BROOKLYN, NY— Tonight, as reported last week in Crain’s, Bruce Ratner’s New Jersey Nets will “debut a prototype of their Frank Gehry-designed, $300,000-a-year Barclays Center corporate suites at a splashy party in their New York Times Building showroom.”

Meanwhile, back in reality, Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development proposal—including the arena for which Barclays Bank has purchased naming rights for $400 million—is on the precipice of failure and currently cannot be built.

“Bruce Ratner once promised ‘affordable’ housing. Now, all he is promising are luxury arena skyboxes, and he’s in no position to build even those,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “Tonight’s luxury skybox party vividly represents the Atlantic Yards bait and switch. The proposed ‘affordable’ housing was the bait to enlist the support of many elected officials backing the project, as well as ACORN; the switch is that those in need of an affordable home are left hanging while the ridiculously expensive luxury skyboxes will be given full priority over everything else Ratner once promised.”

Developer Forest City Ratner (FCR) does not own all of the properties it needs to build its proposed arena. Some of that property is in the hands of other private owners or tenants. New York State’s intention to seize those properties by eminent domain, and hand them over to Forest City, is currently being challenged in the courts. Back on March 31, 11 property owners and tenants filed a petition to the US Supreme Court in their case alleging that New York State’s use of eminent domain violates the US Constitution. If the Court takes their case, it would be heard by the end of the year, and a decision would be rendered roughly one year from now. If the Court does not take their case, the plaintiffs intend to file their challenge to eminent domain in New York State court.

In addition to this ownership problem, Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards proposal faces other substantial obstacles, including:

• FCR needs at least $1.4 billion in tax-free housing bonds, but they are not available.

• FCR does not have the bond it needs for its $950 million arena—more than double the price tag of the most expensive arena every built.

• The credit market is in crisis.

• Construction costs have increased astronomically, and continue to rise.

• New York City’s real estate boom is over, and Brooklyn has a large oversupply of condos.

• Political opinion has substantially shifted against the project. (See: May 3rd protest rally)

• A coming appeal of the community lawsuit challenging the project’s environmental review and overall approval.

• Other outstanding litigation and the possibility of new litigation beyond that.

Contributors to Brooklyn Was Mine, including Philip Dray, Rachel Cline and Joanna Hershon read and sign books at Greenpoint's WORD.

Brooklyn Was Mine gives some of today's best writers an opportunity to pay tribute to the borough they love in 20 original essays that draw on past and present to create a mosaic that brilliantly captures the quality and diversity of a unique, literary landscape.

WORD, an independent bookseller with selections for adults and children, opened in Greenpoint in March and has been featured in The New York Times, Lucky Magazine, New York Magazine's Intelligencer, The Brooklyn Paper and Shelf Awareness.

WORD is located at 126 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Take the G train to Greenpoint Avenue. Call 718.383.0096 or visit wordbrooklyn.com.

A powerful Assemblyman is calling for a "time out" on a major development, but it's not Atlantic Yards, focus of a recent "time out" rally. And that Assemblyman, Richard Brodsky, while calling for a timetable and cost-benefit analysis for megaprojects in the state, said that the focus of an Assembly committee's first hearing next week will be limited to projects on Manhattan's West Side.

The New York Times, in an article Wednesday headlined City Revisits Old Bidders After Railyards Deal Fails, reported:

Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky and other critics, however, say that the authority should wait for the economy to improve, while working with a master plan to coordinate all the activity on the West Side. “These deals are breaking down because the governance system for authorities doesn’t work and because the public subsidies are out of control,” said Mr. Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester. “We need a time out before this disaster repeats itself everywhere else.”

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In an article about JP Morgan's savings on real estate after the acquisition of Bear Stearns, Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project is cited as an example of the effects of the commercial real estate downturn:

New York City's real estate market is slowing as financial companies lay off tens of thousands of workers and developers find bank loans harder to get and more costly. The withering credit has already delayed mega-projects including Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards and Midtown Manhattan's Hudson Yards.

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Now that the Dolan family is lined up to purchase NY Newsday, will the paper have to disclose conflict of interest in stories covering the family's other ventures? The Times says it does (emphasis added):

When the sale was announced, she said, “I asked if we have to drop a line into stories that says, ‘The Knicks, who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday.’ ”

When reporting on Bruce Ratner, the owner of the Nets, The Times often says that he was a development partner in The Times’ new headquarters building. The newspaper also notes that The New York Times Company owns 17 percent of New England Sports Ventures, the parent company of the Boston Red Sox.

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NoLandGrab: Thank goodness the Times had the likes of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, NoLandGrab and Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report to harass them into "often" (though not consistently) including conflict-of-interest disclosures in articles covering Forest City Ratner.

The Brooklyn Public Library addressed the issue by releasing a statment to Gowanus Lounge which included the following:

While some topics and content may be unpopular it is our job not to judge, just to provide.

We find it curious that this is the same Brooklyn Public Library that rejected several works of art from the Atlantic Yards Footprints Exhibit due to the controversial content.

No one really thinks that the above photos, taken by NoLandGrab contributor Amy Greer, are more controversial than public viewing of online porn. Granted, the library isn't launching an exhibition of porn, but the public institution ought to recognize that they make judgments every day about appropriate content.

It's ironic that the same library that appeared so nervous about the Atlantic Yards controversy can display principled confidence while addressing the great online porn debate, which will surely rage on as Atlantic Yards opponents continue to grind their teeth to the sounds of Bruce Ratner's demolition of the Footprint.

Unlike the self-deprecating Norman Oder, lobbyist-for-the-little-guy-like-Bruce-Ratner, Richard Lipsky, toots his own horn upon being named to the NY Observer's list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, and complains that he's ranked below... Norman Oder.

We really got a big kick out of the Observer's ranking of Richard Lipsky as one of the 100 most influential people in NYC real estate. Here's the blurb:
80
Richard Lipsky
Lobbyist, Richard Lipsky Associates To many large developers, particularly those who build big-box retail, Mr. Lipsky is a pain in the ass. He organizes public opposition and pitches to the media a constant David vs. Goliath story line, usually with small retailers, threatened by the Vornados and the Related Companies of the world, playing the David role.

In over twenty five years of lobbying work on behalf of small businesses, communities and labor, we have stooped over twenty separate big box and shopping center developments-the only consistent force operating successfully in this capacity; which makes the ranking of Norman Oder ahead of us as something of a mystery. What has Norman actually stopped in his vendetta against Atlantic Yards, and has he ever done anything else to create a body of work?

Oder posted this response on Lipsky's MomandPopNYC blog:

Richard, guess what--I'll agree you (and others) should be ahead of me.

I won't agree it's a vendetta.

And shouldn't you mention that you're paid by Ratner?

Cordially,
Norman Oder

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NoLandGrab: Frequent reminders that the big-box-fighting Lipsky is on the payroll of the big-box-building Ratner wouldn't sit well with the lobbyist's David-vs.-Goliath storyline. Of course, as Kathy Goldman, the founder of a nonprofit group that supported a project against which Lipsky lobbied, told The New York Times in 1997, "He'll work for whoever pays him. I don't know where principle ends and expedience starts when you do that."

We're also not sure why Lipsky called his post "Real Estate Scion," since a scion is a descendant or heir. Lipsky's pop was a theatrical agent, according to that same Times article. Maybe he confused his father with his patron, Bruce Ratner.

NY Observer

It's noteworthy that the three highest-ranked developers on the Observer's list — #1 Jerry Speyer, #3 Stephen Ross, and #8 Bruce Ratner — are all having a heap of trouble closing their marquee deals: Hudson Yards, Moynihan Station/Madison Square Garden and Atlantic Yards, respectively.

Power. Webster’s Dictionary defines power as … No, no, no, never mind that: Power in New York City real estate means money—its acquisition, spending and creation—especially now, as the market enters a tremulous sunset after several bright, shiny years.

Our list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate was assembled with this finance-centric criterion at the forefront. The list, especially higher up, contains those who animate the deals and the trends. They are the deciders and the money providers. They make the real estate world the rest of us live in; or cover, as the case may be.
...

#8 Bruce Ratner

Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies

The leader of what is perhaps New York’s most high-profile development, the controversy magnet Atlantic Yards, Bruce Ratner is one of the most active developers in the city, often pursuing large, publicly administered projects. He’s recently taken a liking to famous architects, ensuring that his developments leave a notable impression on the skyline.

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NoLandGrab: Bruce Ratner only #8 while Amanda Burden is #5? Anyone familiar with the phony 8% Atlantic Yards "scaleback" knows that when Bruce Ratner says "scaleback," Amanda Burden asks "how much?"

For those of you who think that the all-too-powerful real estate industry pulls most of New York City's levers (is there anyone who doesn't think that?), a ray of light has emerged: it's a man, it's a journalist/blogger, it's Norman Oder!

According to the New York Observer's quite arbitrary list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, Bruce Ratner is #8, Frank Gehry is #51, and I am number #77.

While the listing is flattering, I can't say they have me convinced. For example, Charles Bagli, the veteran real estate/development reporter for the New York Times--and formerly at the Observer--does not appear on the list and he's way more powerful than I am. (Despite my criticisms of his AY coverage, he's a very able reporter.) And I am not more powerful than Nicolai Ouroussoff, the Times's architecture critic, at #85, nor Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, chair of the Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, at #89; he has the power to grill public officials. And where's Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute, a savvy and provocative commentator?

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NoLandGrab: Like some modern-day Lincoln Steffens (or Fremont Older), Oder has raked the muck caking Atlantic Yards, and in so doing, has exposed the project's seamy underside like no other journalist.

Norman Oder publishes an open letter to the NY Times Public Editor, which maybe really hopefully just might actually be more effective than the other calls for comprehensive coverage over the past four and a half years. [Not that we're counting.]

Dear Mr. Hoyt,

If you read other newspapers in New York, you would’ve noticed that there was a lot of Atlantic Yards-related news last week. If you followed the story online, you would’ve learned even more.

That’s why any consumer of media in New York should be disappointed by the New York Times’s failure to publish a word about Atlantic Yards in the past week. Not only is it a major story for the city and region, the Times, given the parent New York Times Company’s business relationship with developer Forest City Ratner, developing the new Times Tower, has a special obligation to be exacting in its coverage.

Norman Oder outlines the litany of news missed by the greying lady, such as:

• more public subsidies needed,
• the release of the State funding agreement,
• the release of the City funding agreement,
• tenant lawsuit development,
• rumors of Nets to Newark talks,
• a protest,
• a counter protest,
• shiny new renderings,
• gigantic parking lot renderings,
• green roof gone,
  and more!

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Atlantic Yards developer Forest CIty Ratner is listed among the "major sponsors" in the City's press release.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz today announced plans for a five-day celebration in honor of the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge.
...
Major sponsors of the Brooklyn Bridge 125th Birthday Celebration include General Contractors Association of New York, Inc., National Grid, Forest City Ratner, Target, as well as Empire Blue Cross, Verizon, Astoria Bank, Citi, Warner Bros. and Sovereign Bank. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov or call 311.

Forest City Ratner is still making friends in Yonkers:

[Yonkers] Business Week, sponsored by the city's Office of Economic Development, cost $330,000, which was covered entirely by private companies, city officials said. The two top donors are also two top developers: Forest City Ratner, builder of the Ridge Hill, a development whose handling by the Yonkers City Council is under federal investigation; and Struever Fidelco Cappelli, which wants to build the massive River Park Center, just east of City Hall. Both were listed as "pinnacle donors," contributing $30,000 each.

And in the Forest City "lifestlye center" (a mall with housing and/or offices) news :

Denver.YourHub.com, Orchard Town Center to Host Summer Concert Series

The Orchard Town Center to Host Summer Concert Series May Through August "Concerts on the Square" feature Hazel Miller, The Fab Four and Wendy Woo.
...
The Orchard Town Center, located at the northwest corner of Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue, is a unique, pedestrian-friendly lifestyle village. The center offers residents and visitors exceptional options in shopping, dining and entertainment in an environment that invites lingering, relaxing and socializing. Designed in classic prairie craftsmanship, The Orchard Town Center provides more than 40 entertainment, retail and restaurant establishments, including AMC Orchard 12, JCPenney, Macy's, SuperTarget, Rock Bottom Brewery and Woodlands Grill. The project was developed by Forest City Commercial Group Inc. and the City of Westminster.

The Press-Enterprise, List of eateries grows for Temecula mall

Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que and P.F. Chang's China Bistro have joined the roster of businesses slated to occupy a 126,000-square-foot expansion at The Promenade in Temecula, mall operator Forest City Enterprises announced Tuesday.

The Eagle's arts columnist tosses a bone to DDDB's design team.

Designers Daisy Tikkanen, Sirius Madra Dubh and Scott Turner of Superba Graphics in Greenwood Heights are the talent behind the poster for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s (DDDB’s) May 15 benefit concert at Park Slope Avenue Southpaw. The same designers, who specialize in “yesteryear” aesthetics, have become the go-to artists for DDDB. They also created posters for previous DDDB fundraisers including “Garden Don’t Destroy” and “Walk Don’t Destroy.” Thursday’s concert will bring together Brooklyn musicians in opposition of the Atlantic Yards project: up and coming Clare & The Reasons, Richard Julian and John Wesley Harding, who has shared the stage with big guns such as Bruce Springsteen and Joan Baez during his 20-year career.

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