Atlantic Yards

Bruce Ratner has drawn resentment and scorn in the Brooklyn community surrounding his planned $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, but now he’s inspired cultural enrichment. Sort of.

A local theater company has created a production, running this week, on the fight over and the effects of the Atlantic Yards project, for which Mr. Ratner’s firm plans to build a Frank Gehry-designed arena for the Nets and more than 6,000 housing units.

Brooklyn at Eye Level, put on by The Civilians production company, will run from Thursday through Sunday at the Brooklyn Lyceum, exploring the debate around Atlantic Yards.

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Opponents of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn have never held back in criticizing the media’s coverage—or what they say is a lack thereof—of the more than $4 billion planned development. Now, as Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn points out to us, the issue has apparently piqued the interest of a TV mini-series that examines flaws of mainstream print and broadcast outlets.

The IFC Media Project, made up of producers who worked on Michael Moore films, will air an episode that devotes 10 minutes to Atlantic Yards, according to the series’ Web site.

The film's take on print journalism's Atlantic Yards coverage seems less than laudatory:  read more »

Standard & Poor's yesterday downgraded the credit rating of mega-developer Forest City Enterprises, the parent company of Forest City Ratner, the developer of the planned Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. The downgrade came as the credit markets have made the financing of new development near impossible, and Forest City, based in Cleveland and with projects in numerous regions, is no exception.

Among the agency's worries was Forest City Ratner's more-than $4 billion signature project, a Frank Gehry-designed complex that includes a new basketball arena for the Nets, more than 6,000 units of housing and a commercial tower. Forest City has spent about two years fending off a string of lawsuits, while watching the financial markets stagnate.  read more »

Here's Brooklyn Councilwoman Tish James explaining her vote on the term limits extender bill a few moments ago on the Council floor:

"I believe that this is really all about a legacy—about Moynihan Station, about Willets Point, about the West Side, about Ground Zero, and yes, about Atlantic Yards; and about the displacement of low, moderate and working families in New York City. Let me end by decrying, let the people decide."

Just in case there's any ambiguity, she voted "no" on the bill.

It's been almost two full years since the state approved Atlantic Yards, the courts have repeatedly ruled against legal challenges to the Brooklyn project, and the economy has fallen into shambles. Still, the group leading the legal fight, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, reports it brought in a considerable sum, $45,000, at its fourth annual walkathon on Sunday.

The amount is just slightly less than the $50,000 it reported at the event last year, but less than half the $100,000 it reported in the heat of the battle in 2006.

The money goes toward the legal challenge, which is currently focused on the use of eminent domain at the Prospect Heights site. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a federal lawsuit brought by the group, prompting a separate suit in state court, which will be heard next year, as a state judge recently rejected an attempt to dismiss the challenge.  read more »

This morning, Norman Oder, the thorn in the side of developer Forest City Ratner who runs the Atlantic Yards Report blog, put up a post noting that the landscape architect for the more than $4 billion Brooklyn project had suddenly begun referring to his Atlantic Yards work in the past tense on his Web site.

The apparent reason, concluded by Mr. Oder: Laurie Olin is off the project.

In response, Forest City suggested that Mr. Olin is just on sabbatical. The open space of Mr. Olin's is not a part of Phase 1, which includes a basketball arena and housing towers.  read more »

Sports are feeling the chill of the financial crisis, according to this morning's Wall Street Journal. That includes plans for the new Mets and Nets arenas in Queens and Brooklyn, respectively. Looks like their namesakes just beat the clock!

Within the past two years, Citigroup Inc. and Barclays PLC have signed deals to spend more than $300 million over the next 20 years to put their names on sports venues in New York City -- one of them under construction, the other on the drawing board.

Citigroup will lend its name to Citi Field, the new home of baseball's New York Mets. And the NBA's Nets hope to occupy the as-yet-unstarted Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Both banks, which have been pummeled by a freeze in the markets they depend on for funding, would be hard-pressed to justify such an expenditure today...

Governor Paterson said today that his administration has asked the developers of the planned redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station to come back with a new plan, showing the first public sign of life in the project in months.

In a Q&A on WCBS radio, Mr. Paterson was asked about the status of the long-delayed project, known as Moynihan Station.

"We have asked the developers of the potential Moynihan Station to come back to us with another plan that particularly features the subject we've been talking about today--transportation," Mr. Paterson said. "Already we have addressed with them the dwindling supply of revenues that we as the state can put into the plan, and we're expecting an answer form them within a week or two.  read more »

The planned new Brooklyn basketball arena for the Nets now may not be ready until 2011, according to developer Forest City Ratner, as the company acknowledges that the time to build the structure may take it past its current completion goal of calendar year 2010.

The news was first spotted by Norman Oder at his encyclopedic watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report, where he put up part of a transcript from a Forest City conference in June [corrected]. In the conference, Forest City chairman Bruce Ratner said the company hoped to start construction on the arena by the end of this year, and would take two and a half years to finish.  read more »

Six weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their federal lawsuit, landowners fighting the use of eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn have filed another suit, this time in state court.

Opposition group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn put out a release today announcing the lawsuit, filed Friday, which claims the development was approved to benefit a private developer (Bruce Ratner) as opposed to benefit the public (which would justify the use of eminent domain), among other charges.

"Far from emerging from a legitimate democratic process where the public interest is identified and articulated," the suit says, "the Project is the product of a developer's dream-and a conscious effort to bypass City procedures mandating meaningful local review, planning, democratic oversight and community input.  read more »

As the Bloomberg administration scrambles to get its development projects in the ground amid a slowing economy and a waning political term, two major planned initiatives the city has championed face a formidable hurdle: the Internal Revenue Service.

For the financing plan for the Atlantic Yards housing and sports arena complex in Brooklyn, and for one being considered for the planned middle-income-housing mega-complex at Hunter’s Point South in Queens, the city would need a favorable ruling from the I.R.S. or face substantially higher costs for both projects. Negative rulings from the federal agency could result in tens of millions of dollars in added costs, putting up new obstacles to major developments that have already seen ambitions scaled back.  read more »

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up an appeal in the fight over Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project, putting to an end the federal lawsuit filed by landowners and tenants in late 2006 that challenged the state’s use of eminent domain for the mega-project.

The plaintiffs in the suit are now pledging to take the case to state court, a route they initially avoided as eminent domain laws in New York tend to be relatively favorable to the state.

In the federal suit, the landowners and tenants charged that the state’s use of eminent domain was improper as it was intended for a private gain of developer Bruce Ratner, who sought to move the Nets basketball team to a new arena on the site and build over 6,000 apartments.  read more »

A handful of local politicians this morning crowded onto the steps of City Hall to announce an initiative to foster community involvement in the Atlantic Yards project.

The Atlantic Yards Governance Act, co-sponsored by Assemblymen Hakim Jeffries and James Brennan of Brooklyn, would create a 15-member development trust to balance what they say is a one-sided effort monopolized by developer Forest City Ratner. The trust would, theoretically, have full power to modify the Yards’ development plan. But, at the same time, a majority eight members of the board would still be appointed by the governor.

"Atlantic Yards is a public project built on public land using public money overseen by a public entity for a public purpose," Mr.  read more »

Mayor Bloomberg on his way out of City Hall this morning, after seeing the set-up for this morning's protest against Atlantic Yards (we'll have more on it this afternoon): 'Democracy in action.'

Hat tip to Azi Paybarah at The Politicker.

On his way out of City Hall this morning with a cadre of body guards and aides, Michael Bloomberg looked toward the steps, where some television cameras and a handful of elected officials were about to start a protest over the Atlantic Yards Project, and offered an unmistakably dry assessment. “Democracy in action,” he said, as he kept walking.

Much ado has been made about the Yankees' desire to get another $350 million or so in tax-free bonds to finish their stadium.

Not to downplay the subsidy involved in tax-free bonds, but the press has been filled with rather misleading headlines and langauge suggesting that the team is asking for $400 million in public funds (from Metro: “Yankees ask City for $400M More”) to finish the new stadium.

But the actual effect on city and state coffers, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office, is far more marginal, at least when compared with the amount of additional financing the Yankees are seeking. The IBO estimates that a $350 million tax-free 40-year bond for the team would cost the city $3.6 million in net present value and $6.7 million for the state, according to IBO spokesman Doug Turetsky. The federal government would take a substantially bigger hit: $72.6 million, which is perhaps why the feds are pushing to amend the rules while the city and state are resisting.  read more »

Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, speaking yesterday at a Crain’s breakfast forum, was asked whether he would be open to giving more city subsidies to Forest City Ratner’s more than $4 billion Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn. His noncommittal response:

“We have not received any kinds of requests, formally, from Forest City Ratner to date. But we’re open minded and we’ll listen, and if it makes sense, we’ll do it.”  read more »

Bruce Ratner is looking for a new name for the signature office tower in his $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards project.  read more »

The Municipal Art Society has launched a Web site and campaign critical of the proposed phasing for Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project, claiming the creation of parking lots in place of existing buildings will blight the area.

Because of the long time frame that will likely be needed to build the project—developer Forest City Ratner puts the slated completion date at 2018, though critics say that’s too optimistic—the footprint could be filled with parking lots (though Forest City denies that charge, claiming it will be public open space with trees).  read more »

David Paterson was on the WFAN "Boomer and Carton" show this morning, expressing frustration over the city’s stalled major development projects.

“What I’m going to do," Paterson told the hosts, "is probably move construction of Moynihan [Station] to the Port Authority, which I think has a better chance of getting it done quickly, and I hope that we can start construction quickly enough that we can reverse plans that exist.”  read more »

The Star-Ledger reports that Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the New Jersey Devils are trying to assemble investors to buy the Nets basketball team from development firm Forest City Ratner.

Should the Nets be sold—Forest City denied that the team is for sale—it would presumably kill the more than $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, developed by Forest City under the premise that a new Frank Gehry-designed arena would be created for the Nets.  read more »

The notoriously press-shy Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is due to appear on NY1 tonight at 8:30, going one-on-one with reporter Budd Mishkin.

The folks at NY1 have sent us over a brief teaser quote from Mr. Ratner:

We need jobs, we need shopping that's appropriate, and the right price and quality goods, supermarkets that provide food of quality and well priced, we need housing, and the architecture is important but it's not that important.

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Elected officials are pushing to halt work on Brooklyn’s $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards development in order to re-examine the project, given the new governor and delays caused by the slow economy.

A rally is scheduled for Saturday.  read more »

Metropolitan Transportation Authority executive director Lee Sander seems a bit uncertain about the $100 million that developer Forest City Ratner owes the agency for Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project. He had this to say earlier this month in a capital program “webinar” (no, we don’t quite know what that word is either), responding to a question about the MTA’s current capital plan:

There is $100 million associated with the sale of Atlantic Yards, and many of you have read in the newspapers some of the difficulty Forest City is having with that development, so hopefully that will proceed, but we want to make sure that that happens—but we’re concerned about that.

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Last night, City Councilman and candidate for Brooklyn borough president, Bill de Blasio, called for a moratorium on demolition at the Atlantic Yards footprint until developer Bruce Ratner outlines “what will be built when and confirms affordability,” Brownstoner and Gowanus Lounge reported this morning.

Mr. de Blasio told a meeting of Brooklyn bloggers that he was “livid” about Mr. Ratner’s recent admission in The New York Times that the Miss Brooklyn office tower and residential buildings Mr. Ratner planned to build at Atlantic Yards were stalled due to trouble finding financing, and said he cannot support an “arena-only plan.”  read more »

Another scene from Thursday evening's protest outside the Brooklyn Museum of Art against Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner.

The big protest against Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner went off Thursday evening outside of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, which was honoring Mr. Ratner inside for his philanthropy. Above is a nattily dressed protestor (it was black-tie inside and outside--get it?!) snapped by Observer photo editor Nicole Brydson. More to come.

Tonight's the night! Opponents of the Atlantic Yards project plan to protest outside of the Brooklyn Museum of Art because the museum's honoring developer Bruce Ratner. Black tie is optional (it's not inside the museum) but, please, according to organizer Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, bring your own pickets!  read more »

The developers of Brooklyn’s $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards project, Forest City Ratner, tried to assuage fears about the stalled development in a conference call with investors today, saying they are committed to the success of the project in the long term. The call was held by Forest City Enterprises, the parent company of Forest City Ratner.

“Today’s economic environment is challenging,” Forest City Ratner president Joanne Minieri said. “Projects of this size and significance are always subject to changing market demands and economic influences.”

Publicly traded real estate firms' conference calls are normally cheery affairs, with executives giving a bright outlook, matched with the footnote that their stock is quite undervalued.  read more »

Property owners and tenants filed an appeal late yesterday in U.S. Supreme Court for their case contesting the use of eminent domain in the $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards project, an action that legal experts have said is likely to be the final chapter for the federal lawsuit, first filed in late 2006.

Even a favorable Supreme Court ruling for the plaintiffs (which would require a decision by the Court to hear the case in the first place) would not necessarily stop the use of eminent domain—it would only allow for the case to reach the trial phase.

If the lawsuit is dismissed, Matthew Brinckerhoff, attorney for the owners and tenants, said that there would still be an option to file an eminent domain case in New York State court.  read more »

Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn is inviting Atlantic Yards opponents to grab their pickets (and don formal dress if they so desire) to protest the Brooklyn Museum’s decision to honor the developer Bruce Ratner at its annual $1,000-a-plate Brooklyn Ball, which DDDB calls an “affront to Brooklyn communities.”

Kayne West will perform at the Thursday night gala celebrating the Forest City Ratner CEO—described as “an upstanding corporate citizen” and a “sing  read more »

This morning, Brooklyn bloggers and opponents of the Atlantic Yards project are busy digesting Charles Bagli’s front-page Times story in which developer Bruce Ratner admits that the bulk of his Atlantic Yards project is stalled due to trouble finding financing or an anchor tenant for the “Miss Brooklyn” office building.

For a bullet-point run down of important points of the story, visit No Land Grab. But, basically, the article confirmed what the blogosphere has been predicting all along: Forest City Ratner will go forward with the Nets arena, but plans for three residential buildings, affordable housing, and a commercial tower are indefinitely on hold. Plus, the costs of the project have spiraled far above the initial estimates approved a few years ago.

The four blogs we looked at greeted Mr. Ratner’s disclosure with a collective “I told you so” (or something along those lines), and faulted the Times for giving him softball treatment.  read more »

Editor's Note: This story originally reported that the Clive Campbell who filed the claim was the real name of D.J. Kool Herc, a founder of hip hop. In fact, it is a different Clive Campbell. Mr. Campbell is a Brooklyn-based activist. The story has been corrected.

Brooklyn activist Clive Campbell is seeking $5 billion from rapper Jay-Z, developer Bruce Ratner and Barclays bank, filing a “claim of lien” in property records that seeks the money for slavery reparations.

Mr. Ratner, Jay-Z, and Barclay’s are all linked through the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, for which Mr. Ratner plans to build a Frank Gehry-designed basketball arena for the Nets and more than 6,000 apartments. Jay-Z, a partial owner of the Nets, has been a major supporter of the project, appearing at press conferences to tout its merits. Barclays owns the naming rights to the arena, and has been accused of having links with the slave trade—an accusation the bank denies.  read more »

One of the major differences, generally speaking, between Manhattan and Brooklyn is the proximity you have to your neighbor. In Manhattan, residents may feel piled on top of each other in shoeboxes or filing cabinets, depending on your metaphor preference, but rarely will they ever get to know one another. In Brooklyn, residents tend to have more space and fewer neighbors, yet the proximity seems closer.

Brooklynites exist closer to the urban frontier.  read more »

We got a copy of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's State of the Borough address, given yesterday at the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal. Mr. Markowitz imagined out loud a bustling downtown Brooklyn, one that includes a completed Atlantic Yards project:  read more »

Apparently it's quite controversial to discuss the experience of living in Brooklyn when it comes to the topic of race. A few weeks back, I dared to talk about it and received a lot of flack. But in my hood, Prospect Heights, and anywhere really, race, class and gentrification are heavy topics, and I'm not going to shy away from them.

After graduating college, I spent close to two years working in central Brooklyn politics, commuting south every morning from my apartment in Greenpoint to a state senator's office on Flatbush Avenue near Lincoln Place. I worked with families whose homes were in disrepair, mediating fights with landlords over HPD cases; and with community groups, landlords and community affairs police officers over drug-related crime. All the work merely put band-aids on a broken system. I often returned home in utter shock. Perhaps you've seen The Wire.  read more »

Here's the full decision by the Second Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals rejecting the appeal over use of eminent domain brought by critics of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

The first plaintiff listed on the appeal is Daniel Goldstein, a leader of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn. Last June, I met with Mr.  read more »

A federal appeals court rejected an appeal by critics of the use of eminent domain in the $4 billion Atlantic Yards mega-project in Brooklyn, a big, if expected, victory for developer Forest City Ratner, and surely a demoralizing blow to project opponents. (There are statements from Forest City and from opponents below this story.)

The decision nearly puts to rest the legal chapter of this years-long, high-profile development battle. Since the plan was approved more than a year ago, the courts have been the focus of any attention, as Forest City chairman Bruce Ratner has done little work on the Prospect Heights site other than demolitions and some other preparation.  read more »

Today brings another legal blow for Atlantic Yards opponents, this time a bit more minor than Friday’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the environmental review for the project.

Tenant attorney George Locker, who lost a case in November related to eminent domain and tenants in the project's footprint, saw his appeal dismissed today, according to developer Forest City Ratner.  read more »

Here's the 71-page decision by state Supreme Court Justice Joan Madden throwing out the lawsuit challenging the environmental impact statement for Atlantic Yards.

We’ve put together a compilation of statements and press releases on this afternoon’s Atlantic Yards court decision, which clears a potentially major hurdle for the $4 billion development. The statements (after the jump) come from Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn; developer Forest City Ratner; Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; and the Empire State Development Corporation.  read more »

A state justice this afternoon dismissed one of two remaining major lawsuits brought by critics of Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project, clearing a potential stumbling block for the $4 billion complex, according to a spokesman for developer Forest City Ratner.

Project critics brought the suit in April, challenging the environmental impact statement, a required document in the state’s approval process (the project was given the green light in December 2006).  read more »

The New Jersey Nets basketball team now plans to move to the Barclays Arena in central Brooklyn in 2010. The team originally planned to be in the arena, which is part of the Atlantic Yards project, in time for the 2009-10 season; but, as the Bergen Record reports this morning (via The Real Deal), the Nets missed a deadline for telling its East Rutherford landlord if it would move by 2009 or not.

Brooklyn writers are joining the fight against Bruce Ratner's vision for Atlantic Yards by donating short essays and stories to Brooklyn Was Mine, an anthology compiled by two Vogue senior editors that will benefit Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn. The book will be available in stores—mostly in the quaint, tweedy-type joints—starting today. According to press notes, 20 authors submitted works, including Jonthan Lethem, who published "a wild, dystopian ride into Brooklyn's future" called "Ruckus Flatbush," and Jennifer Egan, who wrote about a Brooklyn Navy Yard worker who writes letters to her husband fighting in World War II. "Who is to say what will become of the place, or whether Brooklyn will retain its soul?" asked contributing writer Phillip Lopate in the introduction. "Whatever happens to Brooklyn," he answers, "its literary soul is sound and robust, and its writers fiercely loyal."

Jennifer Egan, Susan Choi and Darin Strauss will have a reading at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble next Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Full release after the jump.