Opponents of the Atlantic Yards have won their first major court victory against the state agency that oversees construction—but the ruling will likely have zero impact on actually delaying the project. A state judge ruled yesterday that the Empire State Development Corporation "purposefully withheld information on the project’s timetable to avoid having to reexamine the project’s negative impacts," according to a copy of the decision obtained by Brooklyn Paper. Specifically, the ESDC only analyzed developer Bruce Ratner's discarded 10-year construction plan as opposed to the more realistic 25-year plan because "a true analysis would reveal that the project will create the blighted conditions that the state said Ratner’s project would remedy," according to opponents. more ›

NY's highest court, the Court of Appeals, upheld the Manhattanville expansion plans of Columbia University, allowing the institution to move forward on its ambitious 17 acre project. The Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling that the state's use of eminent domain to seize private property was unconstitutional and said the state improperly found property blighted. In the 7-0 decision, Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick wrote, "It cannot be said that [Empire State Development Corporation]'s finding of blight was irrational or baseless. Indeed, ESDC considered a wide range of factors including the physical, economic, engineering and environmental conditions at the Project site. Its decision was not based on any one of these factors, but on the Project site conditions as a whole." more ›

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. more ›

The Empire State Development Corporation held a two-day meeting for the public to air their opinions and concerns about Columbia University's Manhattanville plan. The NY Times reported, "while the two-day hearing featured testimony from a former mayor, members of the State Legislature and the president of Columbia University, the group that will make the ultimate decision, the development corporation’s board, was not there." (Only a lawyer for the ESDC listened.) Former mayor David Dinkins said he is "convinced it...will be positive for Columbia and its neighbors." But on the other side, others, notably Nick Sprayregen who is fighting Columbia to keep his property in the footprint, said there's no reason why the ESDC should have declared the area blighted, opening up the door to eminent domain. more ›