The Times reports that a lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court on Wednesday alleging that the Empire State Development Corporation’s agreement with Forest City Ratner that gives the developer 12 years to complete Phase 1 of Atlantic Yards violates eminent domain laws. The suit was brought on behalf of 13 tenants in the Atlantic Yards footprint who stand to be evicted via eminent domain and it makes the case that the 12-year time frame violates state eminent domain laws requiring that seized property be offered back to its former owner if it’s not markedly improved within a decade. Phase 1 of Atlantic Yards is supposed to result in the construction of the Nets arena, office space, and some housing, while Phase 2 is slated to include most of its 6,000+ apartments, including the bulk of the 2,250 affordable units FCR has promised. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars in public money on something you know the developer is never in a position to deliver, said the tenants’ lawyer, and government bodies take votes and appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, which is in short supply, based on the promise of affordable housing and jobs, and it’s not going to be built in the statutory 10 years, it’s really a fraud on the public. The ESDC declined to comment on the lawsuit. Atlantic Yards Report points out, however, that when the ESDC approved the mega-project, it was supposed to take 10 years to build.
Delays in $4 Billion Development Challenged in Tenants’ Lawsuit [NY Times]
ESDC’s Long Leash on Phase 1 Provokes Lawsuit From Tenants [AY Report]