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…
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]
“i thought atlantic yards was flat out cancelled. what am i missing?”
you are missing that you were wrong, Atlantic Yards wasn’t “flat out cancelled.” If it had been, project opponents would still be fighting and litigating it.
as for whether another developer would touch the site: of course they would. that is why Ratneer is holding on during the downturn, it is a great piece of real estate.
Snarky Bob. LOL. The rancour will get louder once the labour disputes begin.
You’re definitely correct on the financing thing. There isn’t much money out there available for commercial projects these days and that was probably my larger issue but I didn’t phrase it as such.
The covert race/class innuendo was to subvert the What from calling it out as such. I don’t actually subsribe to that.
I don’t know Dave. I suspect that no new developer would touch the site because of the economic downturn, rather than the present rancor but, with respect, since I value your opinion, I’d personally choose a hole over Ratner’s plans. We’ll just have to disagree on this issue–and on the word’s spelling:-)
If this falls through and discourages Forest City Ratner-like developers from touching lots like this in the future, then I’d consider it a major win for Brooklyn and the City in general. FCR is the firm that brought us the Atlantic Terminal Mall, the Metrotech Center, the soon-to-be East Harlem Costco, all with minimal to no transparency or due process.
I’m all for some sort of development on the site, just not something that so brazenly circumvents every imaginable public forum, environmental review, etc (and with fabricated “blight” statistics to boot)
DIBS, that’s a pretty silly remark. There’s reason for the rancor! It’s not random or inherent to the particular site. There are lot of obvious ways to avoid the kind of reaction Ratner has gotten to his terribly, terribly flawed plan to develop an absolutely enormous superblock right up against Brownstone Brooklyn!
If Ratner hadn’t been holding all those lots vacant, in the hopes of superblock development, you can be sure they would already have been built on.
Get rid of the superblock approach, and you will see lots of development, even in this economic climate, given the desirability of the location.
i thought atlantic yards was flat out cancelled. what am i missing?
*rob*
I think interest would be high among many developers who would be interested in smaller, more intelligently designed projects. While ratner and his shills keep crowing about the affordable housing, there is no guarantee he will build it in AY- or at all. The Arena is a logistical nightmare, and the closing of a large section of Pacific St. for inclusion as a courtyard is outrageous.
And the Nets? Meh.
I respectfully reject the premise.
The choice between a taxpayer funded arena and a hole really should be reframed to be a choice between mutually beneficial development and a hole. Then I become a proponent of the project.
Ratner wants to couch his corporate welfare as the develop/don’t develop choice because if it’s framed as $2 billion of our tax money going to his development for the betterment of his basketball team’s balance sheet it becomes a lot less supportable.
I’m with Bob on this one. And stop with the race/class accusations. That is just a fog to cover up the real issues — no infrastructure planning, a giveaway to a developer, too dense, etc, etc, etc.