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February 28, 2008
Soaring City Tech Tower Cut Down to Size
Forest City Ratner’s plans to develop the tallest building in Brooklyn are no more, according to an article in the Daily News. The Renzo Piano-designed City Tech tower on Jay Street was supposed to reach 100 stories, with CUNY facilities on lower floors and condos on upper levels. Now Piano is off the job and the building may only be built to a modest 10 stories. City Tech’s whittling follows a deal collapse between FCR and CUNY; according to an FCR-CUNY statement, the ambitious project “could not be reconciled with the college's immediate need to move forward with a first-class academic space to serve its growing student enrollment." A Brooklyn Paper story on the collapsed deal quotes Councilman David Yassky as saying FCR's decision probably has to do with Bruce Ratner's iffy finances and the fact that many developers are reconsidering residential construction. “He may be overextended right now,” said Yassky. “Look, a lot of developers are re-evaluting their numbers and feel that residential buildings don’t work right now,” he said. Whatever the logic is behind the decision, it seems like a pretty big blow to the ongoing plans to change the face of Downtown Brooklyn.
Ratner Tower Whittled Down [NY Daily News]
Ratner Kills Mr. Brooklyn [Brooklyn Paper]
Development Watch: City Tech Tower, Take 2 [Brownstoner]
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Comments
Correction: Residential building doesn't provide the same monstrous returns these big developers crave.
There is still large demand for housing, at the right price of course. In any other business, solid demand is considered a good thing. Only in the twisted world of New York City real estate is new construction considered unfeasible when demand amongst the top 5% of the population decreases.
Posted by: Polemicist at February 28, 2008 9:28 AM
all i can say is, WOW!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 9:30 AM
cue The What's entrance with a tirade of doom and gloom for asshats!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 9:31 AM
If we could all reach a little deeper into our pockets, this doesn't need to happen. Remember, massive overdevelopment funded by our tax dollars is the only path to righteousness!
Posted by: Johnny at February 28, 2008 9:35 AM
don't forget the fucktards!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 9:46 AM
It was a so so building anyway
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 9:53 AM
Can someone teach Gabby that one does not need a big ghostbuster sign (or any other cheesy graphic, for that matter) on every other post?
Really, we would get the point by reading the post.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 9:53 AM
holy moly! It was inevitable.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 9:54 AM
I like clip art.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 10:03 AM
a 90% reduction in height?? way to go RATNER!!!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 10:30 AM
Looks like the grand scheme for a new Brooklyn downtown is crumpling. Buyers of 110 Livingston, Belltel, One Hanson, Oro, Forte, Rockwell Place and Bridgeview must be shitting their pants.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 10:35 AM
I think Ratner reduced it by 90% because he's worried it might be worthless once AY is built. Anyone know whether this means AY will get massive reductions in scale as well? Let's hope.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at February 28, 2008 10:37 AM
Regarding these big buildings - it seems they would meet demand over a period of time but it is foolish to keep building at this pace. Stop for a while, let the communities absorb the new residents and then move on from there. Sounds like a plan, doesn't it?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 10:52 AM
I hope so 10:37
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 10:54 AM
"cue The What's entrance with a tirade of doom and gloom for asshats!"
I don't have to do anything. This shit is imploding on it's own. I hope you asshats are paying attention, the developers are looking for the exits. More and more each day I think the Nets will be in Newark NJ.
The What
Someday this war is gonna end
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 10:56 AM
This is SO OUT OF THE BLUE.
How could anybody have foreseen this?
Cue Nelson Muntz laugh, "Hah hah!"
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:00 AM
"Councilman David Yassky as saying FCR's decision probably has to do with Bruce Ratner's iffy finances and the fact that many developers are reconsidering residential construction. “He may be overextended right now,”"
Read this statement over and over again. Ratner is in Fuckedville.
Remember about the Credit Market Thing? Well the rates and the spreads are going parabolic!!!! The credit markets are frozen fucking shit and this may have a effect to find financing for the stadium.
The What (Boy this shit is getting good)
Someday this war is gonna end...
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:04 AM
I personally think any project that Ratner is a part of that goes under is a good thing.
Why are you people complaining?
We don't need this right now, everyone hated the building in the first place and no one seems to like Ratner.
But now you want to take this one piece of information and turn it into the demise of Brooklyn?
What is WRONG with you people?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:09 AM
Not the demise of Brooklyn, the demise of Ratner and his boondoggles.
Dancing in the streets!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:13 AM
Thank Goodness!!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:15 AM
Get Ratner's giant stranglehold of political swindling and money out of here and let developers grow Brooklyn the way cities are supposed to grow. That's the ticket to a healthy Brooklyn.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:29 AM
Isn't Ratner the guy who almost single-handedly transformed DUMBO into an expensive residential neighborhood?
Who hates him? the artists who he evicted?
The folks who bought lofts from him? Professionals he doesn't pay? I would really love to hear. I know very little about him.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:30 AM
10:52 - the "rush" is the changes in 421-a; another example of Government intervention (or partial withdrawal of intervention) perfectly timed to wreck havoc on the marketplace.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:31 AM
"Isn't Ratner the guy who almost single-handedly transformed DUMBO into an expensive residential neighborhood?"
Isn't that Walentas?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:36 AM
Ratner has nothing to do with DUMBO. He is the guy who single-handily risked billions on an office project in an outer borough that was in serious decline in a city that conventional wisdom said was doomed. He built Metrotech (when no one else would) got it fully rented to blue chip companies (which it remains), proved the viability of Downtown Brooklyn, exposed the Boro to hundreds of thousands of well-paid workers and paved the way for virtually all the development in Downtown Brooklyn that came after - including the Marriot Hotel, the record sale of 16 Court St, the upzoning of Flatbush Ave etc....
don't let the monday morning quarterback criticism of the "corporate campus" design diminish the positive effect it had on this Boro.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:38 AM
Nice revisionist history, 11:38.
And tell us more about the Shangri-la that is Atlantic Terminal.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:46 AM
11:38 = ratner minion.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:51 AM
Everything 11:38 said is accurate. It's all true. Downtown Brooklyn hasn't looked as good as it does now since the f**king 1940s, and Ratner, like it or not, had a lot to do with that.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:53 AM
But then he went crazy trying to change downtown in record time. He needed to pace himself. Let one development enjoy its success until he builds something else. People have to catch up to his building frenzy.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:06 PM
Ratner not Wallentas,
Got it. sorry.
but everybody hates Wallentas too don't they?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:07 PM
The Atlantic Mall isn't evil just because you don't like the way it looks. It has stores and people buy things there. It's freakin' mall. And it seems crowded and well used. Why does everyone complain about that?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:09 PM
Another great design in Downtown Brooklyn fizzles out. Too bad, this really was a great design.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:11 PM
"Why does everyone complain about that? "
Because the star of the rebuilding of downtown Brooklyn should not be one of the most hideous buildings on the planet.
Even Hellen Keller would have thought so.
He wanted to build it as cheaply as possible and make the most money as he could from him.
Stop giving him credit for slapping up some bricks and renting out to Target.
If he really cared about this stuff, why has it taken 5 years to complete that freaking area above the Atlantic Terminal Subway Station.
Ratner is a rat. Everyone knows it.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:15 PM
All new buildings suck. Landmark everything. I love vacant lots. I hope crime returns to 1990 levels. Vote Nader.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:19 PM
12:15,
Yours is the rant of the uninformed. The station entrance work is, and always was, under the purview of the MTA, not Ratner.
Posted by: johnife at February 28, 2008 12:31 PM
12:31 = ratner minion
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:35 PM
12:15, you really need to relax and breathe some air. You must be TIRED from flying so high!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:38 PM
12:38 = ratner minion
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:38 PM
Look at all the haters of everything come out in force on this nimby website. This building is a beautiful building. Besides the old nimbys who hate diversity in their cities, be it people of different races or different architectural styles in a given area, a vast majority of people love this building and what it would do for the greater good of the city and borough.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:45 PM
Yes 12:35 - pointing out the INDISPUTABLE facts makes you a ratner minion - No reason we should let the truth get in the way of our agenda.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:45 PM
The whole thread has been taken over my Ratner's minions. They have been known to hijack any thread on AY and we now see it with this thread.
It's sad.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:49 PM
This whole thread has been taken over by nimby haters! It's so pathetic the nimby haters label anyone who disagrees with their narrow views about buildings has too be called a "ratner minion". You are a fucktard. Please shove a black-cat up your rear.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:52 PM
It doesn't matter how beautiful the rendering of the building was. The point is that a 100 story, largely residential building at that location was an absurd idea.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:53 PM
Uh-oh. People actually disagree with the nimby haters. Cry me a river sore losers.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:53 PM
12:53. Says you. I would have loved to move in.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:55 PM
There are very few things in this city I hate with the exception of irrational and ignorant NIMBYs ruining the city and costing the city and it's people money for much needed services. They stand in the way of the American Dream of home ownership. Very selfish and very greedy.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:58 PM
The building was idiotic.
I knew when it was first reported that it would never happen.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 12:59 PM
12.53 couldn't afford to live there in the first place. Wishes he wasn't a loser with no money, a fat gut, no hair, limp dick and kids who hate him.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:00 PM
afte an undeniable implosion like this, a 90% scale reduction by the borough's biggest and greediest developer, all comments can only be reduced to full-on nit-picking squabble. enjoy the confused ramblings everyone, we may be seeing more soon.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:01 PM
1:00, you just described 90% of the posters on brownstoner.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:01 PM
1:01,
Are you brain dead? The developer didn't reduce the building; the CUNY/Ratner partnership was terminated by mutual consent because CUNY doesn't have the time to deal with the additional complications inherent in a mixed use development and now CUNY alone is going to build just the academic component. The more I read comments like this the more I'm convinced that remedial courses in reading comprehension should be a prerequisite to posting here.
Posted by: johnife at February 28, 2008 1:15 PM
Stop saying metrotech is a success! It's NOT.
Yes, it's rented. But the area COULD have been so much more!!! (Ever been there at night?)... and yes, there were crackheads there in the 80's... I know, but Metrotech did not get rid of them.
Anyone here have the pleasure of riding a bus to Jay Street? To get from Tillary to Willoughby takes 10 minutes sometimes (this is like 3 blocks)...
A monstrous residential building on the corner of Tillary and Jay would just be stupid (with all the crap congestion the superblock of metrotech has caused).
Metrotech hasen't proved the viability of Downtown Brooklyn as a real neighborhood AT ALL. All it has shown is that companies will move to an office building a couple of subway stops away to save a few bucks on rent.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:18 PM
Same difference, 1:15. A 90% reduction in scale. Spin it however you like.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:20 PM
1:01=1:20=answer to brain status question
Posted by: johnife at February 28, 2008 1:25 PM
Metrotech is not a success because of what it "Could have been" - what kind of measuring stick is that? Under that definition - virtually everyone is a failure.....
Metrotech is not a success because it isnt a "real neighborhood" - it wasnt designed to be a neighborhood - it was designed to be an OFFICE development and if it was integrated into the neighborhood that existed there in 1985 no one would have rented there.
Your viewing what "could have been" based on 2008's reality not a 1980's reality. At the time Metrotech was a huge gamble and a quantum leap into Brooklyn's future and set the stage for the smaller) leaps that took place after. And for all the changes that have occurred since Metrotech was built - it is still viable, rented and successful.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:40 PM
When wil Metro tech change the damn light bulbs in the Chase logo?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:54 PM
Ratner is a corporate welfare queen. His developments flop, then he's bailed out by his political connections who put public agencies into space that's unrentable to private tenants.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:56 PM
"Correction: Residential building doesn't provide the same monstrous returns these big developers crave."
CORRECTION DENIED. THERE WILL BE NO RETURN AT ALL FROM THIS TOP OF THIS MARKET.
"There is still large demand for housing, at the right price of course."
BINGO. BUT THAT PRICE IS 25 TO 50 PERCENT SOUTH.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 1:57 PM
I live next to the Metro Tech and love it. Eat shit you old run down townhouse owners! You wish you had a "brownstone".
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 2:02 PM
2:02 = crack head
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 2:30 PM
I LOVE METRO TECH. I LOVE METRO TECH! I LOVE METRO TECH!! I LOVE METRO TECH!!!
I LOVE METRO TECH. I LOVE METRO TECH! I LOVE METRO TECH!! I LOVE METRO TECH!!!
I LOVE METRO TECH. I LOVE METRO TECH! I LOVE METRO TECH!! I LOVE METRO TECH!!!
METRO TECH RULES!!!!!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 2:48 PM
A crack head that can afford a computer and keep it? Wow, Metro Tech must be awsome, even the crack heads are rich and living large!
Metro Tech is pretty damn hot!
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 2:49 PM
Metrotech is building Robots and Boss Ratner is using the brains of dead crack heads from the 1980's. Today they roam the world wide web and spread fear. Tomorrow they will roam our streets and replace our police force.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 3:04 PM
Gotta love MetroTech. Provides 24/7/365 manned security around the complex. Very handy when coming home from work late at night and not feeling like walking on Willoughby St.
It provides better food places than the mom and pop garbage fried food along Fulton Mall and Willoughby.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 3:09 PM
2:48/3:04:
Breathe. B-R-E-A-T-H-E. You're going to wear your self out! I've got an idea. Take 10 minutes and ride the bus to Jay Street, from Tillary to Willoughby. Have a seat and rest up. You'll feel better after you've rested.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 3:33 PM
2:48 is not the same poster as moi.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 3:49 PM
"Anyone here have the pleasure of riding a bus to Jay Street?"
Nope, only losers take the bus.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 4:00 PM
Here -------! Chew on this ----. If you don't watch out, You are going to get -------!!!
What bad banking news means to you
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/02/27/bank.safety/index.html
And the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and banking industry experts foresee many bank failures down the road.
"Regulators are bracing for 100-200 bank failures over the next 12-24 months," says Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with the financial services firm, the Stanford Group.
Keep praying asshats. LMMFAO! Please not in the eye!
The What (---- all of you)
Someday this war is gonna end...
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 4:45 PM
But Ratner and Bloomberg said they ride the bus up your ass every day. Are they losers too?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 4:45 PM
Quick poll: When the plans for this 100 story tower were unveiled, did anybody seriously believe it would get built?
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 5:37 PM
The tWhat is a bitter renter.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 6:26 PM
never believed it for a second, 5:37.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 6:29 PM
"But Ratner and Bloomberg said they ride the bus up your ass every day. Are they losers too?"
Actually, they ride the bus up your mother's ass, so you'd have to ask her about that.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 6:32 PM
bummer, but not surprising.
Posted by: BrooklynLove at February 28, 2008 7:20 PM
didn't Forest City recently say their downtown brooklyn tower was a test run for Atlantic Yards..
well if they can't make the numbers work here...
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 7:23 PM
Hopefully more RATner projects will fail and he'll have to go back to Cleveland with his rat tail between his legs.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 7:59 PM
if you people think ay is happening, you are dellusional.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 10:49 PM
The delusional pro-AY crowd has stopped commenting, they're all busy attending Donald Trump Jr's real estate lecture.
Posted by: guest at February 28, 2008 11:33 PM
7:59PM Get your facts in order. Ratner is a native New Yorker. Besides, who gives a flying fuck if he lived for a few years somewhere else? Besides you of course, no body cares.
Posted by: guest at February 29, 2008 12:01 AM
Ratner was Donald Trumps limo driver when he was a baby. Then when it was time for college Donald pulled some strings and got him in as Bloombergs roommate, they were neighbors with Pataki and Sheldon Silver. All four of them used to fly hot air ballons in New Jersey when they had a free week-end. Everyone disowned Trump when he started wearing the tupee. They especially liked to ride the bus together. Ratner spent a few years living in Cleveland on a bet with Bloomberg (the bet was that he couldn't handle living in Cleveland for more than two years, Ratner won). Today they all make inside deals with each other and speak out against busses. they also hate people who a) wear tupees, b)make less than $100,000, and c)get haircuts for under $20.
Posted by: guest at February 29, 2008 12:56 AM
There will be a large tower built on this site anyways; it just won't be the current Ratner/Piano proposal.
CUNY plans on selling the land for highrise development anyways, but they are unbundling the site with the academic site. Yassky alludes to this when he states his preference for an office tower.
Posted by: guest at February 29, 2008 2:58 AM
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