Atlantic Yards Scope Trimmed; Funding Still Fuzzy
Forest City Ratner is now envisioning a somewhat diminished Atlantic Yards, according to an article on Atlantic Yards Report based on the transcript of a meeting FCR held with investors last fall. To begin with, an FCR exec said the development would span “21 acres in downtown Brooklyn with 6.5 million square feet of residential…
Forest City Ratner is now envisioning a somewhat diminished Atlantic Yards, according to an article on Atlantic Yards Report based on the transcript of a meeting FCR held with investors last fall. To begin with, an FCR exec said the development would span “21 acres in downtown Brooklyn with 6.5 million square feet of residential and commercial development rights”—quite a bit smaller than the project’s original scope, 8 million square feet over 22 acres. FCR has also reduced the planned size of the Miss Brooklyn tower. The skyscraper was originally supposed to take up more than 900,000 square feet, but it’s now slated to be smaller (exactly how much smaller is unclear, though it’s possible more than 300,000 square feet will be lopped off the building when all’s said and done). Miss Brooklyn will also have more office space, and FCR has nixed the condos it planned for the building. FCR also revealed that it now thinks it will take 4 1/2 to 5 years to build the railyard, not 3 1/2 years as stated in the project’s environmental review; that the number of planned arena suites has been reduced from 170 to 130; and that the residential project at 80 DeKalb is a test run for Atlantic Yards.
At the meeting, FCR Executive VP MaryAnne Gilmartin also said that the firm has signed funding agreements with the city and state which allow us to be reimbursed for investments made in infrastructure and land to date on the project. This news contradicts other reports that funding agreements haven’t yet been finalized, so it’s anyone’s guess what the real story is on that score. In a separate piece of AY financing news, a spokesman for HPD told the Brooklyn Eagle that FCR has not applied for affordable housing bonds, and that when it does its application won’t be given preference over other proposed developments. According to FCR’s financial projections, it expects to ask for $177 million in bonds for affordable housing in 2008 and $344 million in 2009. Those projections would take up a lot of HPD’s bond financing if the bond money the department released last year is any indicator: HPD’s total allowance of bonds in 2007 was $659 million.
Forest City’s Report to Investors [AY Report]
Ratner Will Be Treated Like Other Developers, Says City [Brooklyn Eagle]
Where’s the Dough for AY Affordable Housing? [Brownstoner]
DETONATED DEAL.
BL, if you thought they were actually ever going to include that “affordable housing” to any meaningful degree, I’ve got an an overblown eyesore that benefits Bruce Ratner at the taxpayers’ expense I’d like to sell you.
the way this is starting to look, the lasting impact will be felt on the affordable housing front. same story played out in the build out of battery park city. ironic that these anti-AY suits may have (indirectly) lead to a reduction in affordable housing.
build it 8 blocks away then, bruce.
Yeah far-flung – 8 blocks away…..
Oh great – we (the public) can pay to cover the railyards with higher taxes (or higher fares) and then sell the land to developers piecemeal – brilliant.
First you’ll have the MTA spending billions extra due to inefficiency and mismanagement and then you’ll be left with the same choices:
either you sell the land at a cost that covers the MTA costs – which will make only 50 story buildings feasible (which is fine by me)
or
The public gets stuck subsidizing the cost for many developers as opposed to one (and at a much higher cost – since it will be the public(MTA) doing the work.
What I love is that you live in some far flun neighborhood, 1:11, and your opinion always was meaningless. Go build some overblown, corporate-welfare eyesore next to your hovel.
Looks like the stars (credit crunch and frivolous lawsuits) are aligning to give Prospect Heights residents EXACTLY what they want; hope you enjoy the hole – cause it is all you and your kids will ever see.
The only thing that I love is that Dan Goldstein will get to keep his (defective) apartment – and in the process find it is worth half what he payed; which is 20% of what he was offered to sell. And he will get to ponder his million dollar loss while looking out over a weed strewn hole.
The best idea would be for the MTA to pay for covering the yard, then sub-divide the land on top to MULTIPLE developers, rather than just ONE. They would get more money in the long run and there would be a better more neighborhoody mix of buildings rather that EVIL Ratner’s horrifying vision.
Ratner’s plan now is even worse than it was before. He wants to build more commercial space which means less affordable housing (that he has promised and run his ‘campaign’ on from day 1) From what I know, Metrotech isn’t even completely leased, so why would commercial space here do any better?