Results tagged “atlanticyards”

Adding more fuel to the fire about where the Nets may play in the future, the Record says that the Izod Center (at the Meadowlands) and Prudential Center (in Newark) have stopped squabbling and may sign a deal, which "could have the Nets moving to Newark next fall for two seasons (or more) and the Izod Center becoming the long-term concert and family show mecca for North Jersey." The Nets, waiting to hear about what will happen with the Atlantic Yards, have been impressed with the crowds they've gotten at the Prudential Center.

Two preseason games at the Prudential Center in Newark have been so highly attended that the Nets are considering moving there from the Meadowlands while they wait for a new home in Brooklyn. An October 13th preseason game against the Celtics drew 12,790 fans to the Prudential Center, three times the the size of a typical preseason crowd at the Meadowlands' Izod Center. Then, a game against the Knicks drew 15,721. Those are nice numbers, but getting out of their lease could cost Nets owner and Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner millions.

Days after the Post had one of their "sources" describe Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz as "angry and embarrassed" over the prospect of a Russian-owned Nyets team at the embattled Atlantic Yards site in Brooklyn, Marty's fired back. Far from being embarrassed, he's simply delighted: "Brooklyn is the Russian capital of America, so [Russian playboy Mikhail] Prokhorov will feel right at home here, and I have been assured he will put the interests of Brooklyn first." Plus, given those Russkies' historic knack for winning basketball games against all odds, maybe New York will finally get a b-ball team to be proud of again?

The Post gets one of their juicy "sources" to dish on Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's reaction to the idea of a Russian-owned Nyets team. Markowitz, a big Atlantic Yards booster throughout the controversy and delays, is feeling a little burned at this point, according to "one operative": "It's a combination of anger and embarrassment. He signed on to a magnificent Frank Gehry-designed Brooklyn palace in the sky, and now he's got a foreign-owned big hole in the ground." But fuggedaboutit; it's still the best hole in the best borough of New York!

On the heels of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's blog confirmation of rumors that he'll help finance the Bruce Ratner's embattled Nets stadium, Forest City Ratner has issued a statement detailing the "strategic partnership for the development of the Atlantic Yards Project." According to the press release, "entities to be formed by Prokhorov's 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." The tentative $200 million deal would also involve Prokhorov taking on some of the team’s debts and reducing Ratner’s 23 percent stake.

A translation of Russian billionaire tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov's Russian blog sheds a little light on his reasons for financing the Nets arena and Atlantic Yards. Besides attracting Western capital, he mentions "access to all modern technology and training methods with the possibility of using them in Russia," and then goes on to detail how the team could be used to place Russian trainers, managers, and players into the NBA. They may have to rename the team the Nyets! (Via Curbed.)

Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner's quid pro quo relationship with community organizing group ACORN is public knowledge, but now that the group is on the hot seat for those hidden camera humiliations, the Post takes another look. For years, ACORN has rallied its members to enthusiastically support the construction of Ratner's $4.9 billion NBA arena, and in exchange ACORN would help manage tenants for the 2,250 affordable-housing units still planned for Atlantic Yards, to be built someday in the unforeseeable future.

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. A new analysis concludes that "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)." It also estimates that "for the developer, Forest City Ratner Companies, the mix of special government benefits result in total savings of $726 million."

Developer Bruce Ratner must be relieved this morning to see that big bad Nicholas Ouroussoff at Times does not revile the latest renderings for the Nets arena planned for Brooklyn. You'll recall that Ouroussoff dissed the last designs as "a monstrosity" and "a shameful betrayal of the public trust, one that should enrage all those who care about this city." But bringing young New York firm SHoP on board may be just the lipstick on the boondoggle Ratner needs; Ouroussoff, who had embraced Gehry's vision for the project, calls this new look "somewhat more promising."

       

After dropping architect Frank Gehry from his embattled Atlantic Yards project, developer Bruce Ratner replaced him with arena designer company Ellerbe Becket, whose revised brick shit-house renderings for a proposed Nets Arena were met with derision. So last week it was revealed that Ratner was doing damage control by bringing in hot New York architecture firm SHoP, and now this morning we have take three on the arena, which is still radically different from Gehry's signature crumpled paper design, but less banal than the last misfire.

When developer Bruce Ratner dropped architect Frank Gehry's designs for his beleaguered Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the reversal was derided as a "stunning bait-and-switch" by the Times architecture critic. Adding insult to injury, the preliminary rendering for the less expensive Nets arena, designed by Midwestern arena designer company Ellerbe Becket, resembled a banal brick airplane hanger perfect for youth hockey and flea markets. But the Observer now reveals that Ratner has brought in hot New York architecture firm SHoP to work with Ellerbe Becket on the $800 million arena and, presumably, put some new lipstick on this boondoggle. (SHoP's the firm that did the pipe dream designs proposed for a new South Street Seaport; Curbed has compiled more of their work.) Yet another round of new renderings are expected to be released this month, so prepare to be pandered to all over again! In the meantime, Ratner is hustling to sell $700 million in bonds to investors before the end of the year in order to qualify for tax-exempt status, while also preparing for the next legal hurdle in October, when the state’s highest court will hear arguments against the use of eminent domain for the project.

A new rendering by the Municipal Art Society suggests that Bruce Ratner's $4.9 billion plan to build a Nets basketball arena and mixed-use towers in Brooklyn is a far cry from what was originally proposed, duh. No official renderings of the 22-acre site have been provided to the public since Ratner revealed that starchitect Frank Gehry's ambitious arena designs had been scrapped to cut costs, so MAS has stepped in to show what the area will look like in the coming years.

Would-be Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is getting so desperate to alleviate the debt burdening his $4 billion plan to build an ugly Nets stadium and other useless eyesores in Brooklyn that he's frantically trying to sell off most of the team. Officials at his company, Forest City Ratner, publicly deny the sales effort, but the Star-Ledger reports that last week Ratner flew to Moscow to meet face-to-face with billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the chief financier for CSKA Moscow. Other potential suckers investors are rumored to include Terry Semel, former CEO of Yahoo and Warner Bros, and some other rich guys with money to burn. Meanwhile, according to Forbes, the Nets dropped 13% in value last season, and morale within the organization is reportedly abysmal due to layoffs, pay cuts, and the team's general habit of sucking. (Granted, not as much as the Knicks.) One former Nets employee tells the Star-Ledger, "They've really created an environment where you don't want to stay there anymore. It's gotten really bad, especially for those of us who have gone through five owners in 10 years. It's just so damn bleak." But bleakness being Russia's specialty, maybe Prokhorov's a perfect fit?

The perpetually embattled Atlantic Yards project—now in the cross-hairs of the state's highest court—still has die hard supporters, but even some are confessing their disappointment. Developer Bruce Ratner's plans have been dramatically downsized from what was proposed back when he was first wooing allies in 2004, and it's unclear when the promised affordable housing and jobs will materialize. Rev. Herbert Daughtry of the Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance still backs developer Bruce Ratner, but tells the Daily News he's come to accept the many shortcomings: "Everybody wishes it would be what was originally planned, but given the realities the project had to face, it's a wonder that it's still there. I think it's the best we can do at this point." Less tolerant is Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, "The promises made by this developer have disappeared like a house of cards." Last but not least is Councilman David Yassky, who initially supported the project but has since soured on it: "The MTA changing the deal just added insult to injury. This was already a bad deal for taxpayers and now it's an appallingly bad deal." Meanwhile, Ratner insists the underwhelming new renderings released last month were "premature."

During the past week or so, developer Bruce Ratner had finally seemed to have a little wind in his sails as he pushed forward with his $4.2 billion odyssey to build a Nets basketball arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Brooklyn. The MTA agreed to a sweetheart deal to sell him the Vanderbilt Railyards, and the Empire State Development Corporation [ESDC] brushed off demands that Ratner resubmit his heavily revised plans for another full public review. But now the whole project is back to being embattled, as 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. In May, a state appellate court unanimously rejected the lawsuit, and Ratner's attorneys expressed great confidence that the Court of Appeals wouldn't hear the case. At the time, Ratner said, "I’m honestly overjoyed. This is a weight off my back." Now the weight's back on, and, since the court operates on its own timeline, some wonder whether a ruling will be issued within enough time for developer to meet a year-end deadline to secure tax-free arena financing.

With four major sports complexes crowding a 30 mile radius, and another on the way to Brooklyn as part of the embattled Atlantic Yards project, owners are now facing the sobering prospect of one day fighting to fill nearly 100,000 seats, 365 days a year. Mark Rosentraub, a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan, tells the Times, "The market is saturated... Five arenas is not going to work. I don’t think four works, even in a market as large as New York. There’s competition in every direction and there aren’t enough events." Of course, there's been heated debate for years over whether these government-subsidized stadiums—often sold as snake oil panaceas to foundering regional economies—actually contribute much to the community. (Here's one great article on the subject.) Now arenas are hemorrhaging money across the country, the Times reports. But this is New York, and there's always room for one more! Developer Bruce Ratner, demonstrating a vampiric ability not to die from a thousand cuts, scored some major victories last week, and is rushing to break ground on his Brooklyn monstrosity before the end of the year.

The Nets have made a bold move hours before the NBA draft, agreeing to trade Vince Carter to Orlando for three players. The move sets the Nets up to be a major force in the 2010 free agent frenzy. In addition to Carter, the Magic will receive Ryan Anderson. In return the Nets receive Rafer Alston (a Jamaica, Queens native), Tony Battie and Courtney Lee. Alston, who is known as "Skip to My Lou" for his streetball skills, and Battie are free agents after the upcoming season; meaning New Jersey has cleared about $18 million of their cap after 2010. Combine this trade with the approval by the MTA of the revised Atlantic Yards deal and it is clear the Nets will be doing everything they can to get LeBron James to come and join them in Brooklyn.

As expected, the MTA board voted yesterday to approve a less lucrative deal to sell the Vanderbilt Railyards in Prospect Heights to developer Bruce Ratner, who won a bid to buy the property for $100 million (which is less than the land's $200+ million appraised value) in 2005. The MTA will now accept just $20 million up front and the rest in installments over the next two decades. However, a last-minute counter-offer made by Atlantic Yards opponent Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, for $120 million to be paid over the next 12 years, was ignored by the MTA.

It's another pivotal week for developer Bruce Ratner's embattled Atlantic Yards project, which recently received a major redesign that forsook Frank Gehry's glitzy arena designs for a big brick shithouse (pictured). At a public meeting this morning, the MTA's finance committee reviewed "a revised agreement" with Ratner, who still needs to pony up for the MTA's Vanderbilt Rail Yard land in order to move forward with the project.

Just a week after announcing it was ditching plans for the Brooklyn Nets Arena from world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and instead taking a more pedestrian and less expensive approach, developer Forest City Ratner has confirmed to the NY Times that Gehry will no longer be involved with any part of the Atlantic Yards. Joe DePlasco, spokesman for Bruce Ratner, said, "We do not anticipate that Mr. Gehry will be designing any of the individual buildings." Why? Because Gehry's designs, though dazzling in 2005, are expensive (which is exactly what Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff was worried about last year!).

When we derided the bait-and-switch redesign of developer Bruce Ratner's Nets arena as "a banal homage to any number of unremarkable field house arenas across America," some readers accused us of snobbery. But isn't that the same anti-elitist attitude that gave America eight years with a simian president just because the knuckle draggers found him folksy? That's not to say Gehry's scrapped design was the Obama of arenas, but you can certainly imagine, say, Sarah Palin feeling right at home watching some arena football in this eyesore (above). And Nicolai Ouroussoff at the Times gets it:

Now that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner has kicked renowned architect Frank Gehry's design for the (potential) future home of the Brooklyn Nets aside for a less expensive design by way of Kansas firm Ellerbe Becket, it's time for politicians to weigh in. Mayor Bloomberg said he understood the economic realities that Ratner was facing; the Post reports that he said on his radio show, "I think Ratner came to the conclusion, in this day and age, you just cannot finance something as complex to build. There's no such thing as a straight wall with Frank. Frank is into curves."

After news broke yesterday that developer Bruce Ratner had officially replaced starchitect Frank Gehry's striking design for a big, $1 billion arena in downtown Brooklyn, the Times released a rendering of what the new arena would look like. And wow, eat your heart out, Indianapolis! To save $200 million, Ratner enlisted Kansas City design firm Ellerbe Becket to completely redesign the stalled arena, which he needs to begin building by the end of the year, when his right to use tax-exempt financing expires.

Last week, the Daily News reported that Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner had hired Kansas City design firm Ellerbe Becket to revise the Brooklyn Nets arena designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. Now the NY Times confirms that Gehry is out.

State Senators held a public hearing at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn on Friday to get a sense of where things stand for developer Bruce Ratner's $4.2 billion dollar dream of building a Nets arena and mixed-use towers on a 22-acre site that includes part of the MTA railyards. But it was difficult to get a sense of just how FUBAR the controversial project actually is, in part because the meeting was packed with hundreds of jeering construction workers wearing hard hats and "Atlantic Yards Now" buttons. At one point State Senator Bill Perkins futilely begged for silence, telling the crowd, "I think if we could eliminate some of the whistling and shouting..." But he was drowned out by cries of "Go, home Bill!"

After months of speculation, the MTA announced that the Long Island Rail Road improvements proposed at the Atlantic Yards development will be less grand than planned. Instead of nine rails, there will be seven, and the MTA is also expecting less money from developer Bruce Ratner. The Post reports that the MTA "allowed Ratner to renegotiate because the national credit crunch was making it difficult to finance the 22-acre plan to build an NBA arena and 16 office and residential towers in Prospect Heights." To refresh your memory, back in 2005, Ratner won the MTA's land—called the Vanderbilt Rail Yard—after bidding $100 million, which was $50 million less than a rival bid (the land is appraised at over $200 million). It's unclear how much Ratner will end up paying the MTA (rumor is $50 million!); Atlantic Yards Report has details of the State Senate meeting where MTA interim CEO Helena Williams spoke. And Ratner, who hopes to break ground later this year, is downsizing other parts of his plan.

As embattled developer Bruce Ratner—who just won't let go of his $4.2 billion dream to build a Nets basketball arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Prospect Heights— continues to stagger around like a zombie who refuses to believe he's dead, the project's celebrated architect Frank Gehry is becoming increasingly uninvolved.

Legendary New York Knick—and former U.S. Senator from NJ—Bill Bradley has weighed in about the Nets' impending move to Brooklyn. And, according to CityRoom, he thinks it sucks! Noting how the Atlantic Yards project has been beset by years delays, Bradley said, "Maybe it takes something like that to bring people to their senses. They don’t belong in Brooklyn. They belong in New Jersey. They belong here." Atlantic Yards developer and Nets principal owner Bruce Ratner says that ground will be broken—in Brooklyn—this year but Newark Mayor Cory Booker thinks the Nets may never play there. Last week, Booker told a radio show caller, "I'm going to go way out on a limb here and let you know maybe more than I should. I am confident, now more than ever, that the deal with Brooklyn is just not going anywhere. The team is going to go up for sale. That's my prediction." Booker is more worried that the Nets will head to Kansas City or Seattle.

After a state appellate court rejected a lawsuit stopping his Atlantic Yards project, developer Bruce Ratner says that ground will be broken sometime this year (maybe this summer, maybe this fall). He told the NY Times, "I’m honestly overjoyed. This is a weight off my back." A group of property owners in the footprint of the massive project had claimed eminent domain was improperly used to obtain land; the appellate court unanimously rejected the challenge, finding, "It cannot be said that the public benefits which the Atlantic Yards project is expected to yield are incidental or pretextual in comparison to the benefit that will be bestowed upon the project’s private developer." Still, the opponents, who believe Ratner will profit much more than the public will benefit (and who have helped stall the plans for two years), vow to take their case to the Court of Appeals. The Daily News notes, "The decision allows Ratner to qualify for tax-free bonds to build the arena and the go-ahead to purchase the MTA-owned rail yard on which it will be built."

The Atlantic Yards rat problem appears to be getting worse according to neighbors with a block association having held a meeting on how to combat the pestering rodents just this week. One Prospect Heights resident who was there told the News, "It's worse now than it's ever been. Whenever the work happens, rats are everywhere, eight at a time." The News first reported a couple weeks back on the rats and the sorry state of the demolition site, including women being harassed near the Yards at night; today's headline is "Rat-infested Yard Site Stirs Cat Calls." A spokesman for Bruce Ratner's properties naturally blamed the rat infestation on the sorry state of the site before the developer came in and "corrected the problems." If the area around the stalled project follows the course laid out in Life After People, expect the rats to return to the wild in the next few months, only to be replaced by the arrival of wolves.