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Aw, Gary Barnett is making sure Jay-Z might still get to wear a Brooklyn Nets jersey: The rival bid from Extell for the Brooklyn railyards is offering a compromise to give Bruce Ratner's team a chance to build the Nets arena if the Extell plan (a considerably less extensive complex) can get built. The NY Times reports that Extell would sell the arena land to Ratner if the Extell bid wins, which is a nice PR move for Extell to combat the people who dislike their plan since it keeps a sports team from coming back to Brooklyn. According to reports, Ratner is saying that his plan offers more transit infrastructure support, jobs, and housing. In the meantime, it seems like Mayor Bloomberg's people on the MTA board will vote in favor of Ratner's plan. What's interesting is that even if the MTA votes to accept a bid at tomorrow's vote, the MTA can still further negotiate with the winning bid on a price. Gothamist loves that, but given that the MTA was willing to accept $100 million for the worth-at-least $300 million West Side railyards, it doesn't seem like the MTA is very good at negotiating.
Do you want to see the Nets, or any sports team, in Brooklyn? That's the part of the Ratner bid that we are most intrigued about. In January 2004, the New Yorker looked at whether or not the Frank Gehry-designed arena would get built; there's a good mention of the stadium-building website, Field of Schemes.
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Saw the Jigga chowin' down at the Spotted Pig Friday night; Maybach outside awaitin' until 2 a.m....
I actually have nothing against a pro sports team coming to Brooklyn, but I do have a problem with the location. There are places in Brooklyn where an arena could be built that are not already super-congested.
The arena is and always has been a way for Ratner to build the 17 (or 19) huge skyscrapers in this area. It's like the juicy carrot on the stick that he's using to try to drum up public support for a development that most people don't want. When the 'designs' were released a few weeks ago, many Brooklynites were horrified once they realized the scope and scale of what he's really trying to do.