Appellate Court Rules Against Atlantic Yards Opponents

Bruce Ratner wasted no time announcing his intention to plow ahead with the construction of the Atlantic Yards Arena in the wake of a Court of Appeals ruling in his favor. “This is really the last hurdle that we have and now we can do what our company does best and build an arena and houses,” said Ratner on Friday, hours after the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court rejected Goldstein et al’s position that the state improperly used eminent domain to seize properties from nine owners who did not want to sell. If Ratner does indeed move ahead with plans to build, the arena the public gets may be substantially different than the glitzy renderings from starchitect Frank Gehry that were used to build public support for the project early on: Ratner has already trimmed the budget for the project by 20 percent and has admitted that he may not use Gehry’s design at all. And Ratner can’t get going quite yet. The plaintiffs have vowed to appeal to the Court of Appeals (the highest court in the state) and there’s still pending litigation surrounding the state’s environmental impact study. “At a minimum, if we lose every single thing imaginable, it’s still going to take them four to six months,” said attorney Matthew Brinckerhoff. The delay is particularly important because Forest City Ratner has only until the end of the year to secure its tax-exempt financing for the arena from the state.
Eminent Domain Case is Dismissed Unanimously [AY Report]
Court Rebuffs Yards Opponents as Legal Options Narrow [NY Observer]
Ruling Puts Ratner Closer to Nets’ Arena [Newsday]
Appeals Court Dismisses Suit Against Atlantic Yards [NY Times]
Ruling Could put Atlantic Yards Project Back on Track [NY Daily News]