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The Associated Press is responsible for the latest skeptical report on the future of developer Bruce Ratner's embattled $4 billion plan to build a Nets arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Brooklyn. The article paints a bleak picture of the project, noting that in addition to the two ongoing lawsuits Ratner has been fighting off for years, the Wall Street bust has made investors just a wee bit apprehensive. The arena's groundbreaking was recently pushed back again, and the stadium—if it's ever built—will cost more than triple what Ratner paid for the entire franchise. "It's got more of an economic stall than a political or a legal stall," says Michael Rowe, former president of the Nets. "I think he missed the curve on when that project was financially viable and now he has to wait for it to come back." Longtime opponent Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn puts it more bluntly: "This is just merely a fantasy that they're going to build this project. Yet they're moving forward as if everything's fine."
Atlantic Yards Project Stalled by Economy, Experts Say
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Hopefully this will put Ratner in a financial hole, forcing him to sell the basketball team he purchased as a ruse to build the project to some people in New Jersey for a fire sale price.
Kudos to the Brooklynites who fought this boondoggle and blight on its sun-filled vistas.
Shame on Marty Barfowitz, the "Rev" Daughtry and ACORN sham-artist Big Bertha who would sell out their borough and their neighborhood to the highest bidder. Walter O'Malley would be proud of you.
Daniel Goldstein should win the Most Tenacious Brooklynite award or something.
A cautionary tale for any developer who thinks eminent domain is an ace in the hole.
Ratner should:
- Settle his Nets in the Prudential Center and give Newark a extra boost.
- Put a park above the railyards.
agreeing with Think Twice....
Put the Nets in Newark, the city could really use it as another chip toward their "visitable and fun city" bid....
And yeh, if you're going to do something with that land at Atlantic Yards, why not do something which will actually benefit the neighborhood and/or be enjoyed by those who live there... like a park. Or hell, a community garden/farm?
On the one hand, woo hoo! On the other hand, thank you sooo much for tearing down perfectly usable buildings and throwing people out of their homes, Ratner.
I want to preface my comment by saying three things:
1) I don't know much about this project, including what buildings would actually be torn down.
2) My comment has nothing to do with the financing of the project, which raises a whole host of issues.
3) I will look into these issues. Excuse my ignorance as much as possible for now.
That said:
Is this particular area of Brooklyn worth defending so much? The Atlantic Center and its immediate surroundings could, in my opinion, definitely be improved upon.
Like I said above, the issue is obviously far more complicated than that (forcing those who live and own businesses there to move, why taxpayers will front a lot of the bill, parts of the area are, in my opinion, quite nice, etc.). But at the most basic level, I'm not sure I fully appreciate the "keep Brooklyn exactly the same/all development is bad development" way of thinking.
DDDB and other organizations did come up with a plan that is more downscale that Ratnerville, combining residential and retail.
With the failure of Ratnerville, though, which was way too out of scale for Brooklyn's downtown, I fear the area faces another decade or so of not much happening.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Ratner won't be around in a few years. His whole world just turned into crap...much like his proposed buildings.
If Mr. Ratner's Atlantic Yard development is defeated, Daniel Goldstein will certainly become an urban hero (if he is not one already).
As for this project, I hope every due process violation the developer and city have perpetrated comes back to haunt them.
The best case scenario is the development is stopped, term limits are not repealed, a new democratic mayor wins the election, and then he or she brings fairness and reasonable expectations into a new Atlantic Yard development plan with a new developer and new ethos.
Oh, and lets make it even better, Senator Obama becomes president and offers a constitutional ammendment to defined "public purpose" as a hospital, road, or bridge.