrong, that is.
The arena remains what we have always said it is: a fundamentally vital civic project in the right place at the right time.
Um, wrong place (Brooklyn's most-congested intersection), wrong time (when actual vital things, like schools, mass transit and city services are being slashed).
Now the timing better fortifies our long-held position. In the current economic climate, it would be foolhardy to walk away from both the economic development opportunity and heightened civic identity offered up by the arena and the Nets.
Now here's where it gets silly. Did the Brooklyn Paper miss the big news from the State Senate hearing two weeks ago, you know, the bit where the city's Independent Budget Office declared the arena a money-loser for the taxpayers? Now that's an economic development opportunity.
Read on to hear how Brooklyn won't be whole without its very own mediocre pro franchise, how Frank Gehry's arena design was like ladies' undergarments, and the caveats. And boy, are there caveats.
Posted by eric at 11:57 PM
The Post notices that the Brooklyn arena couldn't be open until the 2012-13 season
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder is happy to see any acknowledgment from the mainstream media — even from an obscure NY Post blog — that there's no way the Nets will be playing in Brooklyn in 2011.
I've been encouraging everyone to do the math about the best-case arena opening. Now there's finally a mainstream media acknowledgment, albeit online and somewhat in passing, that the earliest Brooklyn basketball season would be 2012-13, not 2011-12.
The observation came from an unbylined "web editor" writing in a New York Post sports blog, The Back Page, about the prospects for Cleveland superstar LeBron James moving to the Nets....
NoLandGrab: Yes, we know, that "obscure NY Post blog" surely has oodles more readers than we do, but that's what we're callin' it.
Posted by eric at 11:20 PM
Nets’ New Sponsor Comes in High Def From China
City Room
by Charles Bagli
Nets' CEO Brett Yormark isn't letting the Gehry debacle get him down — he's fixin' to announce a new sponsor. How does he do it?
The New Jersey Nets may not have gotten final approval or the financing for their proposed $800 million arena at the Atlantic Yards project near Downtown Brooklyn, but the team has rounded up another lucrative sponsorship deal, with Haier, the giant appliance manufacturer from China.
The agreement with Haier, which makes the National Basketball Association’s official high-definition television, is expected to be announced within the next several days, according to an executive who was briefed on the deal. The company will have a store within what would be known as Barclays Center, which is part of a planned 22-acre development near Downtown Brooklyn.
The Nets already have a $400 million naming rights deal with Barclays Bank. The team has also signed eight other “founding partners,” or sponsors, including Anheuser-Busch, Cushman & Wakefield, Emblem Health and Phillips-Van Heusen. There will be a Jones Soda Shoppe and a Foxwoods club. Those deals are worth more than $100 million.
The value of the Haier deal is unknown.
NoLandGrab: How does The Times know it's “another lucrative sponsorship deal” if the “value of the Haier deal is unknown?” Because Brett Yormark said so? They really ought to know better by now.
Hope this one works out better than Yi Jianlian.
Posted by eric at 10:57 PM
More farewells to Frank
We have to admit, even we're starting to tire of this storyline.
Crain's NY Business, Gehry off the case in Brooklyn
The company plans to use a number of architects to design individual buildings, according to the statement, which noted that Mr. Gehry remained the master planner.
NoLandGrab: It's quite funny that Gehry's only remaining role is that of "Master Planner," something his entire career demonstrates he is clearly not.
The Business of Sports (SunSentinel.com), Arena design: economics v. art
But those that chose to be different have successfully built sports venues that represent their communities, ones for which fans can immediately identify their place. Think PNC Park overlooking the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh; the old brick warehouse that’s part of Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore; and, even American Airlines Arena, overlooking Biscayne Bay.
Isn’t making progress correcting bad decisions of the past? Do we want to regret a decision that was made based on economics? Miami Arena, anyone? The pink elephant was obsolete when it opened in 1988, lost its tenants and was demolished last year.
...“Unfortunately the world we live in today is very different than what it was three or four years ago when we hired Frank," Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said Wednesday according to the piece. "The world is more simplistic. It's not as grand and glitzy. And I'm not sure that design would have been appropriate right now, as much as we all loved it. I think the design that we have now is very appropriate. It speaks to Brooklyn."
I’m not so sure.
Posted by eric at 6:19 PM
Clock ticking on Nets move to Brooklyn
NorthJersey.com
by John Brennan
The Nets have just over six months left to wrap up their planned move to Brooklyn, Nets Chief Executive Brett Yormark said today.
“We have to break ground this year for various reasons,” Yormark said during a panel discussion at the audience at the annual Sports Facilities and Franchises event in Manhattan.
One reason is the Dec. 31 expiration of an IRS provision allowing tax-free bonds to be issued for construction of the team’s proposed Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
...Yormark was asked during the panel discussion what would happen if the Dec. 31 deadline was not met.
He said that he asked Ratner the same question when being interviewed for the job several years ago. He said he was told, “There are no other options.”
A few hours later, Devils principal owner Jeff Vanderbeek said Newark’s Prudential Center could be an option if the Brooklyn plan falls through.
“We’ve always said that we would” share the Newark arena, he said when asked about the idea by an audience member. “We’d welcome them with open arms. I think that they certainly would do very well here.”
Posted by eric at 8:20 AM
Is ESDC approval a "formality"? The truth and fallacy of Yormark's observation--plus a 2012 best-case arena opening date
Atlantic Yards Report
Nets CEO Brett Yormark is caught in a truth, but we expect him to recover:
As the Record, reported:
[Yormark] also said approval by the Empire State Development Corp. for a revamped construction plan was a “formality” to be finalized later this month.
Yormark added that public hearings would follow this summer, “also as a formality.”
Well, he's right--and he's wrong. Few doubt that the ESDC will "adopt" a revised Modified General Project Plan, setting forth a 60-day process, including a public hearing, and board approval.
But it's not just a formality. It gets the ESDC to state, on the record, whether it predicts a ten-year buildout, as before, and how many buildings might be constructed at first. And it opens up the ESDC to potential litigation.
Posted by lumi at 5:43 AM
June 10, 2009
Jay-Z: “September We Break Ground”
Nets Daily
Either Jay-Z blundered, or the Nets really think that they are going to break ground on a new arena in Brooklyn in SEPTEMBER (as in after August and before October).
The Nets haven’t been very specific about when they’ll break ground for the Barclays Center, saying only “this fall” or “later this year”. Jay-Z, who owns a small piece of the team, gave a little more detail Tuesday. At the end of an interview on his latest album, he twice said ground breaking will take place in September, adding “We went through all the law proceedings and we refined the drawings”.
See below for reaction to the "refined" drawings.
Posted by lumi at 6:56 AM
June 9, 2009
It Came from the Blogosphere... (More Ourousoff fallout edition)
Brooklyn Born, An open letter to Nicolai Ouroussoff
The Brooklyn blogger gives Nicolai Ourousoff a nod for admitting, albeit just a tad, his complicity in this debacle, but isn't having any of this we're-all-in-this-together nonsense.
Now the part where I become conflicted to a personal degree is where I want to point out how hypocritical it is of the lead architectural critic of the New York Times to basically say I played a part in the process of selling the public on celebrity/aspirational architecture that is out of scale for it's intended surroundings and may actually be harmful when complete; but then end his article as if we all need alter our behavior and learn from this failing project.
To end on that note is to cast responsibility on everyone as if we are all equal players in this play.
...I am tired of people in positions of responsiblity not being responsible and then offering a "what we all need to learn from this..." message when in fact we all didn't support this mess.
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill], Arena Fallout, Cont’d.
Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff’s willingness to admit having drunk and served up the Kool-Aid on the Atlantic Yards arena does not get him off the hook, Brooklyn Born writes in an interesting open letter to Mr. Ouroussoff.
Golden Icing, Atlantic Yards – a disappointing update
For all my critiques of Gehry’s proposal, the plan described here is far worse.
Creative Contact, Gehry Departs, Brooklyn Rejoices?
Since its conception, the entire Atlantic Yards project has been a center of controversy - too big, too flashy, too costly - and this recent bit of news does not help.
TEXTSCAPE, Worst possible outcome for Atlantic Yards
Despite the skepticism and abuse of some of my friends, I'd been a fan of Atlantic Yards.
...Now we have the official announcement of Gehry abandoning the project and of the project going to Ellerbe Becket. All the potential urban congestion issues with none of the compensations of great architecture. Atlantic Yards will now join the less than mediocre Atlantic Terminal/Atlantic Center and the single story big box windowless stores across Flatbush.
The Cleveland Leader, Forest City Walloped by New York Times Critic
Ouroussoff writes that the arena design for the Nets team would make it “fit more comfortably in a cornfield than at one of the busiest intersections of a vibrant metropolis.”
Ouch!
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Dear Barclays Bank: This is Worth $400 Million to You??!!
DDDB wonders how Barclays likes its arena now.
Posted by eric at 5:24 PM
How Many Different Ways Can Nicolai Ouroussoff Say ‘Do Not Want’?
The Daily Intel
by Chris Rovzar
For those of you overwhelmed with all the Gehry vs. Ellerbe media buzz, the New York Magazine blog boils down Nic Ourousoff's lament about the new Atlantic Yards arena design to little more than Tweet length:
The new "colossal, spiritless" stadium is "a blow to the art of architecture" that "should enrage all those who care about this city." It is "a shameful betrayal of the public trust." Its "low-budget, no-frills design embodies the crass, bottom-line mentality that puts personal profit above the public good" and would "fit more comfortably in a cornfield than at one of the busiest intersections of a vibrant metropolis." "As glamorous as a storage warehouse," it "lacks the sense of mystery and surprise that was such an essential part of the Gehry design … adding nothing." If it is ever built, "it will create a black hole in the heart of a vital neighborhood."
Also, it's fat. Ugh.
Posted by eric at 4:34 PM
It came from the Blogosphere...
Who Gives A Shit, It's Gone, Yet Another Reason to Root Against the Nets
I'm not going to go into all the many, many ins-and-outs of the highly contentious Atlantic Yards development project, which consists of a new arena for the New Jersey Nets and 16 residential/office towers right in the heart of Brooklyn.
...By my unofficial tally, however, there are probably 1,000 or so reasons to be against the project. But until developer and Nets owner Bruce Ratner had the gaul to fire architect Frank Gehry in favor of Ellerbe Becket, the architectural equivalent of trading Michael Jordan for Kerry Kittles, nobody of institutional import dared to chime in against Ratner's plan. Enter the New York Times, whose line in the sand is, apparently, bad architecture...
Realty Collective, Atlantic Yards arena scrapped in favor of Tractor Supply Company
In a stunning turnaround, Forest City Ratner released their latest plans for what was to be the Nets stadium at Atlantic Yards - Brooklyn's first Tractor Supply Company. The new proposal may finally unite community groups, civic leaders, and the developers.
Given Brooklynites' deep commitment to sustainable living and local organic produce, Tractor Supply Company may finally fill the need for small farm vehicles, manure spreaders, and rototillers currently unmet by other big box chains. The new design is fresh and rural, and sends a meaningful message for these bleak economic times - thumbing its nose at "fashion" and "quality."
Brownstoner, Ouroussoff, Tell Us How You Really Feel
New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff doesn't mince words in reviewing the new design for the Atlantic Yards Arena.
WCWP Sports, Nets, Atlantic Yards Ditch Gehry -- Get Gymnasium
Damn, Nicolai. That's cold... but true.
Pray extra hard tonight, people. This cannot be built.
Curbed, New Nets Arena Renderings Make Critic No Less Angry
...not only does the new Barclays Center threaten to destroy the neighborhood, but it could also wreak havoc on the entire city and architecture as a whole.
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, Times on Ratner: A Stunning Bait and Switch
In yesterday's New York Times Nicolia Ouroussoff wrote a scathing piece about Forest City Ratner's decision to change architects on the Atlantic Yards Project.
Taunter Media, Bait and Switch
It seems they had a bit of a change of heart, and decided to go with something a bit more Oversized Costco:
Actually, that’s not quite fair. It is simply a relocated Conseco Fieldhouse, which nicely saves everyone the trip to Indianapolis:
Tropolism, Atlantic Yards: The First Post
Instead, the project has simply been redone, shorn of its residences and shops and now it's simply become one of those deadening black holes in the city, just like "Madison" "Square" "Garden". It's a classic, bald-faced bait-and-switch, which is a cute New York way of saying that Forest City Ratner are crooks. They have stolen the public's patience and benefit of the doubt in exchange for their own personal profit. The effect of which is that this part of Brooklyn will be dumb and cold and dead until 2050 when some even more stupid gyration will have to happen in order to renovate the dumb thing that might get built right now.
NY Times City Room, The Atlantic Yards Development: Two Designs, Many Opinions
Nicolai Ouroussoff’s assessment of the new scheme for the Nets arena in Brooklyn, which replaces a more elaborate and expensive Frank Gehry design, has drawn a lot of reader comments — he’s apparently not the only one with strong feelings.
Nets Daily, Architecture Critic Laments New Arena Design
Amazingly, there are actually a couple Atlantic Yards-related blog posts today that don't mention Nicolai Ourousoff or the new arena design.
The Angry New Yorker, DO THE MATH! BLOOMTURD’S NUMBERS READY TO DROP!
Atlantic Yards ranks #3 among TANY's reasons why the Mayor's re-election bid is about to come undone.
Curbed, Brooklyn's New Tallest Gets a Name: The Brooklyner!
Atlantic Yards gets a mention in this story about Brooklyn's excitingly named new tallest building.
For all the hubbub that was created when Frank Gehry designed his Miss Brooklyn skyscraper at the Atlantic Yards to replace the Williamsburgh Bank Building as Brooklyn's tallest building (before it was eventually downsized), the Clarrett Group's 111 Lawrence Street has flown relatively under the radar.
NoLandGrab: Downsized? As of now, Miss Brooklyn is non-sized.
Posted by eric at 1:54 PM
Battle Between Budget and Beauty, Which Budget Won
The NY Times
By Nicolai Ouroussoff
Calling it "a shameful betrayal of the public trust"," The Time's architecture critic blasts Bruce Ratner's arena bait and switch.
Whatever you may have felt about Mr. Gehry’s design — too big, too flamboyant — there is little doubt that it was thoughtful architecture. His arena complex, in which the stadium was embedded in a matrix of towers resembling falling shards of glass, was a striking addition to the Brooklyn skyline; it was also a fervent effort to engage the life of the city below.
A new design by the firm Ellerbe Becket has no such ambitions. A colossal, spiritless box, it would fit more comfortably in a cornfield than at one of the busiest intersections of a vibrant metropolis. Its low-budget, no-frills design embodies the crass, bottom-line mentality that puts personal profit above the public good. If it is ever built, it will create a black hole in the heart of a vital neighborhood.
Ouroussoff later adds:
A massive vaulted shed that rests on a masonry base, the arena is as glamorous as a storage warehouse.
...
Building this monstrosity at such a critical urban intersection would be deadly. Clearly, the city would be better off with nothing.
Refreshingly, instead of taking the simple-minded tack of blaming project opponents, Ouroussoff acknowledges one of the early criticisms of the arena:
I suppose we should have seen this coming. The scale and location of the project posed serious challenges — challenges that could not be solved by the conventional development formulas. Arenas are notorious black holes in urban neighborhoods, sitting empty most of the year and draining the life around them. And in this case, the arena would dominate a major intersection and anchor a dense 22-acre residential development several blocks to the east.
The Times also published a closer preview of the arena design (above) than the rendering released late last week.
Atlantic Yards Report, NYT critic Ouroussoff wakes up, calls new arena design a "stunning bait-and-switch" and a "shameful betrayal of the public trust"
Norman Oder chronicles Ouroussoff's conversion:
OK, in July 2005 New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff enthused that Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards plan "may be the most important urban development plan proposed in New York City in decades." (I thought he missed a few things.)
In June 2006, he wrote a more pensive if hardly tough assessment of the project,
In March 2008, he wrote something of an elegy, urging Gehry to leave the project, predicting blight (accurately, it terms out), and even seeming to emerge as a project opponent.
Today, however, he pulls out the big rhetorical guns, calling Forest City Ratner's decision to trade Gehry's arena for a more pedestrian design by Ellerbe Becket a "stunning bait-and-switch" and a "shameful betrayal of the public trust."
Posted by lumi at 6:40 AM
AYR twofer
Here are two quickies from Atlantic Yards Report:
What should $20 million buy? What can Forest City afford?
On one hand, Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner is trying renegotiate a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), hoping to only cough up $20 million up front for the arena portion of the railyard, instead of the entire $100 million. On the other hand, the parent company wants investors to know that the company is on better financial footing.
NoLandGrab: So can't the company afford the $100 million, or is this another bait and switch?
So, when did the ESDC conclude that AY wouldn't take ten years? A debate in court
Yesterday, attorney George Locker tried unsuccesfully to get a judge to add a recent statement from an Empire State Development Corporation executive to the record in hopes of reopening a case from last year:
Was it only in April, when ESDC CEO Marisa Lago publicly predicted [Atlantic Yards] would take "decades"? Or was it earlier?
That distinction was at the heart of a 20-minute argument in state Supreme Court yesterday, during which attorney George Locker, who represents eight rent-stabilized tenants in two buildings within the Atlantic Yards footprint, [updated/corrected 7:20 am] unsuccessfully tried to vacate the decision that rejected his request that the ESDC hold a new hearing to re-approve the project.
...After the hearing, however, Locker was nonplused. Given that the ESDC is expected to issue a revision of GPP on June 24, a new public hearing would in fact be held, thus mooting his appeal.
Posted by lumi at 6:15 AM
June 6, 2009
Bloomberg, who once said we don't have to settle for the conventional, now praises new arena design, ignores other AY changes
Atlantic Yards Report
Earlier today, on the radio show Live from City Hall with Mayor Mike and John Gambling, Mayor Mike Bloomberg offered expected support for Forest City Ratner's vastly changed design for the Atlantic Yards arena and arena block, saying the new design was more affordable.
Bloomberg, not unexpectedly, did not bring up the loss of the planned office building that was supposed to bring significant new revenues, or the attached Urban Room. Nor was he asked about the Independent Budget Office testimony that the arena would actually be a money loser for the city.
Nor did anyone bring up that the reported $800 million price tag is significantly more than the $637.2 million figure announced when the project was approved in December 2006. No one has explained why the cost of the arena has gone up so much.
Bloomberg did say that Forest City Ratner and architect Frank Gehry "decided to part company," even though Gehry, at least in some accounts, remains the project's master-planner. But Bloomberg sure sounded like he got his information secondhand.
Posted by steve at 6:49 AM
June 5, 2009
Atlantic Yards Nets Arena: From "World Class" to Provincial Crass
Gothamist
by John Del Signore
The Conseco Fieldhouse, er, new Barclays Center, is not dazzling the folks over at Gothamist.
So redesign it they did, if by redesign you mean a banal homage to any number of unremarkable "field house" arenas across America; places where you can watch college ball, check out weekend flea markets, and sometimes see Ice Capades. But that last diversion won't even be an option for New Yorkers, because unlike Gehry's design, the Ellerbe Becket reboot doesn't include a rink. Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with a modest, utilitarian hangar like this, but after all Ratner's talk about Gehry's "world class" designs, and all the legal battles and controversy and threats, this is best they could come up with for Brooklyn?
It's tempting to call it a joke, but it's on taxpayers and Brooklyn residents and businesses the city has been trying to relocate for years. In a press release announcing the new design, Ratner blames opposition groups for delaying this boondoggle for so long that the "slowing economy" finally made the more ambitious designs untenable. Develop Don't Destroy, the developer's main foe, fires back, and sees the whole debacle as a bait and switch:
[Forest City Ratner] should blame themselves for their arena going from really bad to worse... Here's our explanation: Forest City Ratner's reckless incompetency as a mega-developer, leading to an inability to manage costs. Because if incompetency is not the reason, then it is very likely that Ratner never intended to construct a Gehry-designed arena, but rather used the starchitect for publicity to gain respect and applause from cultural critics and media elites, and get the project approved. And then, throw the Gehry design under the bus.
Posted by eric at 1:04 PM
Gehry: Going, going, going... gone (Part Deux)
Lots of news coverage today. Here are a few stories that have come in over the past couple hours — or managed to wriggle through our usually trusty boondoggle net.
NY1, Famed Architect Departs Atlantic Yards Project [with video]
The group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, which has been fighting the project, is calling on Governor David Paterson to stop the development. They say it will not deliver on Ratner's promises.
"This is just one more piece of evidence that they never intended to build it the way they said they would," said Candance Carponter of Develop, Don't Destroy Brooklyn. "It's really, at this point, the icing on the cake, because one of the main draws was Frank Gehry and obviously he was too expensive or they couldn't build the plan they wanted and it's another bait and switch from Forest City Ratner."
WNYC Radio, Developer Replaces Architect of NJ Nets Arena
Ratner used Gehry's name liberally while winning government approvals for Atlantic Yards. But in the end the developer couldn't afford the world-famous architect. Gehry's design would've cost nearly a billion dollars. Instead, Ratner has turned the project over to Ellerbe Becket, a lesser-known firm that's designed NBA arenas in Memphis, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina. The developer says Ellerbe Becket's design will be "more limited in scope" and images will be shown later this month. Ratner's office hasn't said whether Gehry will continue as architect for any of the other 16 buildings at Atlantic Yards.
The Architect's Newspaper, Gehry'd Away
Asked for a timeline on the rest of the project, which includes 16 residential and office towers in addition to the arena, the [Ratner] spokesperson said that remained undecided, as the first priority was finishing the arena. But the spokesperson also suggested that Gehry Partners’ involvement might have come to an end. “Frank might design one of the buildings later, I don’t think it’s impossible,” the spokesperson said. “But right now, he just the master planner.”
...Gehry had long been seen as a linchpin to the project’s success, touted on the Atlantic Yards website and by numerous politicians. At the announcement of the project in December 2003, Borough President Marty Markowitz declared, “Brooklyn is a world-class city, and it deserves a world-class team in a world-class arena designed by a world-class architect.”
NorthJersey.com, Nets replace renowned architect Gehry as Barclays Center designer
The more modest design may help in reducing the overall cost, but it could make it more difficult for the Nets to market the arena to potential sponsors as an internationally renowned project. Nets Chief Executive Brett Yormark said last year he was pitching the Barclays Center to potential European corporate partners not as an arena but “as a landmark.”
The Nets, who have a year-to-year lease to remain at the Meadowlands’ Izod Center, are running out of time to break ground in time for a fall 2011 opening in Brooklyn.
GlobeSt.com, Gehry Off the Job at Atlantic Yards
As recently as last Tuesday, Ellerbe Becket principal Bill Crocket told GlobeSt.com, "we are working with Forest City Ratner, doing analysis, and as far as when any decision is going to be reached, I can’t tell you." He added that he didn’t think any decisions about timing, or anything else, had been made at that point. But that was Tuesday, and as has been the case at Atlantic Yards, events change almost daily.
NoLandGrab: It would be more accurate to say "stories change almost daily."
Posted by eric at 12:13 PM
It Came from the Blogosphere... (Frank, we hardly knew ye edition)
Brownstoner, Gehry Officially Off Yards Project
Unfortunately for all of us, The Times describes the new design as bearing a resemblance to Conseco Field as well as an "airplane hangar."
Curbed, The De-Frankified Barclays Center React-o-Matic!
Curbed serves up a round-up of some reactions to the Gehry news, with a Bob Guskind-esque headline, who, it so happens, was honored last night with a posthumous award for community service by the Park Slope Civic Council.
Following yesterday's formal announcement of the junking of starchitect Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards arena for a cheaper design, a look at how the Interweb is reacting to the new Barclays Center, aka The Hangar.
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill], Arena Plan: Gehry Out, Ellerbe In
Our colleague Charles Bagli reports over on the mother Web site that Forest City Ratner has formally dropped Frank Gehry’s plan for a billion-dollar arena at Atlantic Yards in favor of a more modest $800 million model designed by the Missouri architectural firm Ellerbe Becket.
Gothamist, It's Official: No Gehry At Brooklyn Nets Arena
Ratner has stated he hopes to break ground on the arena this year; his opponents doubt that will happen.
Runnin' Scared, Atlantic Yards Scales Back; Gehry's Playhouse Gives Way to "Airplane Hangar"
Of course, scaling back the project doesn't mean scaling back what it demands of the city: Ratner is asking to be permitted to pay the MTA only a fraction of the cost of air and land rights needed for the project upfront, with the remainder to be tendered when the big bucks start rolling in. It's beginning to get around that this scheme is going to cost more than benefit the city, and even longtime booster Mike Bloomberg is getting cold feet. And as for the neighbors, forget it. Sometimes it seems like the only people left in Brooklyn who want this thing are the people who run the borough and the people who want to run it.
Not Another F*cking Blog, Gehry’s out, Becket’s in, as Atlantic Yards arena architect
I’d love to be a fly on the wall by the water cooler across the pond at Barclays. They had said they were willing to toss $20,000,000 per year for 20 years (that’s $400,000,000!) at Forest City Ratner for the honor of having their name and logo plastered all over a Gehry design. Becket? Who? Airplane hanger??! They have lots of web site updating to do over at www.barclayscenter.com.
In the Crease [Newsday.com], No hockey in Brooklyn
Scratch one more prospective site for the Islanders to move, if they are in the mood to move. According to a story in the New York Times today, the new plan for the Nets' arena at the proposed Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn does not include accommodations for a hockey rink.
...Atlantic Yards, like Charles Wang's Lighthouse development proposal on the Nassau Coliseum grounds, has been delayed far beyond the developer's intentions. Lawsuits and the recession have plagued the Brooklyn plan. It will be interested to see which site gets a shovel in the ground first--or if either ever does.
Islanders crazy, Brooklyn we go small
With the situation on the Island being uncertain and the recent court victory for Ratner, fans have now plotted Brooklyn on their wish lists for alternative homes of Islanders hockey. But the notion that Brooklyn could be the new home for hockey might not be a reality anymore.
Nets Daily, Gehry Design Out, New Design Like Pacers Arena
Curbed LA, Gehry's Brooklyn Arena Design Replaced
Curbed, Frank Talk on Atlantic Yards
Posted by eric at 11:31 AM
PRESS RELEASE: FOREST CITY RATNER COMPANIES AND GEHRY PARTNERS ANNOUNCE ALTERATION TO ATLANTIC YARDS RELATIONSHIP
Frank Gehry, Who Produced Overall Master Plan, Relinquishes Role as Architect of the Barclays Center
NEW YORK, June 4, 2009 - Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) and Gehry Partners today announced a mutual agreement in which Pritzker Prize winning architect Frank Gehry, who produced the master plan for the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, will no longer serve as the architect for the arena to be called the Barclays Center.
As the master planner for the Atlantic Yards development, Frank Gehry created a blueprint for what will be a vibrant new urban community blending an arena, housing, retail and commercial space, as well as six acres of landscaped public open space.
FCRC also announced that it has retained the award-winning architectural firm Ellerbe Becket to design the Barclays Center, which will be the home of the Nets basketball team and host over 200 concerts and family shows annually. The new arena design will incorporate all of the approved design standards.
"I have an immense gratitude toward Frank Gehry for his amazing vision, unparalleled talent and steadfast partnership," said FCRC Chairman and CEO Bruce Ratner. “Both at Atlantic Yards and with the Beekman tower in lower Manhattan, he has continually produced beyond our expectations. Throughout this process - as litigation produced delay; as rising construction costs impacted the budgets of all developers; and a slowing economy altered expectations - Frank and his team have shown remarkable flexibility and professionalism, making cost-effective revisions as needed. The current economic climate is not right for this design, and with Frank’s understanding, the arena is undergoing a redesign that will make it more limited in scope.”
Mr. Gehry said, "We remain extremely proud of our work on the Atlantic Yards master plan and on the original arena, which we designed in close collaboration with Forest City Ratner. While there are always regrets at designs not realized, we greatly appreciate our ongoing relationship with Bruce and his team."
link [PDF]
FCRC hopes to unveil the new images of the Barclays Center in late June and intends to break ground later this year in anticipation of a completed arena in time for the Nets to play the 2011-2012 NBA season in Brooklyn.
Ellerbe Becket has designed some of the world’s most notable and successful sports and entertainment facilities, most notably Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis,IN, Qwest Field in Seattle,WA, and the Guangdong Olympic Stadium in China.
“Ellerbe Becket has been responsible for designing some of the finest sports and entertainment venues in the world,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern. “From Conseco Fieldhouse to FedExForum, Ellerbe Becket has created a first-class fan experience in all of its buildings. I am excited for Ellerbe Becket to design a world-class arena for Brooklyn and I look forward to opening night at the Barclays Center.”
Mr. Ratner said, "Working with Ellerbe Becket, I am confident that we will meet all of our design objectives while providing a dynamic environment and the best sightlines for basketball fans and spectators for all events.”
About Forest City
Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Forest City
Enterprises, owns and operates 31 properties in the New York metropolitan area. Forest City Enterprises, Inc., a $10.9-billion NYSE-listed national real estate company, is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the United States.
About Gehry Partners
Gehry Partners, LLP is a full service firm with broad international experience in academic, commercial, museum, performance and residential projects. Frank Gehry established his practice in Los Angeles, California in 1962. The Gehry partnership, Gehry Partners, LLP, was formed in 2002 and employs a large number of senior architects who have extensive experience in the technical development of building systems and construction documents, and who are highly qualified in the management of complex projects. Every project undertaken by Gehry Partners is designed personally and directly by Frank Gehry.
About Ellerbe Becket
Ellerbe Becket is internationally recognized as a leader in the architecture, engineering and interior design industries. The firm’s sports practice specializes in the design of facilities that are renowned for providing outstanding patron experience. With offices worldwide, the firm has designed more arenas than nearly any other architectural firm, including 15 new arenas for the NBA and NHL in the past two decades. Ellerbe Becket brings together fans, athletes, and sponsors through the design of iconic venues that are efficient to build, own and operate. 2009 marks Ellerbe Becket's 100th anniversary. For more information, visit www.ellerbebecket.com.
Posted by eric at 10:44 AM
Guess what: the Brooklyn arena, accommodating Ratner's short-term goal, would be too small to fit in hockey
Atlantic Yards Report
We gave Norman Oder short shrift yesterday in our haste to publish links to his posts, which deserve a fuller treatment.
Now that architect Frank Gehry is off the Atlantic Yards project, forget Gehry’s dream to design an arena that could accommodate not just basketball but hockey.
Value engineering, sources tell me, means scrapping Gehry’s design to make the building smaller, without space for professional hockey.
...But the failure to leave space, at least, for hockey means one potential source of additional tax revenues--and arena activity--would be precluded. So Ratner's decision might not benefit the city and state in the long-term.
NoLandGrab: The all-out rush to build an arena — any arena, even an off-the-shelf, already-done-in-Indianapolis arena — could seriously affect Ratner's ability to sell luxury suites. Would you rather buy a suite in the basketball-only Conseco Fieldhouse, um, we mean Barclays Center, or in Madison Square Garden, the World's Most Famous Arena™, and get hockey games, too?
Posted by eric at 9:16 AM
June 4, 2009
Atlantic Yards Report non-Gehry Arena Coverage
Here are two from AYR regarding this afternoon's startling Atlantic Yards news:
Posted by eric at 5:14 PM
New Nets arena could cost city money
Arena Digest
With a name like Arena Digest, they could still be objective, right?
Now, with the price of the arena rising to $950 million, this advantage could be gone, according to a preliminary opinion from the city's Independent Budget Office.
Could be, we say, becuse IBO officials actually didn't perform any sort of financial analysis. They were going with their gut feelings about the project and looking only at the arena, not the total Atlantic Yards project.
So this "news" may not be as significant as the New York tabloids would have us believe -- or, rather, we'll be waiting for the real analysis with real numbers.
NoLandGrab: Actually, the IBO did perform a financial analysis, and they're the only official entity that has done so with any degree of credibility (we assume that Arena Digest would prefer the NYC EDC method of cost-benefit analysis, which assigns a $0 value to costs and then subtracts it from wildly inflated "benefits").
Keep in mind that IBO looked only at the arena because all of the other elements of the Atlantic Yards project are up in the air: size of project, amount of office space, mix of housing, public contribution, timing, etc., etc. Of course, come to think of it, the cost of the arena and the identity of its architect are up in the air, too.
Posted by eric at 10:17 AM
Daily News follows up on IBO revelation; FCR stonewalls, NYC EDC repeats claim of cost-benefit analysis
Atlantic Yards Report
AYR follows up on today's Daily News story.
As for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, it repeated the argument it made to WNYC:
...by only analyzing the arena - and not the 16 residential and commercial towers also proposed for the site - the IBO had released inconclusive information. "In light of new conditions, the city is updating a cost-benefit analysis, and any decisions related to the project will be informed by this revised analysis with the goal of ensuring a significant net positive fiscal impact to the city," said EDC spokesman David Lombino.Well, there's little evidence the rest of the project will be built in a timely fashion, if ever, so the arena is a legitimate, if incomplete, subset, even though Lombino is correct in suggesting there should be a full analysis.
But there's no evidence the city has done a real cost-benefit analysis as opposed to just adding up benefits.
NoLandGrab: When David Lombino says "any decisions related to the project will be informed by this revised analysis with the goal of ensuring a significant net positive fiscal impact to the city," does he mean that they want to ensure that the analysis shows a net positive impact? Or the project itself? Based on the NYC EDC's past sleight of hand, we're betting they just want to make the numbers look good.
Posted by eric at 8:21 AM
June 2, 2009
Not So Suite: Ratner's Faulty Arena Revenue Model
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
No new luxury suite sales over a one year period, and now a reduction in the overall number of luxury suites. Clearly there is no demand for Barclays Center suites. Luxury suites are the raison d'être for building a new arena.
The lack of demand and the reduction of suite sales demands attention towards Ratner's revenue model for paying back the arena bond holders. The revenue model appears to be faulty, making the $800 million arena bond more risky for the bond holders and New York State which would be on the hook if there were to be a default.
NoLandGrab: We're pretty sure this raises no flags in the NYC EDC's sophisticated financial analysis model.
Posted by eric at 12:04 PM
May 31, 2009
For Nets, Barriers to Brooklyn Fall Slowly
The New York Times
By Richard Sandomir
The Times gives its assessment of the state of the Atlantic Yards fight.
Will the Nets ever play basketball in Brooklyn?
The question is impossible to answer nearly six years since Bruce C. Ratner hatched the idea when he led the successful bid to acquire the Nets for $300 million.
Troubled by litigation, Forest City Ratner, Ratner’s real estate development company, has not fully cleared the full 22-acre site where the arena, the Barclays Center, would rise.
No work has been done since the end of last year on land that is a hodgepodge of empty lots and buildings and the Long Island Rail Road’s Vanderbilt Yards. Forest City has neither begun to pay the Metropolitan Transportation Authority the $100 million they agreed to for development rights over the yards — and is, in fact, negotiating the price sharply downward — nor begun to move the tracks to a far end of the site.
Brett Yormark, Nets CEO wants us know that, this time, really, truly, he double-swears that the proposed arena will be built:
“It’s done, inevitable, it’s imminent, it’s going to happen this year,” said Brett Yormark, the Nets’ chief executive. After a number of failed predictions for when the Nets would move into the arena, he said: “We’re on schedule. There’s more certainty than there’s ever been.”
His confidence rests on two factors. First, a state appellate court’s May 15 dismissal of a lawsuit filed by an alliance of 21 community groups, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn. If the appeal it expects to file fails, the state can use eminent domain to seize the remaining properties.
Second, the recession that appeared to level the hope of financing the arena is abating, opening up clogged credit markets to the possibility of selling up to $600 million in bonds.
...
But Forest City must break ground by Dec. 31 to meet the Internal Revenue Service’s deadline to sell tax-exempt bonds. If the developer misses the deadline, financing costs will leap. “Bruce and I have never talked about missing that deadline,” Yormark said.
The same deadline appears to loom for the 20-year, $400 million naming-rights deal between the Nets and Barclays. Barclays extended the sponsorship beyond last year because of continued construction delays, but a spokesman refused to say if it would do so again.
Daniel Goldstein, a leader and spokesman of Develop Don’t Destroy, said he did not believe Forest City would meet the deadline, not with his group’s appeal of the eminent domain decision and intention to file more lawsuits to delay the project until its death.
“They’re not going to get financing this year or control of the land this year,” Goldstein said during an interview in his condominium on Pacific Street, which would be about midcourt of the proposed arena. He, his wife and baby daughter are the only occupants of the nine-story building, the other 30 unit owners having long ago accepted Ratner’s buyout offers.
“I don’t even think they know what will make them give up,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nets continue to be a financial drain on Forest City:
Since acquiring the Nets, Forest City Enterprises, Ratner’s parent company, has sustained pretax losses of $111.9 million, including $76 million in the year ended Jan. 31.
The team’s dozens of investors have sustained $353 million in pretax losses, about half of it from amortization. Forest City became responsible for 54 percent of the team’s losses in the year ended Jan. 31, a larger share than it had ever absorbed. On the positive side, it has future sponsorship commitments for the arena of $500 million, 80 percent of it from Barclays.
And where is Frank Gehry? He was supposed to be the architect for the arena, except that now he isn't.
The team desperately needs the arena, which was designed by Frank Gehry. But to reduce its cost to $800 million or less, it could lose Gehry, the architect of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The arena was to be sheathed in glass and topped with a running track and an ice skating rink. But Forest City has consulted with other architects, including Ellerbe Becket, in Kansas City, Mo., to slash the price and make it easier to finance.
...
Gehry, who declined to comment through a spokesman, recently cast doubt on the Atlantic Yards, for which he is the master architect, ever coming to fruition. He quickly retracted his statement. But if the shape and look of the arena changes enough to meet economic needs, it may not meet Gehry’s standards.
Posted by steve at 7:31 AM
Net the Nets: New York must get behind a new basketball arena for Brooklyn
The Daily News
At least in the past, this editorial might have included some promised benefits from underwriting out-of-scale private development. Now it's just down to subsidies for pity's sake.
Slowed but undefeated, developer Bruce Ratner is striving to advance Atlantic Yards, a project that would bring a sports arena, the NBA Nets and thousands of apartments to Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.
New York should hope he succeeds. And the MTA, which agreed to sell Ratner most of the property for the project for $100 million, must be flexible as well in getting the deal done.
The economic meltdown forced Ratner to scale back his $4.2 billion dream. So the spectacular, eccentric design by famed architect Frank Gehry will likely give way to a more traditional arena shorn of Gehry's trademark folds and curves. And Ratner has asked the MTA to extend payments on the $100 million sale price.
That shouldn't be a stretch for the MTA, which hit a similar bump last year while trying to develop the Hudson Yards on Manhattan's West Side. The agency worked with the builder to stretch payments and delay closing as the credit markets crashed.
Ratner will likely need similar cooperation to get Atlantic Yards on track, while giving the MTA revenue it would otherwise lose. Let's make a deal.
NoLandGrab: Here's the deal being proposed: Give public subsidies to a billionaire developer and receive an arena that returns ... nothing.
Posted by steve at 7:18 AM
May 27, 2009
Architectural firm Ellerbe Becket tapped to reevaluate Frank Gehry's Atlantic Yards arena design
NY Daily News reporter Jotham Sederstrom has some additional details about yesterday's Sports Business Journal report that Missouri-based design firm Ellerbe Becket has been working on Forest City Ratner's Nets arena:
Ellerbe Becket... was tapped last fall to reevaluate the extravagant arena design [Frank] Gehry conceived for developer Forest City Ratner to lure the NBA's New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn.
...
Headquartered in Kansas City, Ellerbe Becket is known for designs that are more cost-efficient than Gehry's projects, which tend to be full of ruffles and flourishes.
...
The firm, which has designed basketball arenas for the NBA's teams in Memphis and Charlotte, was hired around the same time Gehry axed nearly every one of his employees who had been working on the stalled project.A Forest City Ratner spokesman Tuesday insisted the firm had been hired to implement cost-cutting measures for the estimated $800 million arena, but observers familiar with how Frank Gehry works suspect that could soon change.
"Because Gehry's designs are fairly complex, any real changes would probably end up looking like an Ellerbe Becket project," said a former Gehry architect who worked on Atlantic Yards until being laid off late last year. "[Gehry's projects are] relatively difficult to execute."
Ratner spokesman Joe DePlasco said a reevaluation of Gehry's design would be completed by July, at which point Ratner will determine whether the world-famous architect would remain on the project.
Posted by lumi at 5:35 AM
A Gehry arena or an Ellerbe Becket arena?
Atlantic Yards Report
Yesterday, Sports Business Journal reported that Kansas City-based arena design firm Ellerbe Becket has been working on Bruce Ratner's arena for the Atlantic Yards megaproject.
Well, there's serving as a consultant and serving as a lead designer. Ellerbe Becket may have been working on the AY arena for three years, but it's unlikely that the firm's role entered the foreground until [architect Frank] Gehry laid off his staff just before last Thanksgiving (as the Daily News reported).
If Barclays bought naming rights in 2007 with knowledge that Ellerbe Becket was helping, the firm surely expected to see Gehry's name on the arena.
So, even if the news won't "wreck the arena's financing model," as DDDB alleged, state officials surely should be able to tell the public who's designing the arena. Right?
And what about the cost and timing of the arena?
Check out the rest of the article for "Bobbo's" (aka "Net Income") latest pot shot at Norman Oder, who proves to be more resourceful than the pseudonymous Nets fan.
NetsDaily.com, Kansas City Firm Redesigning Barclays Center
PlanNYC.org, Nets Arena Designer In Question
DDDB.net, Bye-bye Frank Gehry. Hello Ellerbe Becket?
Posted by lumi at 4:37 AM
May 26, 2009
Brooklyn Bound?
Sports Business Journal: Breaking Ground
by Don Muret
Don’t be surprised if Ellerbe Becket becomes the lead designer for Barclays Center, the Nets’ much-delayed arena project.
Renowned civic architect Frank Gehry originally designed the building. Kansas City-based Ellerbe, designer for the two newest NBA arenas, in Charlotte and Memphis, has been consulting for the Nets for the past three years and is making adjustments to arena blueprints to see how it can be built at a lower cost.
Team officials declined to confirm Ellerbe’s involvement or whether Gehry is still part of the project.
...Ellerbe Becket principal Bill Crockett said, “Our work has been ongoing, and we have not been advised of what they will accept and when it will be released.”
Posted by eric at 11:08 AM
May 18, 2009
How Brooklyn lost LeBron: Rabid development foes killed shot at getting superstar James
NY Daily News
A rabid editorialist laments the passing shot at getting LeBron James in Brooklyn, as if it were "the worst thing to happen to Brooklyn since the Dodgers left."
Brooklyn, you could have had a shot at such greatness because James will be a free agent in summer 2010. And the borough was poised to be in the running with a new Nets arena.
...
But plans for a sports and entertainment venue ran into rabid obstructionists who fought the arena and associated housing construction as though it would be the worst thing to happen to Brooklyn since the Dodgers left.On Friday, the 23rd court in a row ruled in favor of developer Bruce Ratner, primary owner of the Nets. He vowed once more to get the project going. Great. The city needs the arena and the housing. But now the best case is that Ratner will get an arena open for the 2011 season. Long after James likely signs with another team.
So now, we can imagine James getting a brownstone in Bed-Stuy or Fort Greene. Imagine him tutoring kids at local schools. Imagine him doing for the once-lousy Nets what he's done for the once-lousy Cavs.
NoLandGrab: You can imagine many things, once you drink the Kool-Aid.
Contrary to what the editorial implies, Atlantic Yards Report points out that developer Bruce Ratner "is delaying the housing on his own," along with the fact that LBJ would have to take less money to sign with the Nets than he'd get from the Cavaliers, something the *Daily News" must've forgotten with all their frothing.
Posted by lumi at 6:16 AM
Excitement in the Blogosphere over court ruling
A few bloggers are excited about Bruce's plans to take peoples' homes to build an arena for the Nets.
Two bloggers who support the NY Islanders effort to build a mixed use office-housing-arena megaproject see a "Lighthouse" at the end of the tunnel:
Let There Be Light(house), Can-Do vs. Can't-Do
Honestly, I can't see the point of anything other than a Can-Do mentality. I would rather be the person constantly trying to move forward than the person desperately trying to stop others from moving forward. Which do you want to be? We have an option to do something truly great. The Atlantic Yards project took a step forward despite enormous odds because of a Can-Do mentality, and it's time to re-inject some of that spirit into Long Island. If we don't, some other community will Can-Do our young people, our sports team, and our economic future right out from under our noses.
NYI Point Blank, AN ARENA DEVELOPMENT GROWS IN BROOKLYN Seems only Long Island can’t get it done
If Ratner actually gets his deal done and a shovel in the ground in October, it will be a profound accomplishment against stacked odds. The Nets will join the Yankees and Mets and Giants and Jets in moving into the 21st century and moving into state-of-the-art homes that will help them flourish for generations.
And then there will be the Islanders.
situatedlaundry, My Brooklyn Nets
Another blogger is less sangiune about the project, but any concerns are trumped by the coming of pro sports, "even if it's basketball."
Posted by lumi at 5:37 AM
May 17, 2009
After city/state claim cost of arena is trade secret, Ratner volunteers a number to the Times
Atlantic Yards Report
For the purposes of publicity, Bruce Ratner can give an estimate of the cost of the proposed Nets arena. However, the ESDC keeps the actual number a secret to New Yorkers who are expected to subsidize the project.
There are two curious aspects to the New York Times's report yesterday, in the context of an article on the Atlantic Yards eminent domain case, on the price tag for the AY arena.
First, the Times identified the cost of the arena at $800 million, later adding, regarding Bruce Ratner, that "[h]e has also said he wants to pare the projected $1 billion cost of the arena by about $200 million."
But the arena had previously been said to cost $950 million and, while rounding up to $1 billion may be convenient, $50 million isn't chump change. So I'm going to call the price tag $750 million until further notice.
...
More importantly, Times reporter Charles Bagli apparently didn't have to file a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to get the cost estimate.
...
So, how come the cost is not a trade secret any more? There's a public policy issue here. As I wrote, if the cost is now a secret, that suggests that developers and public agencies can announce one set of numbers to the public, then turn around and keep the actual numbers secret.
Posted by steve at 9:06 AM
May 8, 2009
NY transit riders still risk more hikes
Reuters.com
Reuters published this story just hours before Lee Sander was forced to resign as Executive Director of the MTA by Governor David Paterson.
Asked whether the MTA's rail yards in Brooklyn would see a basketball arena next year, part of a residential-office complex planned by developer Forest City Ratner, Sander said only: "I'm not in the arena business."
NoLandGrab: It appears that Sander, who had nothing to do with the rigged agreement to sell the Vanderbilt Yard to Bruce Ratner, was the fall guy for Albany's lack of meaningful action on the MTA funding crisis. Rather than scapegoating a capable public servant, perhaps the Governor should instead be pulling the plug on the MTA's worst land giveaway ever.
Posted by eric at 1:35 PM
May 6, 2009
NBA's Stern asserts groundbreaking this summer, but he didn't check with the ESDC
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder speculates about The Commish's sources.
From the Newark Star-Ledger:
[NBA Commissioner David] Stern was confident the Nets' Brooklyn relocation project, the future of which has been in doubt, would break ground this summer. "Yes, they will, I'm told," he said. "I'm sure."Well, he's probably been listening to Nets CEO Brett Yormark, whose track record is not so good.
Empire State Development Corporation CEO recently said that the project would generate "a substantial number of construction jobs - commencing in 2010," which I interpret as an acknowledgment that groundbreaking--at least other than purely symbolic--wouldn't happen until next year in the best-case scenario.
Posted by eric at 10:56 PM
NBA commissioner David Stern confident New Jersey Nets will break ground this summer in Brooklyn
The Star-Ledger
by Jenny Vrentas
Gathered in a ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Manhattan, within miles of new stadiums already built or on the horizon for each of their sports, the commissioners of Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL and NHL faced an obvious question: In this terrible economy, how much of a burden will teams bear after opening their palaces?
"It's hard work, and it's going to be harder certainly now," NBA commissioner David Stern said at Wednesday morning's "Future of Sports" panel. "But it will have a period of readjustment, and it will continue to go."
That was the overriding mentality as the commissioners -- whose leagues pull in a combined annual revenue of $21.2 billion -- discussed the effect of these trying economic times on professional sports. While adjustments need to be made, the leagues are still moving forward.
In no area is that more relevant than New York, where the Devils, Mets and Yankees have all recently opened new venues, the Giants and Jets are completing their joint stadium, and the Nets have plans to begin construction of their new home.
Stern was confident the Nets' Brooklyn relocation project, the future of which has been in doubt, would break ground this summer. "Yes, they will, I'm told," he said. "I'm sure."
NoLandGrab: Sure he's sure. Not to mention that asking the commissioners of the four major sports leagues about how their franchises might really be faring is like asking Jim Cramer if stocks are a buy.
Posted by eric at 10:42 PM
May 2, 2009
Just Miles Apart, 2 Arenas Compete
The New York Times
By Jeffrey C. Mays
This article talks about the tricky political game being played out in New Jersey as politicians struggle to decide what to do about two state-owned arenas. In this difficult economy, New Jersey politicians can neither quite justify the expenditure of taxpayer money for the Izod Center, nor risk the backlash that would result from closing it in favor of Newark's Prudential Center. Part of the mix is what is to become of the New Jersey Nets, who currently make their home at the Izod Center.
The Izod Center, which opened in 1981 at the cost of $85 million, is operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and was financed with public dollars. The New Jersey Nets basketball team has a lease at the arena until 2013, but team officials said they plan to relocate to a Frank Gehry-designed arena in downtown Brooklyn in time for the 2011-2012 season. There is growing doubt about whether that arena will be completed.
Posted by steve at 7:20 AM
"It Still Hurts When You Lose."
CFO Magazine
By Vincent Ryan
There's plenty to give your b.s. detector high readings in this Q&A with New Jersey Nets CFO Charlie Mierswa.
What will the move to Brooklyn mean for the financial growth of the organization?
Everything changes when we get to Brooklyn — I would expect us to be one of the most valuable teams. The difference is the density of the population. Also, we will be in control of the building. Just look at the sponsor values when we move to Brooklyn versus what we're able to garner in New Jersey; it's night and day.The arena will be a destination in the center of Brooklyn, with clubs and amenities that you can't find in other buildings in the marketplace, because they were built 20 or 30 years ago. It's more than just basketball. There will be concerts and family shows. It will be another market for artists to play in.
Do you anticipate any problems raising the funds to build the stadium?
The project has the political support that it needs, and the reason is the number of jobs it's going to bring. The recent financing that the Mets and Yankees did — municipal debt with PILOT payments [payments in lieu of tax] — that's the same vehicle we are going to use. The Yankees's $370 million issue was oversubscribed. Clearly there's an appetite for that kind of financing. We met with the rating agencies and they were very enthusiastic. All we need is the green light. We expect to get it in the next three or four months. We think we will prevail in the remaining lawsuits.
Political support for Atlantic Yards did not come from the paltry number of projected arena-oriented jobs, but from the "Affordable Housing" component of the project. Nobody knows if or when such housing might appear. Does Mierswa's comment indicate that Forest City Ratner is too busy trying to keep the project afloat to control the statements coming from its own team? Also, any discussion of project finances that doesn't take into account the U.S. economy and Forest City's financial health is woefully inadequate.
But you're also scaling back the architectural plans for the arena, right? We're going through a process of "value-engineering" the stadium plans. That will bring down construction costs to a level that will facilitate the financing. There's no question it will continue to stand as a landmark in Brooklyn; it will also be economically viable in this marketplace.
"Value engineering" translates to "Frank Gehry is no longer part of this project."
Posted by steve at 6:37 AM
April 28, 2009
Nets Plan “Sky Banners” in IZOD Corners
The word from NetsDaily.com is that Sports Business News (subscription only) is reporting that Bruce Ratner's crack sports-marketing team has figured out how to monetize thousands of empty seats:
The Nets have rented four 52′ high by 20′ wide projection screens they plan to hang in the four corners of the IZOD Center next season. The “sky banners” will display advertising expected to bring in as much as a half million dollars a year. They will be spread over entire sections and reduce the number of upper level seats by as many as 1,000. During sellouts, the banners can be removed.
NoLandGrab: It's clear that the Nets have given up trying to fill up the Izod Center with NJ fans that are way past caring for a team that is obsessed with moving to Brooklyn.
Posted by lumi at 4:44 AM
April 24, 2009
Touchy subject: Yanks kick MLS after ticket remark
AP via Yahoo! Sports
Mention those empty seats at Yankee Stadium at your own risk.
Don Garber did.
A day after the Major League Soccer commissioner raised the subject, New York Yankees president Randy Levine blasted back.
“Don Garber discussing Yankee attendance must be a joke,” Levine said Friday. “We draw more people in a year than his entire league does in a year. If he ever gets Major League Soccer into the same time zone as the Yankees, we might take him seriously.
“Hey Don, worry about Beckham, not the Yankees. Even he wants out of your league,” he said.
NoLandGrab: Hey Randy, how 'bout you worry about filling your absurdly priced empty seats — and fixing your flawed poor home-run-derby excuse for a $1.5-billion stadium?
“When I mentioned the New York Yankees yesterday, my comments were part of a larger assertion that all businesses—even the most successful sports entities—are experiencing some impact from the economic downturn,” Garber said through a league spokesman.
“The Yankees are one of the world’s strongest sports brands and the context of my comments about a few empty seats at Yankee Stadium was to illustrate the economic challenges we are all facing,” he said.
NLG: The obnoxious Levine is overreacting just a tad, no? Garber is dead-on in his estimation of the sports recession, and his comments are one more reminder of how foolish New York State officials' continuing support of an expensive new arena in Brooklyn really is.
Posted by eric at 7:34 PM
Newark Mayor Booker: "I believe the project in Brooklyn is not going to work"
Atlantic Yards Report
Newark's Mayor continues to be bullish on the notion of the New Jersey Nets ending up in, um... New Jersey — Newark, to be exact.
Last night, the WBGO radio show Newark Today with Mayor Cory Booker, was supposed to focus on environmental issues, but, as with shows in February and March, discussion of the Nets was inevitable.
..."Let me tell you exactly what I think is going to happen," Booker continued. "I believe the project in Brooklyn is not going to work and not going to go forward. I believe the team's going to be put up for sale. I think there's going to be a national competition for it, because people want the team, from Seattle to New Jersey. I think New Jersey cannot afford to lose the Nets, so we're working double time to make sure that, when that opportunity comes, it's bought by New Jersey investors with the intention of putting the team in Newark."
Posted by eric at 5:23 AM
April 22, 2009
The sports bubble pops, and the Nets can't help but notice
Atlantic Yards Report
The layoffs of staffers working on sponsorships for the New Jersey Nets apparently reflect the new reality.
There are already many questions related to the planned Brooklyn arena, among them Frank Gehry's role and the cost of construction.
Given the example of the new baseball parks, there's less of an appetite for luxury suites. That would mean a decline in both revenues for the developer and the taxes expected. It also suggests that a new cost-benefit analysis is in order.
Posted by eric at 10:34 PM
Green for the Masses
Majora Carter: Forget the polar bears and focus on the jobs.
Newsweek interviews the Bronx's queen of green, Majora Carter, who explains why the big bucks go to the big boys, like Bruce Ratner.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Carter's work, check out the entire interview. The following is the bit with the Atlantic Yards reference:
You've talked a lot about work at the municipal level. Where does the money for these projects come from? Is that where the big battles are?
Yes, because the real vittles go to the folks who have power in any municipality. Poor people don't. In a sad way, it was completely telling that when the funds came down to New York from the stimulus package, Alfonse D'Amato was right up there trying to advocate for funds for the Atlantic Yards project. I was like, excuse me? If nobody's watching that, then how do we make sure the jobs are going to people who desperately need them? How do we make sure we're reversing the environmental degradation that we've done to the ghettos of our country? There are people who really know how to milk the system. The result is they've clustered huge amounts of noxious facilities in communities like ours all these years, at huge expense to public health and air quality.
NoLandGrab: To Carter's point, Bruce Ratner proposes to build a 19,000-seat stadium at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. Flatbush Avenue runs adjacent to neighborhoods with some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the nation.
Posted by lumi at 5:11 AM
April 17, 2009
Future Home of the Nets
The Brian Lehrer Show
WNYC reporter Matthew Schuerman tosses a healthy dose of cold water on the likelihood of Forest City Ratner being able to issue bonds for the planned Barclays Center arena in a must-listen segment focusing on New Jersey's arena civil war and the Nets' foundering move to Brooklyn.
If the Nets aren't going to Brooklyn, Newark better get them. That's what Newark mayor Cory Booker says. WNYC reporters Bob Hennelly and Matthew Schuerman talk about the political wrangling going on around the future home of the Nets.
Posted by eric at 3:01 PM
April 16, 2009
Truce talks underway in dispute between Prudential, Izod centers
The Star-Ledger
by Ted Sherman
That's "Truce talks," not "Bruce talks," but there's a very good chance those have been going on too.
Truce talks have broken out in the arena wars. After nearly two years of fighting over which will be the state's premier entertainment venue, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority -- operator of the aging Izod Center in the Meadowlands -- and the Prudential Center in Newark are quietly trying find a way to co-exist without destroying each other.
The two sides have been talking behind the scenes about a possible joint agreement that would give the Sports Authority responsibility for the day-to-day running of the new arena in Newark, executives on both sides said today.
...The Prudential Center, known as "The Rock," is home to hockey's New Jersey Devils, who began their NHL playoff run tonight. The New Jersey Nets, who play at Izod, say they are moving to a propose[d] arena in Brooklyn but critics say the structure is underfunded and will never be built. The team has agreed to play two pre-season games at the Prudential Center, but insists it has no intention of moving to Newark.
Posted by eric at 12:49 PM
As Thomas Resurfaces, Knicks Rebuild a Franchise
The New York Times
by Harvey Araton
What's Isiah Thomas have to do with the Nets? Nothing. What do the Knicks have to do with the Nets? Not much, other than that they wiped the floor with the Vince Carter- and Devin Harris-less Nets in last night's season finale — and unlike their cross-Hudson rivals, they appear headed in the right direction.
Speaking of uncertainty, at least the Knicks have a home in which they don’t feel imprisoned and which isn’t being swallowed by an indoor skiing and entertainment complex.
Pity the Nets; despite the infusion of young talent at point guard (Devin Harris) and center (Brook Lopez), they remain residentially stuck between a horrible place, the Meadowlands, and a hard place, Brooklyn. If shovels aren’t soon in the ground for the proposed arena, they’d be wise to relocate soon to the Rock, as Newark’s Prudential Center is called, if they want to compete for free-agent talent.
NoLandGrab: Unless Nets' minority owner Jay-Z is ready to ink LeBron James to a six-record contract and cut him in on his LiveNation gig, the chances of LBJ ending up in a Nets' uni in 2010 look close to nil.
Posted by eric at 12:30 PM
Arena, 2012? New 2010 groundbreaking estimate suggests even that date may be cutting it close
Atlantic Yards Report
In his series on questions needing answers for an eventual State Senate Committee hearing on Atlantic Yards, Norman Oder thinks that the official arena opening date might be out of reach:
Yesterday, it was revealed that Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) CEO Marisa Lago predicted that construction jobs be generated in 2010, thus indicating that groundbreaking would occur then.
...
How long would the arena take to build? Let's say, for example, that arena construction begins in February. Should the arena take 24 months, as with many arenas around the country, the arena could indeed be finished well in time for the 2012-13 basketball season, which begins in October.But what if the arena takes two-and-a-half years to construct, as Forest City Ratner CEO Bruce Ratner has said? That would get the arena finished in August, again early enough for 2012.
And what if the arena takes 32 months to build, as indicated in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, according to my reading. That would push an opening date until early October--and any delay in groundbreaking could jeopardize that opening.
Posted by lumi at 6:36 AM
April 15, 2009
Newark Mayor: If Nets Aren't In Brooklyn, Then Newark
Gothamist
By Jen Chung
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is not happy with plans to improve the Izod Center at the Meadowlands. According to the Star-Ledger, Booker sent a letter to NJ Governor Jon Corzine, "Should the Nets not build their project in Brooklyn, the Nets' long-term home in New Jersey cannot be Izod. It must be Newark."
Posted by lumi at 5:31 AM
April 14, 2009
New York Stories
With two facilities opening this week and more on the way, can sports’ biggest marketplace support them all?
Sports Business Journal
by Bill King
Yankees COO Lonn Trost is having trouble sleeping these days.
Trost suspects that this would have been the case even if the economic weather hadn’t turned as it did, breeding the “perfect storm,” as he often calls it. It was during an economic boom that the Yankees planned, built and priced the most expensive stadium to date: a vast, $1.5 billion stretch of polished stone and steel.
They will open the park on Thursday, amid the worst financial unraveling since the Great Depression, a time of fiscal and psychic realignment that has some companies rethinking the way they entertain clients.
This is not something anyone would have predicted or planned for.
...“Is the activity as high-paced as you’d want opening a new facility? Absolutely not,” said Jeff Wilpon, Mets chief operating officer and son of principal owner Fred Wilpon. “But it’s still pacing ahead of last year, and I think in the end we’ll pick up because of word of mouth.
“Considering that the economy hasn’t gotten any better, that’s not so bad. We’ll be fine.”
This is not simply the story of two big league ballparks built in one environment and opening in another, though that would bear watching, even by itself. No, this is about an entire sporting city under construction, a place where the hard hat is running neck-and-neck with the ball cap, as no fewer than half a dozen teams try to make good on billions of dollars in facility upgrades at a time when purse strings are pulled tight.
And where the handful who haven’t yet put shovels in the ground hope against hope that they still can.
Like the would-be developer of Atlantic Yards?
And then there is Nets owner Bruce Ratner, still angling to build a $950 million arena as part of a $3.5 billion project in Brooklyn, and Islanders owner Charles Wang, who wants to pull off a similar play on a smaller scale with his NHL team on Long Island.
NoLandGrab: Officially, it's a $4 billion project.
From the time that it became clear that this glut of inventory would hit the market in a short span, the teams took the position that New York, as the capital of American business, could absorb it. Today, each still speaks confidently about his own endeavors. But privately, each wonders about the larger picture.
We’ll be fine, but those guys?
One man’s “we” is another man’s “those guys.”
NLG: Obviously, there's no regional entity overseeing and coordinating the need for arenas and stadiums, but there should be. And with the Yankees still advertising the availability of ticket packages just two days short of opening their new ballpark, the market for more sports facilities doesn't seem too rosy.
Posted by eric at 11:14 AM
As Newark mayor takes swipe at Izod, facility glut in NY area must make Brooklyn boosters a tad uneasy
Atlantic Yards Report
Last week Sports Business Journal reported that the Izod Center at the Meadowlands might be getting an upgrade, equipping it for the unlikely future of an ever-extended Nets residency.
Yesterday, Newark Mayor Cory Booker fired back, sending a forceful letter to Gov. Jon Corzine:
It is fiscally irresponsible, particularly in these difficult economic times, for the State of New Jersey to expend a single additional public dollar or incur additional debt to support an outdated facility to retain the Nets when a state-of-the-art, world class center already exists in Newark. I urge you to veto the NJSEA minutes and not let this project move ahead.
...
Meanwhile, an article yesterday in Sports Business Journal focused on the rivalry for sponsorship and attendance among the new and coming sports facilities in the New York area.
Posted by lumi at 6:50 AM
April 12, 2009
Spend $10,600 on the Yankees — or for College or a Car?
The New York Times
by Vincent Mallozzi
Recession? What recession?
With the celebrated arrival of Citi Field, I can barely afford to raise a family of Mets fans.
But for me and my three sons, things could be a lot worse.
After all, we could be Yankees fans.
Now let’s suppose the four of us wanted the best seats in the house across the street from the one that Ruth built. A single ticket for a premium Legends Suite seat, on the field level behind the dugouts and home plate, goes for $2,650. For me and the boys, that amounts to $10,600 to watch nine innings of Yankees baseball, or $1,177.77 per inning, if you’re keeping score at home. That princely sum is three times as much as Ruth earned — in his first full season with the Red Sox, $3,500 in 1915.
By contrast, the Mets’ top ticket is $695. Can anybody here afford this game?
“I think if anybody in any business had known where the economy was going to go, they would have done things differently,” Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ general managing partner, told reporters before the team’s first exhibition game at the stadium. “There’s no doubt that small amounts of our tickets might be overpriced.”
Might be overpriced?
NoLandGrab: Don't look to the Barclays Center for bargains — "bunker" suites in Bruce Ratner's planned Nets arena are allegedly priced at $540,000, or a mere $13,170 per game.
Posted by eric at 3:25 PM
April 7, 2009
What about that 850,000 square foot arena?
Atlantic Yards Report
Have plans for Ratner's landmark Frank Gehry-designed arena been secretly altered?
More than a week later, the official Atlantic Yards and Barclays Center (bottom) sites still promise an 850,000 square foot arena, even though developer Forest City Enterprises, in a Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission filed on March 30, no longer promises an arena of that size.
Then again, the last update on the AY Construction Updates page is from October.
Posted by lumi at 6:35 AM
April 6, 2009
State looks to keep Izod in step with Meadowlands upgrades
Sports Business Journal
by Don Muret
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority plans to select an architect in the next few weeks to design upgrades to Izod Center, but it’s not a ploy to keep the Nets from leaving the Meadowlands.
The idea is to keep the arena up to date as construction continues on Xanadu, the $2 billion retail and entertainment project next door, and a new rail line opens this summer with service to the sports complex, said Dennis Robinson, the authority’s president and CEO.
The Nets have been trying for the past five years to build Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Team owner Bruce Ratner has said publicly that the project will break ground this year and open for the 2011-12 season. Their lease at Izod Center expires at the end of the 2012-13 season.
“They know we are very interested in having the Nets remain at Izod Center long term should the Brooklyn project not materialize,” Robinson said.
NoLandGrab: Sinking money into an arena that may be teamless in a couple years doesn't seem like a very good investment, but NJSEA CEO Robinson doesn't sound convinced that the Nets are Brooklyn-bound.
Posted by eric at 8:50 PM
April 3, 2009
Campaign beats drum for downtown Bklyn
Effort comes as area’s pricing edge is under threat.
Crain's NY Business
by Amanda Fung
Crain's reports on the new Downtown Brooklyn marketing campaign — and is considerably less sanguine on the future of Atlantic Yards than the Brooklyn Daily Eagle's Dennis Holt.
The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership is launching its first major marketing campaign to promote the area as an ideal business district. It comes at a time when the area’s key commercial attraction—its long-running pricing edge—is being dulled by shriveling office rents in Manhattan.
The multi-year campaign uses the tagline: “It’s the Moment.” It includes print ads in real estate trade publications and a new Web site, which features short video clips of area residents and commercial tenants. Among them is someone who is still years away—at best—from working in the neighborhood: New Jersey Nets star guard Devin Harris. The NBA team is expected to move into the planned Barclays Center arena in the Atlantic Yards, if and when the project is built.
NoLandGrab: It's a little odd that the second video among 22 clips on the campaign web site features the Nets' Harris; if the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership's top "reason why" is a project that hasn't yet broken ground (and may never), they have an uphill battle ahead of them.
And if there's any public money in this campaign, chalk it up as yet one more subsidy for Bruce Ratner.
Posted by eric at 5:19 PM
March 31, 2009
Islanders have boro view
NY Daily News
By Nicholas Hirshon
CHARLES WANG isn't ruling out Queens in his power play to win a swanky new rink for the Islanders.
While the city is trying to force Willets Point property owners to sell by threatening to use eminent domain, Queens leaders are hoping to lure the NY Islanders hockey team:
Queens leaders hope to lure the Islanders as part of redevelopment plans for Willets Point, a gritty industrial zone of auto body shops. But Wang said the 62-acre tract near Citi Field "isn't even in the priority list."
...
The Queens Chamber of Commerce is pitching Willets Point as an ideal spot for the four-time Stanley Cup champions given its proximity to highways and the No. 7 train.
Meanwhile, Wang hasn't given up on the NJ Nets:
Wang, who bid on the New Jersey Nets in 2003, told the crowd "it would be wonderful" for the hoops troupe - which played at the Coliseum from 1972 to 1977 - to return to Uniondale.
Nets owner Bruce Ratner's plans for an arena in Brooklyn are struggling amid dried-up financing, but team spokesman Barry Baum insisted the franchise will still move there.
Posted by lumi at 5:32 AM
March 25, 2009
The Nets' Chief Exaggeration Officer
WFAN
New Jersey Nets President and CEO Brett Yormark made an appearance on WFAN radio today with midday hosts Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts, and much of the talk revolved around Frank Gehry's diminishing confidence in the future of Atlantic Yards.
Ever the fabulist optimist, Yormark repeated his claim that the Nets would be in Brooklyn for the 2011-2012 season. And then he blew some more smoke at the credulous Benigno and Roberts, telling them that the project would create "17,000 construction jobs" and an outlandish "8,500 permanent jobs."
The problem with those claims is that they're not true. Even Forest City Ratner claims only 15,000 construction jobs, and those are actually job-years, arrived at by multiplying 1,500 constructions jobs by 10 years of build-out. As for the permanent jobs, FCR's most recent claim is 3,000 jobs, and Atlantic Yards Report has poked big holes in that number — Norman Oder calculates 2,418 permanent jobs, with only 725 of those being new office jobs. That is, if FCR actually builds an office tower, which it says it won't until it has a tenant for at least half the space.
Yormark also claims a record of 22-0 in Atlantic Yards court decisions, which he cites as the reason for optimism about clearing the remaining legal hurdle and breaking ground this year. But with Yormark's Nets sporting a record of 30-41 and sitting 3-1/2 games out of the NBA Eastern Conference's 8th and final playoff spot, he might do well to concentrate a bit more on basketball and a little less on real estate prognostications.
Posted by eric at 11:14 PM
March 13, 2009
Nets’ Yormark Says Team Move to Brooklyn ‘Will Happen’ in 2011
Bloomberg News
by Mason Levinson
You've got to admire Pollyanna Brett Yormark's enthusiasm. You just have to wonder why.
The New Jersey Nets are committed to moving to a yet-to-be-built Brooklyn arena for the 2011-12 National Basketball Association season, overcoming economic concerns and legal opposition, team Chief Executive Officer Brett Yormark said.
“It will happen,” Yormark said in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “For the Record,” which will air tonight. “We’ll be there for the ‘11-’12 season. We’ve pre-sold 20 percent of our suites. We’ve got eight of our 14 founding partnerships already completely signed. Next week, we’ll announce our ninth.”
NoLandGrab: Yormark's boast about having pre-sold 20% of the still-on-the-drawing-board arena's suites glosses over the reality of the situation. You see, nearly a year ago, in early May, 2008, Yormark also boasted about having pre-sold 20% of the suites, to "friends and family." At the time, we questioned what "friends and family" really meant.
Bottom line, in the past ten-and-a-half months, the Nets have apparently not enticed anyone else — friend, family or, more importantly, otherwise — to join the ranks of suite buyers.
We should also note that when Yormark was first boasting about the suite pre-sales, he was also claiming the Nets would be moving to Brooklyn at the start of the 2010 season.
Posted by eric at 7:40 PM
March 10, 2009
Alan Paul in SLAM: "Newark just makes too much sense to ignore"
Atlantic Yards Report
SLAM mag Far Post blogger Alan Paul, who's written some good stuff from his (former) base in Beijing, hit the Izod Center Sunday not so much to see the Nets play the Knicks but to catch exactly how the Nets were putting together an evening of Chinese culture.
The aim was to lure Chinese fans of Nets forward Yi Jianlian, but Paul, now back in his New Jersey home, concluded that his different worlds came together in some unexpected ways.
He connects the dots between China, the Meadowlands, and Brooklyn:
One bizarre, somewhat troubling thing you see all the time in China are boondoggle-like public construction projects. Fly into any decent-sized city anywhere in the country and you are likely to find at least one giant public building built with grandiose vision but hazy purposes. Stadiums and arenas that no one uses, for example, dot the country....
So when I drove up the NJ Turnpike to Exit 16 and saw the bizarre Xanadu complex rising out of the former Continental (now Izod) Arena parking lot, I felt just like I was back home in China! What an insane project. And to see it going up now, with the state –where I live and pay taxes — in such desperate financial straits and essential services being curbed.. well, it’s just nuts. And then I pulled into the complex and saw the new Giants Stadium rising next to the old Giants Stadium and thought about the fact that the Nets are supposed to pull out of here soon — not to move to the beautiful new Prudential Center down the road in downtown Newark but to a fantastical, not-even-close-to-being-built $1 billion arena in Brooklyn and the mind just boggles.
Posted by lumi at 6:59 AM
New Jersey Nets Moving to the Prudential Center? It Might Actually Happen
The Bleacher Report
By Juni Ramos
Bruce Ratner's NJ Nets need a new arena, Newark actually has one — go figure.
Does Brooklyn even want the Nets? The answer is an astounding "no." There has been much outrage and protest to the building of the billion-dollar new stadium in Brooklyn.
Okay, I just said "build a new stadium." The Prudential Center is a new stadium! And it’s very well done, as I can say from personal experience. I went to a New Jersey Devils game and got my first glimpse of where the Nets could be winning basketball games.
Posted by lumi at 6:24 AM
March 8, 2009
When Arenas Collide
The Star-Ledger
By Ted Sherman
The Izod Center and the Prudential Center are only 8 miles away from each other in New Jersey. This is causing a conflict wherein both arenas are competing for the same events. (Events like the circus, the ice shows and concerts are much more profitable for these arenas than sporting events.) The uncertainty of the status of the proposed Barclays arena is part of the mix as to whether to keep both Izod and Prudential open or at least find a way so that they cooperate, and not compete.
Last week's announcement that the New Jersey Nets, who call Izod home, will play two preseason games at Prudential next fall fueled new speculation that the team will abandon a five-year quest to move to Brooklyn and make a deal to play basketball in Newark. At the same time, it reignited a debate over the competition between the state-operated arena in the Meadowlands and the new arena, nicknamed "the Rock," that was intended to spark a renaissance in the state's largest city.
"I believe we need to start looking at this as a regional issue," said Newark Mayor Cory Booker. "Ultimately having a very old arena and a new arena cannibalizing each other is just not a productive thing for our state."
Prudential Center officials say they are not at war with Izod, but it was always their expectation that Izod would close once the Devils and Nets left the Meadowlands.
New Jersey Senate President Richard Codey wants to see the two arenas cooperate, and also wants to see the Nets stay in New Jersey despite stated intentions by the Nets to do otherwise.
Codey's greater concern is to see the Nets stay in New Jersey -- and, for him, to move to Newark. "It's time they fish or cut bait. They've been in a holding position on the tarmac for more than five years and it's not right," Codey said. "The Nets need a first-class arena."
The Nets, however, say that arena will be in Brooklyn. Team chief executive Brett Yormark said the vision has not strayed from a planned $1 billion Frank Gehry-designed arena there, and they expect to break ground on the project by this summer, despite the worsening recession that has affected major commercial development nationwide.
"Even in a challenging economy, we are doing multiyear deals and seven-figure deals for Brooklyn. That's where we're going," said Yormark. "I wish the Prudential Center well and I want them to be successful there. But our intention is to go to Brooklyn."
NoLandGrab: Does anyone believe that, even if it is built, the Brooklyn arena will be designed by Frank Gehry? It's pretty clear he's no longer involved.
Posted by steve at 11:15 AM
Will Brits Bail Out Barclays to Help Build Billion Dollar Brooklyn Arena?
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn
An article in The New York Times about British banks receiving bailout money got the folks at DDDB speculating what might happen if Barclays Bank, which has a $400 million naming-rights deal for the proposed Barclays Center arena, took this aid. Could the naming-rights deal be in jeopardy?
Barclays Bank, an England-based firm, has a $400 million naming rights deal with Forest City Ratner for the proposed Barclays Center Arena as part of the Atlantic Yards project. Of course, being English, Barclays is not eligible for TARP funds. But they are eligible for the British Bailout. Barclays declined to be involved in the first round of bailouts in Britain, but now The Times reports that there is mounting pressure on Barclays to accept toxic asset purchases by the British government.
From the sound of it, Barclays will eventually be bailed out by the British government.
...
The British, who are much more no-nonsense than us Yanks, are not going to look too kindly on a bailed out bank putting $400 million into a billion dollar arena across the drink in Brooklyn, in a neighborhood that doesn't even want the thing.
Posted by steve at 11:10 AM
Arena or Hole in the Ground?
NetsDaily
This blog entry looks at an article appearing in The Wall Street Journal and another in the Star-Ledger. Much discussion ensues.
The controversy over Atlantic Yards seems to be coming to a head: The last major court decision is expected soon. Bruce Ratner says an arena ground breaking will follow. Meanwhile, Newark makes an ever louder pitch for the Nets. The latest: a conservative analyst decries the whole process as a public-private partnership gone terribly wrong and an economic analysis of the IZOD vs. the Rock.
A Hole Grows in Brooklyn - Julia Vitullo-Martin - Wall Street Journal
When Arenas Collide - Ted Sherman - Star-Ledger
Posted by steve at 11:05 AM
March 5, 2009
Brooklyn or bust
The Daily Blahg [NY Daily News]
by Filip Bondy
Nets' management really, really hates it when anybody asks about Newark, because Bruce Ratner remains determined to get his team to Brooklyn in two years. Ratner will never move the team to Newark. However, if the Atlantic Yards project stalls much longer, he may be forced to sell the franchise because of huge losses.
This makes the Nets' announcement so odd about playing two preseason games this fall at the Rock. Barry Baum, a spokesman for the team, says the commitment was debated among executives for this precise reason, that they feared it would start rumors about a possible move there. But money is money, and the Nets just couldn't sell preseason tickets at the Meadowlands.
A very specific report has been circulating around the team that Ray Chambers and Lewis Katz are preparing to invest $150 million with Ratner, as part of a contingency deal. If he can get the Brooklyn arena done in two years, fine. Otherwise, Chambers and Katz would purchase the team and move it to Newark.
But again, the Nets strongly deny such an agreement. They continue to fight off a bunch of legal challenges to their Brooklyn project. "We've won 22 of 23 cases and we'll win the last one," Baum says.
He sounds certain. Two years from now, Baum will either look like a truthsaying visionary or a naive flack.
NoLandGrab: This is the first we've heard of a possible deal with former Nets' owners Chambers and Katz, and the first time we've actually heard a Forest City executive admit that they haven't won every court battle.
Posted by eric at 3:14 PM
March 3, 2009
Nets ticket prices won't go down next year, except when they do
Atlantic Yards Report
Sports Business Journal reports that the New Jersey Nets are among at least 19 teams (out of 30) that are expected not to raise season-ticket prices next year.
Of course, there's still a lot of flexibility regarding tickets sold on a per-game basis. Some are free or nearly so; at other times, as the advertisement below indicates, discounts are keyed to perceived popularity of the opponent.
Even in games against the (defending champion) Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, the teams with the second- and third-best records in the league, discounts are 20-25%.
NoLandGrab: NJ Nets ticket promotion idea — receive a pair of Nets tickets with your next purchase of a gallon of milk!
Posted by lumi at 4:16 AM
March 2, 2009
Calling all Nets sponsors
NYDailyNews.com
by Jotham Sederstrom
Developer Forest City Ratner has announced a sponsorship deal that could pour millions into the ailing Atlantic Yards project - if it ever gets built.
MetroPCS, a wireless phone company, will join eight other corporations as sponsors of the New Jersey Nets, the NBA basketball team Bruce Ratner hopes to bring to Brooklyn to play in a new arena at Atlantic Yards.
Last week's announcement came on the same day as opening statements in a lawsuit against the $4.2 billion project, and followed a flurry of setbacks, including word that the Frank Gehry-designed arena could be scaled back to save money.
"I think they're trying to save a sinking ship, and I think they're trying to put their best face forward," said Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP-Prospect Heights), an opponent of the 22-acre arena/residential/commercial project.
Posted by eric at 4:09 PM
February 19, 2009
Mayoral Hopeful Wants Islanders in Brooklyn
Spin Cycle [Newsday blog]
by Bill Murphy
The Brooklyn Islanders?
That’s something more than a whimsical thought when it’s pushed by a politician who would like to be mayor of New York City less than two years from now.
“I’m looking for the Islanders moving to Brooklyn,” U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Kew Gardens) said Thursday morning on WFAN Radio. Weiner, an avid hockey player who is among a handful of Democrats vying to challenge Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2010, said he thought the current economy made it unlikely that the entire Atlantic Yards project would be built as planned, but there probably would be a new arena to house the Nets basketball team.
As Newsday reporter Steve Zipay recently pointed out, “the numbers show — and have shown for decades — that economically viable arenas generally have two professional sports teams as anchors.”
NoLandGrab: Since we already have four arenas in the area (Madison Square Garden, the Izod Center, the Prudential Center and Nassau Coliseum), and only five NBA and NHL teams (the Knicks, Nets, Rangers, Devils and Islanders), it would seem we already have more arenas than we need. And the same goes for mayoral candidates.
Posted by eric at 10:24 AM
February 16, 2009
Is it possible for Atlantic Yards arena price tag to be cut (nearly) in half? And what would that mean?
Atlantic Yards Report
New York Times reporter Charles Bagli, who last March almost casually broke the news that the price tag for the Atlantic Yards arena had reached $950 million (from $637.2 million as approved in December 2006), last Friday slipped in another cost estimate with major implications.
In a CityRoom blog post taking off from the news that Gramercy Capital Corporation had extended the terms of a loan to Forest City Ratner, Bagli wrote last Friday:
Forest City has indicated that it will delay building its planned office tower or the first of the residential buildings, but it is still hoping to start construction later this year on the arena, which was designed by the architect Frank Gehry.
Knowing that it could not obtain financing in the credit markets for an arena costing $1 billion, Forest City has put engineers to work trying to cut the price in half. (Emphasis added)
That's a pretty dramatic reduction, and it raises a question: what would a $500 million arena look like? It likely wouldn't look like the $950 million arena (right), as depicted in desgins released last May.
Norman Oder ponders the costs and implication for the arena sponsors.
Posted by lumi at 5:32 AM
February 6, 2009
Build the arena — with fed money!
The Brooklyn Paper Publisher Ed Weintrob thinks Federal stimulus aid should go to build the new basketball arena for Bruce Ratner's NJ Nets.
Yes, The Brooklyn Paper has repeatedly argued that the financing scheme for the Nets arena was unfair to New York taxpayers. But if Washington money is channeled our way, that argument over subsidies to the project would be muted.
Bottom line: If we don’t get the money, Peoria will.
Just as we need to move past finger-pointing and blame-throwing in Washington and on Wall Street, we need to look forward in Brooklyn and remove vitriol from all sides of the Atlantic Yards discussion.
Constructing the arena and bringing the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn would quickly create construction jobs, boost the commercial district along Flatbush Avenue, and restore the spirit of optimism that built Brooklyn.
Isn’t that what an economic stimulus package is supposed to do?
NoLandGrab: Hey, don't stop here! The lucrative business of professional sports is having as tough of a time as any industry. Maybe we can funnel some stimulus bucks to the new arena for the Orlando Magic and use Federal tax money to stimulate a new arena for the Sacramento Kings.
Atlantic Yards Report, Shocker: Brooklyn Paper editorializes for federal bailout of Ratner's arena
In his point-by-point examination of Weintrob's editorial, the "Mad Overkiller" Norman Oder calls it a "shocker" and notes that, "The editorial is signed by publisher Ed Weintrob, an unusual move, so we don't know if the sentiments are shared by editor Gersh Kuntzman, who has written many of the other editorials...."
Weintrob's argument is essentially that the money's there, so, why not throw some to Brooklyn. Our pork is better than theirs. And while some others--say, Yonkers--decorously request federal money for infrastructure to support private development projects, Weintrob wants the project itself to get a bailout.
NoLandGrab: Aside from setting a bad precedent, one problem with Weintrob's argument is that the Feds would be bailing out a pro sports team, whose value would skyrocket if moved to a new arena in Brooklyn. Perhaps, as in the bailout of the banking system, US taxpayers could become shareholders in the team?
Posted by lumi at 6:05 AM
January 26, 2009
Go away Islanders
LI Biz Blog
By David Reich-Hale
The New York Islanders decision to play an exhibition game in Kansas City later this year fueled speculation that the team could be relocating if the Town of Hempstead doesn’t move on site approvals for the Hub.
Though the Islanders haven't had much to get excited about in recent years, the addition of an NBA franchise might make a possible new arena more profitable:
Finally, here’s an interesting note in the column, and a rumor that’s quietly spread throughout the area: If Bruce Ratner’s gigantic plan to build an arena in Brooklyn for the New Jersey Nets falls apart, he could decide to partner with Wang and move the Nets to Long Island. If that happens, a new Nassau Coliseum becomes that much more enticing.
However, Ratner could just as easily move the team to Newark, where the New Jersey Devils play.
Posted by lumi at 4:38 AM
January 22, 2009
HM Yards
Gumby Fresh
This blog entry, looking at things from a financial perspective, speculates as to whether, Barclay's Bank would continue with an agreement for naming rights for the arena in the proposed Atlantic Yards project. Financial problems could result in the bank becoming nationalized. The entry concludes:
I don't have much of an insight into the mind of Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now, presumably, the Grand Vizier of All UK Banks. I mean I've tried to stare into his mind and the colour difference between his hair and eyebrows has freaked me out. We'll have to wait for Barclays to fall into the welcoming arms of the government to see how it will play out, but if I were Mister Ratner I'd try and get the funding agreement active before my compatriots start asking awkward questions.
Posted by steve at 8:11 AM
January 19, 2009
Will the Nets Ever Move To Brooklyn?
The Biz of Basketball
by Matt Wiesenfeld
It wasn't that long ago that the Nets were perceived to be a team on the come. Vince Carter came to town and Jay-Z was sitting court-side giving them the kind of 'cred' generally reserved for the Knicks and Lakers. Building on top of this was talk of a brand new arena as part of a revitalization project in Brooklyn, which hasn't hosted a major sports franchise since the Dodgers left 50 years ago.
However the recent news on this project leaves many in doubt that it will ever be completed. The project calls for several high rise buildings in addition to the proposed stadium and its progress and challenges are well documented on Atlantic Yards Report.
Further clouding the issue, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, is that the Nets have announced that they are negotiating to play some preseason contests at the Prudential Center in Newark, leaving some to speculate that it could be a potential landing point for the franchise. What this might do to the Atlantic Yards project is not clear though it would not be a huge leap to think this is an indicator that the team believes the project might never be completed.
NoLandGrab: The Nets have since said they were not considering the Prudential Center, which, given their track record, means they very likely are considering it.
Posted by eric at 4:14 PM
January 15, 2009
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz: Ratchet down Yards arena
Daily News
By Jotham Sederstrom
This article reflects the effort by Borough President Marty Markowitz to keep the proposed Atlantic Yards project alive by echoing ideas that the developer proposed a week earlier.
The glitzy, world-class pro basketball arena slated for the Atlantic Yards project is now likely to be merely "functional," Borough President Marty Markowitz told the Daily News Wednesday.
In his strongest language yet, Markowitz called on developer Forest City Ratner to eliminate the costly flourishes and glassy facade of the Frank Gehry-designed NBA basketball arena in the face of an economic meltdown.
"We don't have to be rocket scientists to know that the awe-inspiring arena project designed by Frank Gehry has now become ... It's just not doable," said Markowitz.
The final, bizarre touch is a quote from Forest City flack Joe DePlasco, who implies that calls to change the proposed arena design originated with Markowitz, when it's clear to those following the Atlantic Yards fight that proposed changes come from Ratner:
"We look forward to discussing the borough president's proposal with him and continuing to work with him and others to bring this project to fruition," said DePlasco.
Atlantic Yards Report, Is arena value engineering also a security upgrade? Marty drops hint
Norman Oder adds this observation on what the proposed changes in the Daily News item might mean:
Maybe that that would make the AY arena more like Madison Square Garden and less like Newark's Prudential Center, and thus not pose dangers that require street closings.
Posted by steve at 6:56 AM
January 13, 2009
RUSTY START FOR METS
NY Post
By Ikimulisa Livingston and Rich Calder
Hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidies just doesn't buy what it used to.
They were going for an old-time feel - but not that old!
Spanking-new, $850 million Citi Field is already beginning to rust.
A Post reporter spotted brown water from a rusty beam creeping down the wall of the front entrance of Citi Field's main gate in Flushing, Queens, on 126th Street. The Mets are set to move there in April.
Rob Bedelis, a mechanical engineer who helped build the Milwaukee Brewers' Miller Park, said Citi Field shouldn't be rusting a little over two years after the start of construction.
"It's a sign of the quality of workmanship," he said. "If I were a fan, I wouldn't be too thrilled. This might be cosmetic and not structural, but fans are paying a lot of money for baseball tickets."
From the comments section:
zodiax wrote:
Just think what the problems would be if "value engineers" had used cheaper materials, like they are proposing for the new Nets home.
Posted by eric at 11:22 AM
January 11, 2009
IZOD Center? How about we start calling it the U NOD OFF Center
NY Daily News
JULIAN GARCIA
But instead of fighting each other, the team and its fans should point the finger at ownership and those executives who promised more than five years ago to relocate to Brooklyn but have so far managed only to move to a town called limbo.Delay after delay, mostly due to legal issues, has continuously pushed back the start of construction of a proposed downtown Brooklyn arena that is supposed to be part of a larger development project, Atlantic Yards. However, spokespeople for team owner Bruce Ratner continue to say that the Nets will be playing in Brooklyn before the end of 2011.
And I'll be the Nets' starting center by then.
Atlantic Yards Report comments:
Indeed. Maybe he's done the math, too, or just stopped believing Nets CEO Brett Yormark.
Posted by amy at 10:57 AM
January 9, 2009
A Letter to the Editor of the Newark Star-Ledger
Atlantic Yards Report
The Star-Ledger prints a letter to the editor from Norman Oder, which sets down the more modest facts of Norman Oder's initial encounter with Brett Yormark, who at the time was boning up on Brooklyn to try to impress then-prospective employer Bruce Ratner:
The article claims that Yormark "hired a tour guide for a fairly large sum." Yormark's memory is faulty. The sum was about $100 and we spent less than two hours; he didn't have the time to get out of his vehicle, for example, to see Prospect Park.
At that time, the Atlantic Yards project had not gone through any public evaluation, and I knew relatively little about it. Yormark's certainty that the project would be officially approved helped provoke me into later launching a watchdog blog about it.
NoLandGrab: What we love about Brett Yormark is that the guy is larger than life: he hired Norman Oder for "9-10 hours," he works 18-hour days, etc. We'll grant Yormark true superhero status when he can rub two of Ratner's dimes together to make twenty cents.
Posted by lumi at 5:15 AM
January 7, 2009
Brett Yormark, remixed: Nets CEO's shifting predictions on arena opening date
Atlantic Yards Report
If you ever wanted to know what Norman Oder does for fun, check out his fantasy interview with Nets CEO Brett Yormark:
A good salesman always sounds convincing, even if underlying facts change the spiel, and New Jersey Nets CEO Brett Yormark is at the top of the game.
In three radio or TV interviews over less than 15 months, Yormark offered unwavering predictions about the opening date of the Atlantic Yards arena (aka Barclays Center) in Brooklyn. First, he said 2009, then 2010, then 2011.
Just take a listen to this one-minute audio file. I’ve interpolated my own questions into the remix, but the original quotes come from the interviews transcribed below.
Posted by lumi at 5:29 AM
December 19, 2008
Heartwood Studios: digital storytelling used (still?) to market the Barclays Center
Atlantic Yards Report
Heartwood Studios, which offers "Digital Storytelling® through Visual Extravaganza®!" is--or at least was--working on marketing the Barclays Center and suites there.
http://www.hwd3d.com/portfolio/real_estate/nets.php
Posted by lumi at 4:25 AM
December 18, 2008
In Pictures: 10 Ways The Economy Is Squeezing Sports
Forbes.com
How is the economic crisis reverberating through pro sports? From sponsorships drying up to ticket sales slipping to international expansion moving to the back burner, a look at the year ahead:
...#8 New Venues and Naming Rights
Two new sparkling NFL stadiums are going up soon, neither of which has secured a naming-rights deal as of yet. The new digs for the Dallas Cowboys (opening in 2009) and the New York Jets and Giants (2010) will get a corporate logo slapped up at some point, but not for the kind of dollars the clubs expected at this time last year. Meanwhile, will the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., the supposed new home for the NBA Nets, ever get built?
Posted by eric at 6:37 PM
December 15, 2008
Carbonation-related cognitive dissonance at the Izod Center
Atlantic Yards Report
Jones Soda, the official carbonated beverage of Bruce Ratner's yet-to-be-built Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, is being advertised during Nets home games in "the Swamp" (Izod Center), even though Pepsi has the carbonated sugar-water contract in the Meadowlands.
|
Norman Oder wonders if New Jersey Nets marketing officials are trying to "make sure that Jones is happy," in light of revelations that Jones executives "have been talking about how to pull out of the Barclays Center deal."
Posted by lumi at 5:35 AM
December 12, 2008
The $1 hot dog? Not at the Izod Center--not even close
Atlantic Yards Report
Recently, NJ Nets CEO Brett Yormark touted the NBA's plans to make the sport more family-oriented, citing the one-dollar hot dog.
Norman Oder brought his wallet and stomach to Wednesday night's game at the 'Zod:
Last month, New Jersey Nets CEO Brett Yormark was interviewed by the unskeptical Alexis Glick of Fox Business News.
When Glick asked how the cost to take a family to a sporting event could be made more affordable, Yormark replied thusly:
Well, the NBA has been very proactive in providing opportunities for anyone to come see an NBA game. There are teams out there that have tickets priced at 5, 10, and 15 dollars. There are opportunities to go to the concession stand and buy a hot dog for a dollar now. And all that is an opportunity to bring in as many people as possible. ...
I checked out the Izod Center on Wednesday night. A hot dog now costs $4.25.
Posted by lumi at 4:37 AM
December 8, 2008
Could roof help bring team to USTA stadium?
Sports Business Journal
by Don Muret
Arthur Ashe Stadium, future home of the New York Islanders? Maybe the Nets?
Far-fetched, perhaps, but Danny Zausner, managing director of the U.S. Tennis Association, threw out those scenarios as his group prepares to issue a proposal in January seeking architects to plan a retractable roof for the 22,547-seat U.S. Open venue.
The roof, which could cost $100 million, would protect the stadium’s playing surface and eliminate the rain delays and washouts that have plagued the tournament in recent years. The USTA has not determined how to pay for the roof, Zausner said.
“Maybe there’s an NBA opportunity,” he said. “Once we start looking at that type of price tag, we need to see what other benefits there are to having a roof.”
...Seven years ago, when the USTA began studying the feasibility of enclosing the facility, officials had brief talks with the NBA about bringing another team to New York to play in a covered Ashe stadium, and the Nets’ situation came up in the conversations. The USTA did not speak directly to the Nets, Zausner said. “They were very preliminary discussions, and it was before Bruce Ratner planned the Nets arena as the foundation of a much larger development in Brooklyn,” Zausner said.
Ratner’s $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, first announced in 2003, has encountered problems with financing and neighborhood opposition. The USTA site is not an option, a Nets spokesman said, stating that construction in Brooklyn will start in the spring after the final lawsuit is resolved, with the arena opening in 2011.
NoLandGrab: An existing facility that could be adapted for a fraction of the price of a new arena, adjacent to a subway line and a Long island Railroad station, with ample parking? Of course it's "not an option."
Posted by eric at 1:17 PM
Citing delays, financially-troubled Jones Soda wants to pull out of Brooklyn arena sponsorship
Atlantic Yards Report
With Jones Soda on life-support, one wonders where the Nets will find another soda purveyor willing to pay the team $1.7 million a year for distribution rights in an arena that's looking increasingly shaky with each passing day.
A decline in the fortunes of Seattle-based Jones Soda and the delays in the promised Atlantic Yards arena have led Jones, which in November 2007 was announced to be the official soft drink provider at the Brooklyn arena, to explore pulling out of the deal, thus jeopardizing the planned Soda Stoop & Shoppe.
NoLandGrab: What the heck is a "Soda Stoop," anyway?
Posted by eric at 11:22 AM
Net Loss: Jones Soda wants out of NBA Deal
Downtown Dispatch
By Wild World News - Seattle
More heartburn for Bruce Ratner:
Documents obtained by the Downtown Dispatch, the Belltown Messenger's blog, reveal that Seattle's Jones Soda Co. is attempting to terminate their marketing agreement with the New Jersey Nets, another diminishment of market share for the carbonated candy, bubble gum soda and caffeinated energy-drink powerhouse which is progressively downsizing itself out of existence.
...
All the world looks on the NBA as being trendy and youthful and bursting with energy, and of course Jones Soda would want to be associated with that. But in an email dated November 12, 2008, CEO Jones asks company Manager of Legal Affairs Paula McGee if she can "please study whether we can get out of this [New Jersey Nets] deal due to delays and questionable future of this project."Seems Jones execs aren't happy with rumors that the New Jersey Nets may – against all common good sense – stay in New Jersey.
So much for the glee and optimism of a Jones press release from November 2007 announcing that they had won the rights to sell soda at the New Jersey Nets' new arena in Brooklyn, New York "when it opens in 2009." The Newark Star-Ledger now reports that the move won't happen until 2012, if ever, and that maverick Newark mayor Cory Booker is working to keep the team in town. Evidently Jones Soda paid, handsomely, for some sort of business arrangement with the Nets which would allow them to vend their soda in a stadium which may never exist, but only in a city where the Nets will never play. Different.
Jones Executive Vice President of Sales Tom O'Neil concedes, "The Nets are losing $40M a year. They aren't going to want to release us or even help us get out of the deal. They need our money. From my perspective on this we need to play hard ball and pull out based on all the changes, delays and unsupported financing ..."
Jones also has deals with the Seattle Seahawks (13-18 since the Jones deal became official on July 1, 2007) and the Portland Trail Blazers. Both teams are owned by Paul Allen, the principal developer in the South Lake Union neighborhood in which Jones is headquartered.
NoLandGrab: We presume this signals the end of the embarrassingly stupid Ye Olde "Jones Soda Shoppe."
Posted by lumi at 6:11 AM
December 1, 2008
Special report: Jazz staying put
Team executives say renovations are likely but relocation isn't
Salt Lake Tribune
by Steve Luhm
Bruce Ratner makes his way into a story about the Utah Jazz and the future of their aging arena.
In an era of unparalleled operating costs, NBA teams like the Jazz must maximize revenue streams, which includes income directly tied to their arenas.
If a building doesn't contribute to a team's bottom line, it's more than an inconvenience. It could be the death of a franchise in that particular city.
In Seattle, arena issues were cited by the Sonics' new owners as their reason for moving the team to Oklahoma City.
In New Jersey, owner Bruce Ratner's up-in-the-air plan to move the Nets to Brooklyn is based partly on the shortcomings of the outdated Izod Center.
In Sacramento, voters have been hesitant to help replace Arco Arena, leading to criticism by commissioner David Stern and rumors that the Kings might be the next team to relocate.
NoLandGrab: Imagine if you had to tear down your house every 25 years or so because it became outdated. Bet you wouldn't do that unless you were getting some generous help from the taxpayers.
Posted by eric at 9:31 AM
November 18, 2008
LeBron James to New Jersey or Brooklyn? No, and not quite
Atlantic Yards Report
In the run-up to tonight's New Jersey Nets home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, a lot of sportswriters are speculating whether Cavaliers superstar LeBron James, who becomes a free agent in 2010, would stay put in Cleveland, just down the road from his hometown of Akron, or move to the bigger cities of New York or Los Angeles, where he could become even more of a brand.
...The Record's Al Iannazzone speculates:
So does James, because of his strong relationship with Jay-Z, forgo the Knicks, wait another season and play for his meager 2010 salary to align his star with the hip-hop mogul and part-owner of the Nets one year later in Brooklyn?It would have to be a perfect storm.
First, the Nets have to make sure they’re in Brooklyn. Two, they may have to clear more money...
But the arena can't get built by 2011. My calculation is that, even if lawsuits are cleared by mid-2009, the 32-month construction timetable suggests a best-case opening in March 2012.
More coverage...
Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James fielding contract questions
Bergen Record, Could LeBron be a Net?
Posted by eric at 10:35 AM
November 14, 2008
BANK: WE WON'T BAIL OUT ON NETS ARENA
NY Post
By Rich Calder
Barclays bank vowed yesterday not to exercise an out clause and kill its record $400 million naming-rights deal for the venue, the centerpiece of developer Bruce Ratner's $4 billion Atlantic Yards project.
The deal was contingent on Ratner's having financing for his entire project - which also includes 16 towers of residential and office space - set by the end of this month. That is now impossible because of pending litigation to block the project.
But sources told The Post that Barclays agreed to an extension.
The Star-Ledger, Harris ready to help New Jersey Nets
Seeking to dispel doubts about the Atlantic Yards project, the Nets issued a short release yesterday quoting Barclays Chief Administrator Officer for the Americas that reiterated the bank's pledge to carry on. "Barclays is unwavering in its commitment to the Barclays Center, and we are very pleased with our long-term alliance with our great partners," said Gerard LaRocca, whose institution has committed $400 million to the deal.
Posted by lumi at 6:14 AM
November 13, 2008
Barclays still committed to Nets' planned new home
Watchdog [Newsday Sports blog]
by Neil Best
Barclays asserts that it still is fully committed to the Nets' planned new arena, The Barclays Center, even given these difficult times for banks and stuff.
The race is on to begin construction before LeBron James signs with the Knicks.
Click below for the assertive news release.
Barclays, a leading global financial services company and the naming rights partner for the future Barclays Center, today affirmed its commitment to the future arena in Brooklyn and the updated timeline for a 2009 groundbreaking. The Barclays Center, which is designed by Frank Gehry, will be the world-class home of the Nets.
"Barclays is unwavering in its commitment to the Barclays Center and we are very pleased with our long-term alliance with our great partners, the Nets and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC)," said Gerard LaRocca, Chief Administrative Officer, Americas, at Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays PLC. "We are very excited about being part of the continued renaissance of Brooklyn and we eagerly look forward to opening night at the Barclays Center."
Since we announced our 20-year naming rights partnership in January 2007, Barclays has offered nothing but resolute and great support," Nets Chief Executive Officer Brett Yormark said. "We deeply appreciate our partnership with such a well-respected and distinguished company, which shares our love for Brooklyn and our strong sense of community."
NoLandGrab: It's great that Barclays is "unwavering" in its commitment, but the release doesn't make clear that they're remaining contractually committed to the naming-rights deal.
There is news here, though, in the assertion that "Barclays continues to play a major role as the co-lead in the financing of the Barclays Center," a role that seemed to have been the exclusive domain of Goldman Sachs. Divvying up the underwriting doesn't exactly scream "done deal" now, does it?
“We are thrilled to have Barclays as a partner,” said Bruce Ratner, chairman and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, a subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises, Inc., and the chairman of Nets Sports and Entertainment, LLC, which owns the Nets. “The Barclays Center will be one of the most spectacular sports and entertainment arenas in the world. Even more importantly, it is a centerpiece of a development that will bring thousands of jobs and affordable housing units to Brooklyn.” Forest City Enterprises (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) has an equity interest in Nets Sports and Entertainment.
In addition to its naming rights commitment, Barclays continues to play a major role as the co-lead in the financing of the Barclays Center. Momentum for the Barclays Center continued recently when the Internal Revenue Service issued a new regulation that confirms that tax exempt bonds may be used to finance the arena.
The multifaceted partnership among Barclays, the Nets, and FCRC includes the Barclays/Nets Community Alliance, which invests $1 million per year in local non-profits that work to improve the lives of young people in Brooklyn and surrounding communities through sports and other activities, including education and health care. Last month, the Barclays/Nets Community Alliance unveiled a new playground at Public School 19 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, which marked the first of eight Brooklyn playgrounds that the Alliance will fund with a grant to Out2Play, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to building and refurbishing playgrounds throughout the New York City public school system.
Posted by eric at 7:16 PM
November 12, 2008
Traffic slows for suites at new Yankee Stadium
How suite it isn't: Traffic slows for luxury boxes next season at new Yankee Stadium
AP via CNN Money
The New York Times reported little more than a month ago that the faltering economy wasn't having a negative effect on the sales of new luxury suites, but that was before things got really ugly on the economic front. Now, even New York's pre-eminent sports franchise is having some trouble moving the merchandise.
Selling suites may not be so sweet a business for the New York Yankees in these tough economic times.
Seven luxury boxes down the foul lines priced at $600,000 remain available for the 2009 season, the first at the new Yankee Stadium. The team still had seven available in August, too.
"There's no getting away from the fact that the world is different than it was, so traffic slows," chief operating officer Lonn Trost said Tuesday. "So you don't have 10 people banging on the door. You may only have two people."
NoLandGrab: With the projected supply of New York-area luxury suites increasing by more than 50%, to nearly 700, according to that Times story, the Yankees' news can't bode well for a team trying to float $800 million in new bonds to build a suite-laden basketball arena in Brooklyn.
Posted by eric at 9:56 AM
November 6, 2008
An Interview With the Star Ledger’s Dave D’Alessandro
The Big Lead
The sports blog's interview with the Newark paper's hoops reporter inevitably comes around to the Nets' future plans.
Q: Will the Nets ever make it to Brooklyn? The delays have us thinking no. If that’s the case, then do you think LeBron stays in Cleveland, or winds up with the Knicks? Or can you imagine him playing in New Jersey? Is there even a darkhorse for his services, or is he the type who bigger-than-sports star must be in one of the NBA’s major markets, like LA, Chicago, or NY?
The political momentum is such that there may be no turning back at this point, and the linchpin in this deal – sharp guy named Brett Yormark – asserts that the financing is there, and that his partners are content to see it through. Even Barclays, which actually turned down Gordon Brown’s handout, seems to be hanging in there. Maybe that’s just a company line, but the signs are that they’re still going to break ground. . . . uh, some time in the coming century.
Atlantic Yards Report, Listening to Yormark: sports reporter says Brooklyn deal is a go
Norman Oder throws a little cold water on D'Alessandro's assertion, considering the source of his info.
While I agree that the "Atlantic Yards is dead" meme is way overstated, I also think anything Yormark says should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, he's the guy who last year said the arena would break ground in the fall of 2007 and open in 2009.
And of course, there's chatter on Nets Daily: Dave D. on Brooklyn…and New Jersey
Posted by eric at 11:00 AM
Yuma voters reject new arena
ArenaDigest.com
Hey lookie, when given the chance to decide on whether or not to proceed with planning and negotiations for a new arena, voters in Yuma, AZ rejected the idea.
But we digress. The main reason for the link to ArenaDigest.com is that news of the IRS ruling allowing Bruce Ratner to receive triple-tax-exempt bond financing for a new arena in Brooklyn is the lead story on this week's podcast.
Posted by lumi at 5:27 AM
October 29, 2008
Spike Lee Says Nets to Brooklyn "Not a Done Deal"
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn noted that even movie director and Knicks-überfan Spike Lee thinks that the Nets will never make it to Brooklyn.
Spike Lee was on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show this morning discussing politics and the NBA. He said that he'd discussed LeBron James's decision where to go if he leaves the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Lee said, "The man told me himself that his decision would not be based upon his friendship with Hova, Jay-Z. And also it's not a done deal that the Nets are moving to Brooklyn either."
The "Morning Joe" hosts responsed, "Yeah, yeah."
[Lee's remarks on LeBron, "Hova" and the Nets start around 1:10]
Posted by lumi at 5:44 AM
Jets sell just 620 of 2,000 seat licenses
Crain's NY
By Hilary Potkewitz
The New York Jets’ unprecedented online auction of personal seat licenses ended Monday night at 10 p.m., with the team selling just 620 of the 2,000 available seats in the exclusive “Coaches Section” of their new stadium.
The auction brought in $16 million over the course of nine days, team owner Woody Johnson announced Tuesday, with an average price of about $26,000.
...
Jets executives say they are ecstatic about the results of the auction, the first of its kind and the largest sale ever on Stubhub.com. “We knew this would be a pioneering event right from the start,” said Mr. Johnson. “That’s who the Jets are, we take calculated risks, and this one paid off.”But the team had to adjust its plans once the auction went live because bidding activity plummeted by mid-week. Mr. Johnson attributed the drop to people being at work and not able to commit to the constant monitoring of an online auction. Initially, the team released 40 to 50 seats at a time, but by Wednesday they had reduced the lots to 20 seats.
Management decided not to extend the auction past the advertised end-date, however.
NoLandGrab: Pro sports teams and leagues across the nation have been keeping their eye on the Jets sale of personal seat licenses, which help teams offset the cost of building new stadiums, arenas and ballparks. From our nose-bleed seats at NoLandGrab it's hard to say what last week's sale portends for team owners like Bruce Ratner.
Last year, Norman Oder reported that "Forest City Ratner expects $20 million in revenue from 4500 'Personal Seat Licenses' (PSLs) sold at $4500 each."
Posted by lumi at 5:34 AM
October 28, 2008
Sources: Foreign owners eye Nets
Yahoo! Sports
by Adrian Wojnarowski
Could Atlantic Yards become "Caspian Yards" or "Persian Gulf Yards?" One thing we do know — those repeated denials of Nets' sale talks are starting to ring hollow.
With tens of millions of dollars in annual operating losses and a $3.5 billion Brooklyn arena and real estate deal in peril, New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner has listened to overtures of two prospective foreign ownership groups, two league executives with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports.
The most serious advance, sources say, were made in recent months by Russian oligarchs, tycoons invested in the country’s oil industry. The Russians’ working plan would’ve been for full ownership of the Nets and control of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, one source said.
Also, a Middle Eastern group, based in Dubai, expressed interest to the NBA and Nets ownership.
...So far, Ratner has resisted selling the franchise as he tries to revive the floundering arena project in Brooklyn. Most league officials have grown increasingly pessimistic that the economic climate will allow Ratner to obtain the hundreds of millions of dollars left to finance the construction. [NBA commissioner David] Stern declared optimism about the Nets getting the arena financed and moving to Brooklyn, but many others believe the situation is dire and ultimately unlikely to happen.
Posted by eric at 11:32 PM
October 27, 2008
Longshots
NY Daily News
By Mitch Lawrence
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Posted by lumi at 5:21 AM
In basketball saga, is Brooklyn more like Oklahoma City or Seattle?
Atlantic Yards Report
Could it be that it is only smaller cities that need major league sports to feel "major league"?
Bruce Schoenfeld's New York Times Magazine article yesterday, headlined Where the Thunder Comes Dribbling Down the Plain, describes the transformation of NBA's Seattle SuperSonics into the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the latter city's embrace and support of the team.
The lessons for Brooklyn, I think, are mixed. Unlike some other medium and large cities, where existing major league teams suck up attention and media coverage, Brooklyn's in a big enough market to support a team, should the Nets ultimately move here.
However, the Atlantic Yards saga suggests that New York behaved more like Oklahoma City than Seattle, offering political support, lobbying, and public funds to attract the team and built the arena, while in Seattle voters approved a measure, proposed by a group called Citizens for More Important Things, that ensured that any public money toward a new arena would have to generate legitimate financial returns.
Posted by lumi at 5:09 AM
October 22, 2008
Tax-Exempt Bonds: The Evening Wrap
Here's the rundown on today's coverage of the IRS's decision to tighten a "loophole" on the use of PILOTs to finance arenas and stadia — only the Yankees, Mets and, maybe, the Nets, have slipped the knot.
Gothamist, Atlantic Yards Project Gets Big Bond Break from IRS
These New York teams may be hard-pressed to find investors who will buy the bonds, given the current Wall Street turbulence. Not so incidentally, the ruling comes four days before Yankees president Randy Levine and city officials are expected to testify at a Congressional hearing investigating the tax-exempt financing of the new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium. Representative Dennis Kucinich, who is holding the hearing Friday, has threatened to prosecute officials if they lied about the value of the land the new stadium occupies.
State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat, slammed the IRS decision, telling the Times and the AP, "This is the same kind of socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the rest of us that’s gotten us into the current economic mess...The rules don't apply if you've got enough juice."
Curbed, Atlantic Yards Crap Tossing V.3.5: Financing Edition
The IRS issued a ruling yesterday that has monstrously huge implications for anyone that will ever want to build a stadium or arena ever again (don't go to sleep yet...this is big). You wouldn't know it in NYC, though, because even though it impacts the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, it's playing out as an Atlantic Yards story. At issue is whether tax-free financing can be used to build Frank Gehry's $950 million arena. (Leaving aside the issue as to anyone will ever finance a facility that is sure to go above $1 billion given traditional Gehry cost overruns in the middle of one of the most massive credit meltdowns in history.) The ruling creates a loophole for projects that are "substantially in progress," while banning it for new ones.
The Angry New Yorker, Tax Free Stadiums
Hey if I want to build myself a new house, think I can get me some tax free bonds to pay for it?
Brownstoner, Treasury Dept. Hooks Up Ratner Big-Time
One potential snag for FCR: The new regs require that the bonds be issued by December 31, 2009.
Gowanus Lounge, So, Does Mr. Ratner Get Tax-Free Bonds for Atlantic Yards?
The key phrase is that it grandfathers in projects “substantially in progress.” We can see lawyers and bureaucrats arguing this point about Atlantic Yards until we live in Green-Wood Cemetery.
Be sure to check out Gowanus Lounge's reflections on the ethics of subsidizing arenas.
Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Ratner Spokesman Vs. Treasury Department Spokesman on IRS Regulation
Bloomberg News, New York Yankees, Mets Get Approval for Tax-Exempt Bond Funding
Village Voice [Runnin' Scared blog], Atlantic Yards Gets Tax Break, Or Not
The Times spoke to Daniel Goldstein of DDDB, who "said it appeared to him that federal tax officials went out of their way to help the developer," the paper writes, "which he said 'makes no sense' when the federal government is in the midst of a costly bailout of the banking industry." Actually it does make sense: the bailout is an attempt by the powerful to restore a failed, obviously unsustainable confidence scheme to viability; this tax break (if it is a tax break), ditto.
Posted by eric at 9:18 PM
Treasury Gets Tough On PILOTs
Tighter Regs Issued As House Panel Opens
The Bond Buyer
by Peter Schroeder
Some industry insight into yesterday's IRS ruling, including the news that said ruling increases the risk for buyers, which might in turn make the bonds tougher to sell — unless you're George Steinbrenner, Fred Wilpon, or Bruce Ratner.
The Treasury Department yesterday issued more restrictive final regulations for bonds issued by payments in lieu of taxes, just three days before a House panel is scheduled to hold a hearing questioning the use of PILOTs to finance the new New York Yankees stadium.
But the rules contain a transitional provision that appears to enable the New York Yankees, Mets and Nets to continue to issue PILOT bonds as planned without having to comply with the new rules.
...David Caprera, a partner at Kutak Rock LLP in Denver, said the new regulations will require a shift in how many market participants view PILOTs.
...Since the PILOTs must be tied to taxes, Caprera said the new regulations shift a small amount of risk to the bondholder, who cannot be guaranteed a fixed payment, and unexpectedly low tax revenues could jeopardize a timely payment.
Posted by eric at 1:39 PM
Bailout! Feds save Ratner millions with new ruling
The Brooklyn Paper
by Sarah Portlock
"Joe the Plumber" has been all the rage for the past week. Now, courtesy of the U.S. Treasury Department, we bring you "Bruce the Plunderer."
The Treasury Department has bailed out Bruce Ratner.
In a much-anticipated ruling issued late Monday, the federal agency exempted Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project from a ruling that bars the use tax-free bonds to finance stadium projects.
Atlantic Yards was apparently exempted because it is “substantially in progress” — a term defined as having received “preliminary approval of the government” and involved “significant expenditures” before Oct. 19, 2006; and having a finance plan in place that contemplated the use of tax-free bonds.
...“It’s a slight of hand that allows the city to stick it to taxpayers on behalf of developers,” said Neil DeMause, author of “Field of Schemes,” which focuses on the massive public cost of stadium financing.
Posted by eric at 1:11 PM
October 21, 2008
New IRS rules stoke Atlantic Yards fight
The Internal Revenue Service issued rules Tuesday on whether the Nets basketball arena planned for Brooklyn can access $800 million in triple tax-free bonds.
Crain's NY Business
by Erik Engquist
The Internal Revenue Service issued rules Tuesday that dictate whether the Nets basketball arena planned for Brooklyn can use $800 million in triple tax-free bonds. The developer, Forest City Ratner, says it can; arena opponents say it cannot.
A layman’s reading of the IRS rules seems to support the position of the developer and its partner in state government, the Empire State Development Corp.
The issue—which like everything else concerning Forest City’s Atlantic Yards project will probably be decided in a courtroom—could determine whether the arena gets built. Forest City has said it could get private financing to build the $950 million venue, but that might not be possible in the current credit market.
The IRS rules say one condition that the arena must have met is that “a governmental person took official action evidencing its preliminary approval of the project before October 19, 2006.” The board of ESDC, the state’s development agency, approved the general project plan of Atlantic Yards in July 2006.
But the arena’s opponents will likely challenge that stipulation.
“The general project plan wasn’t legally binding, and it wasn’t anything that [Forest City Chief Executive Bruce] Ratner could legally rely on to do his project,” said Daniel Goldstein, a spokesman for project opponents.
NoLandGrab: So if Atlantic Yards already had "preliminary approval" in July of 2006, why did we all stand in line for hours for the public hearing for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on August 23, 2006, endure a fractious, mismanaged hearing, and submit volumes of written testimony?
We knew the whole process was bogus, but this takes the cake.
Posted by eric at 9:41 PM
Tax snag arises in Brooklyn Nets development
Reuters
by Joan Gralla with Ilaina Jonas
Does she or doesn't she?
Some media outlets are reporting that today's IRS ruling on the use of tax-exempt bonds applies to Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards arena, while DDDB contends that it doesn't. Reuters plays it down the middle.
Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner Companies on Tuesday said it believes it will be able to get the benefit of tax-free debt under new Internal Revenue Service regulations that govern so-called payments in lieu of taxes.
But a civic group, called Develop Don't Destroy, which in the past has sued to block the project that includes an arena for the Nets basketball team, hotel and apartments disagreed, saying the new tax rule "disqualifies" this debt.
The developer is seeking as much as $950 million of municipal bonds that will be repaid by so-called payments in lieu of taxes.
Posted by eric at 9:24 PM
October 19, 2008
No bridge to Brooklyn
NY Daily News
Mitch Lawrence joins Mike Lupica in getting in on the Atlantic Yards action. Good thing there is a sports section to take up the important urban planning stories...
Instead of putting a shovel in Brooklyn's soil, they're sprinkling dirt, rather liberally, on Bruce Ratner's dream of moving the Nets to the Atlantic yards.That's good for North Jersey and the 38 fans who still turn out to watch a team that lost whatever relevance it had when Jason Kidd forced his way to Dallas.
But it's bad for Jay-Z when he tries to sell LeBron James on playing in Newark.
Not that there's anything wrong with the Nets heading down Route 21 and settling into the Prudential Center. Becoming co-tenants again with the Devils in their state-of-the-art facility has always made the most sense, even if Ratner continues to hold out hope that Devin Harris will one day run a break in a Frank Gehry-designed building in Brooklyn.
The more Ratner tries to keep his dream alive, the more he finds himself caught between The Rock and a hard place. Having alienated North Jersey fans long ago with his grand plans to bolt the Meadowlands, he has to realize that he's just giving them another reason not to buy tickets. It's not as if they need another one these days. The rotten economy is reason enough to stay home.
...
Ratner always thought he could waltz right into Brooklyn by 2009, but residents never lined Flatbush Ave. to toss roses his way. No matter how much David Stern lent his support to the project, lambasting the antiquated Meadowlands every chance he got, the Nets had about as much chance of settling in Brooklyn as they had of beating the Lakers in the 2002 Finals.Now with Wall Street in chaos, Ratner can't get the financing to make Brooklyn work, so it's status quo, meaning the Nets get to stay in East Rutherford and play before a lot of empty seats.
article
NoLandGrab: In fact, residents did line Flatbush last night, but not to throw roses. Pictures from this year's successful Walk Don't Destroy will be forthcoming!