Atlantic Yards Suffers a Setback
Two weeks ago, the NY Times reported that an Atlantic Yards groundbreaking might take place in December. That’s looking almost impossible now, and not because of the Wall Street meltdown. The New York State Appellate Court rejected the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) attempt to dismiss the lawsuit brought by AY opponents (tenants and property…
Two weeks ago, the NY Times reported that an Atlantic Yards groundbreaking might take place in December. That’s looking almost impossible now, and not because of the Wall Street meltdown. The New York State Appellate Court rejected the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) attempt to dismiss the lawsuit brought by AY opponents (tenants and property owners in the project’s shadow), the one that claims Forest City and the ESDC misused eminent domain, according Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s press release. That means Ratner still doesn’t own the land he had planned to build on come December. The suit now goes forward, with briefs to be filed this winter and oral arguments expected next spring.
Atlantic Yards Timeline Not Getting Shorter [Curbed]
Atlantic Yards Breaking Ground in December? [TRD]
Bad Government. Photo by brockenbrough.
Interesting…
Remember, there was a huge amount of building (both private and institutional)during the (Big D) Depression when labor was relatively cheap and the dislocation in the economy allowed for the consolidation of real estate parcels…but the conditions were probably quite different from today…
I wonder what will happen next spring.
It IS too bad though that they could not have left Ward’s Bakery. And pretty scary that a whole street of parked cars got crushed by the parapet toppling on the the sidewalk and roadway!… The Bakery could have had a similar redo like the Newswalk building. AND, it’s demolition and other work going on in the vicinity has scattered a LOT of rats all over the surrounding areas. Hhhh… Ratnik, the gift that keeps on giving!
MM- smaller developers, nor is the Government able to afford or justify to pay for the $300M cover so that any developer could build anything there – nor is a site adjacent to the largest transportation hub (by lines) in the country appropriate for ‘small scale’ development – no matter how much the people who live next door to the site may want that to be the reality
FSRQ, Ratner doesn’t own the site (all of it), has never owned the site, and will never own the site.
The thing that was always missing from his plan was the input of the representatives of those millions of people in the Boro, City, and Region that were going to subsidize his profits while getting no input into the supposed public good that they were going to theoretically be benefitting from.
FSRQ, I’ll remember to send you an invite when the community is asked for input on the Vanderbilt Yards after all of this Atlantic Yards mess is done and gone.
The Vanderbilt Yards are in my backyard, and happen to want something built there, so while it is fun to call people NIMBY’s, the prevailing rhetoric against people that oppose the Atlantic Yards plan is not one size fits all. Most of us appose what is proposed for the site, and the closed door dealings of FCR, not the development of the site.
Furthermore, the Broken Angel project is alive and well, thank you, and I’ll be sure to invite you to the completion party when it’s done.
Bxgrl – you act as though ‘the community’ has a singular vision for what should have been built at AY – or (and maybe more importantly) what is APPROPRIATE for the site.
While what’s best for YOU certainly is a consideration, it should be a tiny one when you consider that YOU don’t own the site, have never owned the site and that what gets develops effects MILLIONS of people in the Boro, City and Region.
I agree with Shahn. Smaller, less ego driven projects could easily fill the site, and actually get done. Bigger seldom is better, these days.
The land is not going to sit with a big hole in it for the next 50 years, it’s too valuable and too central to the necessary growth of Bklyn. FCR is not the right developer, and Atlantic Yards is not the right development. Plain and simple. I look forward to smaller projects which take all of the considerations involved that Ratner ignored: public good, infrastructure, traffic, affordable and sustainable building and housing, and some good design.
I’m down for some guerrilla gardening.
sure, let’s blame the nimbys, not the greedy juggernaut that tried to ride right over them (and us). Maybe, if the powers that be would pay attention to the constituents, they would have less problems going forward on projects. But they don’t. they forget who foots the bill (hint- it isn’t ratner). they think they know better than us- somehow I have trouble believing that a billionaire who lives on the upper East Side really knows what life is like for me, or that he knows what’s best for me. Wall St. is looking a lot like karma these days- but again, it’s people like me and my fellow Brooklynites, along with the rest of American taxpayers who will pay the bill.
In all honesty- ratnerville could have been done so much better- that fact that it’s been fought to a standstill has nothing to do with nimbyism and everything to do with greed, cronyism and arrogance. I’m more than happy to look at that eyesore for another 50 years, thanks. It’s a damn sight prettier than Ratner and his friends.
The zoning override is project-specific and would not be transferable.
Corey, last I checked, Brooklyn Bridge Park and, to a lesser extent, Willoughby Square were moving forward.