Atlantic Yards Project Threatened by Recession

Photograph, above, from Triborough on Flickr; graphic, below, from the NY Times

Developer Bruce Ratner has turned gloomy about his $4 billion project to turn the MTA Atlantic rail yards in downtown Brooklyn into a sports arena, office and residential complex designed by Frank Gehry. In an exclusive interview with the Times, he expressed confidence that construction on the Barclays arena would start by the end of the year. But the "centerpiece" office tower called Miss Brooklyn and three residential buildings that were supposed to be built in the first phase of the project will be postponed for years. And the percentage of affordable housing originally planned has been dialed back.

Without an anchor tenant, the office tower aspect of the project is stalled. Ratner’s company, Forest City, has been desperately sending letters signed by Gehry to the city’s biggest corporations, inviting them to become an anchor tenant in Miss Brooklyn, which was to be completed 2009.

Daniel Goldstein, the last resident remaining in a building on the Atlantic Yards site and a leader of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, notes that the expected cost of the 22-acre project, with its 8 million square feet of apartments, office space, and stores in 16 towers, plus the arena, has now swelled to $950 million, more than double the original $435 million price tag. The City and State have been subsidizing pre-construction costs and have already disbursed $55 million of the promised $300 million.

Another potential obstacle for Ratner is Governor David Paterson, who as a state senator in 2005 called for a statewide moratorium on the use of eminent domain, which is needed to clear the site of about 20 property owners. And the Times architecture critic writes that if the arena is built without the residential or office towers, it will be “an enormous eyesore… and a betrayal of the public trust.” Or, as Goldstein puts it, “a sham.”

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By John Del Signore in News on March 21, 2008 9:44 AM

Comments [rss]

Toby von Meistersinger

Hopefully this will kill the whole thing, since the arena was just a red herring to get the land grab.

Goomba

They got an arena in Jersey that they can play in. All the mulignans in Newark can watch them in the arena they got there, cause the mulignans are the only ones that really like basketball cause it is just the mulignans playing it. There are probably some Jersey businessmen that the guy can sell the team to cause the stupid mulignan ball team was just a scam to get the shit built.

Spiny

"And the percentage of affordable housing originally planned has been dialed back."

But of course.

slappy

I can only hope that a full on recession will dicourage these cavalier robber developers and their political lackeys for a while. We have suffered enough from these irresponsible jerks. Projects which support the needs and diversity of the greater NYC community can also be profitable. When will we see developer entrepeneurs who have some social vision?

dalton

Triborough should be arrested for taking that photo. Doesn't he know that all photography of that area is prohibited and illegal?

BoerumHillJo

I'm going to miss Daniel Goldstein when they finally tear down 636 Pacific and he has to move to Sunset Park. While it is good clean middle brow humor having the self-rightous lunatic around - anybody wound that tight is a virtual lock every week to be a prime source of fodder - his fifteen minutes expired long ago. Presumably the same will soon be said of the $175K DDDB has wasted tilting at windmills the last 3 years.

ianmac47

So the Arena is going to be built without towers buffering the arena from the street. Local activists might see this as a partial victory since the big towers won't be going up in their backyard, but instead now they'll have a dehumanizing arena instead of shops and apartments.

cwbuecheler

With any luck, this entire project will come apart at the seams. While I'm generally ambivalent about the development of Brooklyn, the use of eminent domain in this instance is revolting and should in no way be legal. I hope Ratner and his government cronies go broke trying to make this happen.