Results tagged “forestcityratner”

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!).

Back in March, the economy forced developer Bruce Ratner to scale back plans for a 76-story Frank Gehry-designed building called Beekman Tower to just a 38- (or 40-) story structure. Now, the NY Times reports that a deal between Ratner's company and labor unions will help save "as much as 20 percent on labor costs" and allow construction to resume at Beekman Tower. Forest City Ratner executive MaryAnne Gilmartin said, "We’re thrilled to be going back to work. It’s a great project and a great building." Beekman Tower, which will be the tallest residential building in the city at 867 feet, was originally planned as a condominium, but FCR made it a rental (given the economy). Gilmartin also said, The savings we achieved go a long way toward insulating the project from any dip in rents or any protracted period of time required to lease up the building. We’re really bullish on this building."

The Post reports that developer Bruce Ratner's Forest City Ratner is "trying to cut back on much-needed transit improvements, which he promised in exchange for approval for the controversial $4 billion" Atlantic Yards project. This is the latest bad news for the ambitious project—most recently, Ratner has been downsizing the buildings.

After work was abruptly stopped at the construction site earlier this month, another delay for the Atlantic Yards project has been announced. The Daily News reports that "Forest City Ratner officials told city and state officials at a private meeting on Monday it would shift focus away from pricey condominiums in favor of rental apartments during the first phase of construction." About 900 rentals will be put in space originally meant for condos and commercial space. City Council David Yassky said, "Going rental is consistent with what other developers are doing elsewhere. That's just what the market is dictating." So, does that mean Frank Gehry will rehire some staff to design the rental units?

Bronx legend Clive Campbell, who as DJ Kool Herc is widely credited as one of hip-hop’s founding fathers, is not suing Jay-Z, developer Bruce Ratner and Barclays bank, as previously reported by the Observer online. The $5 billion lawsuit is being brought by a much less famous Brooklyn activist also named Clive Campbell, and the mix-up is probably a big publicity boon for his lawsuit, as it echoed far and wide across the internets before the Observer corrected it. Campbell is demanding the money as slavery reparations because of Barclays’ history with the slave trade; the bank has secured the naming rights for the controversial Nets stadium Ratner is trying to build at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards, which would be part of a bigger residential development.

We noticed two YouTube videos, taken from an apartment with a view of Dean Street, documenting some late night construction activity at the Atlantic Yards site in downtown Brooklyn. How late? Well, one video takes place at 11:42PM (video) while the other is in the 4AM hour (above!). For reference, according to 311, construction hours are generally 7AM to 6PM on weekdays (there may be emergency work in the middle of the night, but only on occasion; we also know some contractors get variances and conduct work late at night).

A video artist and teacher visiting from San Francisco claims she’s the latest victim of police harassment of photographers in New York – and this time the overzealous cop may have been acting on behalf of Forest City Ratner, the corporation behind the controversial Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn.

Jason Kidd trade rumors are hardly new, but this time, they're probably for real. Nets President Rod Thorn and the guard have made no secret of the seemingly obvious incentives for both parties to want a deal before the Feb. 21 NBA trading deadline. Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter, the younger parts of the Big Three, have expensive contracts.

A rendering of Brooklyn's proposed City Tech Tower, designed by Renzo Piano, at Tillary and and Jay Street sent some into speculation mode, especially since its height seemed to be up to 1,000 feet tall. Which would make just about twice the height of the 512-foot tall Williamsburgh Savings Bank, currently the tallest building the Brooklyn. However, the rendering of the building is apparently old. A representative at Forest City Ratner, the development company which...

Yesterday, people critical of developer Bruce Ratner's massive, billion dollar Atlantic Yards project held the Third Annual Walk Don't Destroy Walkathon. And leading opponent Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn held a press conference asking a new question that goes beyond eminent domain and the size and scale of the plan. Now the question is whether the Atlantic Yards will be safe from a terror risk.

The city and state have worked out their differences and will move forward on overhauling the 421-a tax abatement program for new development. The City Council had passed a version last year that would have increased the amount of affordable housing and limited how much of the subsidy could go towards luxury housing, but then the Legislature's version, passed in June, included more neighborhoods, more units available to people with even lower incomes, and $300 million in breaks to Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner Companies. The city wasn't sure about those additions and wanted changes.

The most charming weddings article in the NY Times today is not in the Styles section, but the City section: It's about the many Queens couples who get married at Queens Borough Hall, a three-and-a-half story brick building designed by William Gehron and Andrew J. Thomas. About 9,000 couples got married there last year, and after being married by a deputy city clerk, sometimes they pose in front of a retired Redbird Subway car that is in the courtyard. The Times has a cute slideshow, too.

So this is how borough presidents wield power: Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has flexed his BEEP muscles by dismissing five members of Brooklyn's Community Board 6 - and their common quality was that they were vocal opponents of the Atlantic Yards project. And City Council members David Yassky and Bill DeBlasio also didn't reappoint four other members who opposed the massive $4 billion project that has been the source of community tension. Gowanus Lounge calls it "The Atlantic Yards Saturday Night Massacre."

One couple who got married this weekend had a leg up on many other brides and grooms: They know event planning. As Lauren Berger and Stuart Ruderfer's NY Times wedding announcement explains, Berger works for NYC Big Events, a city agency that works on landing and promoting high-profile events, while Ruderfer is the founder and CEO of Civic Entertainment Group, which creates marketing opportunities and events. And they met when Berger worked at Civic Entertainment, where they got to know each other.

As their feelings deepened, she said, “I realized it was probably better in terms of the company and the other employees that I look for another job.” She left in 2003.

Continue reading "Times Weddings Highlights: Wedding Planning Is As Easy as a Concert in the Park"

Yesterday morning, a 200-foot long chunk of a rooftop parapet on a Brooklyn building collapsed onto the street. While this would be news no matter what or where it happened, the building is the Ward Bread Bakery, which happens to be one of many buildings that are being demolished for the massive Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn. The Department of Buildings is inspecting neighboring buildings and 350 people, including those living in a shelter next door, were evacuated as a precaution.

As planned since a judge okay'd Forest City Ratner's demolition of buildings in downtown Brooklyn, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn held a protest this morning. FCR says that they own all the buildings and therefore should be allowed to tear them down, but DDDB says one concern is that the land will remain vacant if the project doesn't happen. DDDB's Ron Shiffman told NY1, "I find it very ironic that the day after Earth Day and the day after the mayor, I think, made a magnificent speech calling for us to be the greenest city, that we're destroying buildings that have already been built, buildings that have a lot of energy in them and destroying them, in this case before the lawsuits have been settled."

Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden today declined to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that would have blocked developer Forest City Ratner from commencing demolitions within the footprint of the “Atlantic Yards” project before the legal challenge to the state’s environmental review and approval of the project, as well as a motion for a preliminary injunction, can be heard in court on May 3rd.

Continue reading "Ratner Free to Proceed With Demolition"

A NY State Supreme Court judge ruled that Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner must return two properties after deciding that the properties' tenant had improperly given them to the developer. You ask, how can a mere tenant sign over properties he doesn't even own to a developer for demolition? So do we!

after Freedom of Information Act requests.

"Across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal" is becoming the new benchmark in swank office location. Crain's reports that the New York Times Building (pictured right) designed by Renzo Piano and FxFowle has "breathed new life into the formerly moribund area" across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Developer Bruce Ratner has been letting the media know that construction will begin on the Atlantic Yards project. The controversial development will bring an arena for the Nets as well as commercial and residential space in the millions of square feet, as well as displace residents in its 22 acre footprint. Metro reports that for the first phase of prep work, a "temporary rail yard" will be set up on the eastern side so Forest City Ratner can build the arena on the western side. The work on the arena itself would begin in the fall.

Today the NY Times introduces us to the man behind some of the city’s most boring buildings.

Yesterday, officials welcomed Barclays as the winner in the $400 million naming rights derby for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project. The NY Times reports that the Nets looked at various entities to pitch the idea of becoming lucky one to pay lots of money to have its name on the Frank Gehry-designed arena and decided Barclays Bank "needed a game changer, that they don’t have as big a presence or brand recognition here as in the U.K." As they say, a sucker is born every minute!

The hard-hitting polemical film, , lucidly articulates and amplifies the movement to stop Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan. Directed and produced by Isabel Hill, the film portrays the AY project as an outrageous scam to be perpetrated upon hoodwinked Brooklynites. Numerous interviews with critical residents, planners, critics, and elected officials portray a scenario in which a cynical developer and corrupt State agencies have hired gullible community allies and a star architect to conceal their true motives. The politics of the Brooklyn-based coalition, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), are evident in the film, although the work was independently created and funded by Hill, a former city planner.

The City Planning Commission has spoken and says the Atlantic Yards Project should be reduced by 8%. This is only a "recommendation," but since the project's developer the Forest City Ratner had been considering a 6-8% downsizing, given all the public outcry, this seems like something the group may well do. Especially since the City Planning Commission "raved," the Post puts it, about the tallest skyscraper in the group, Frank Gehry's "Miss Brooklyn" structure that would be taller than the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in the Brooklyn skyline. Instead, the CPC asked that another tower's height be reduced so views the bank could still be seen. The CPC also asked that other buildings' heights be reduced, plus for another acre of open space to go to 8 acres total.

If you're a registered Democrat or Republican, get your primary shoes out. Here's a list of candidates (PDF), but the shortlist of primaries is:

- This may be one of the greatest worthless lists of all time. Truly groundbreaking.

Public hearings tend to be impassioned and last night's Atlantic Yards gathering was no exception. With three community board hearings held simultaneously in different locales, we opted, sans body armor, for the homey confines of Community Board 6 (where we happen to live). And yet, sitting among a crowd of just 60 in the sterile Long Island College Hospital conference room with pale pink walls, a blank blackboard and a television with AV-style accouterments perched in the corner, we sensed an eerie quiet.

- New York magazine investigates whether there's a molestation problem in synagogues

We were biking down by City Hall park this afternoon and noticed they had finished installing the new Alexander Calder sculptures. They look good! Fun fact: the exhibit is organized by the Public Art Fund, but sponsored by Forest City Ratner, the company building the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. [Via NLG. Related: Calder.org has a great set of Alexander Calder images, and a biography of the artist.]