The recently decapitated MoMA monster, which would have measured in at 1,250 feet (the height of the Empire State Building), has been surrounded with controversy from day one. Midtown NIMBYs didn't want a skyscraper going up in Manhattan, and they eventually got 200 feet taken off the tower so that it wouldn't impact the skyline. Sigh.
The MoMA Tower Now Shorter And Stalled
Atlantic Yards Project Stalled by Economy, Experts Say
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."

