Atlantic Yards Scaled Back, Gehry's Role in Question
All three major newspapers are reporting that Forest City Ratner is scrambling to reduce the project’s costs while continuing to claim that starchitect Frank Gehry is still on board. Frank Gehry has not been removed from the project, said Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Forest City. We are continuing to speak with many arena experts…
All three major newspapers are reporting that Forest City Ratner is scrambling to reduce the project’s costs while continuing to claim that starchitect Frank Gehry is still on board. Frank Gehry has not been removed from the project, said Joe DePlasco, a spokesman for Forest City. We are continuing to speak with many arena experts and working hard to find ways to build a world class venue in an incredibly difficult economic environment. FCR has brought in “value engineering” firms, reports the Daily News, and Atlantic Yards report is saying that the arena could end up looking more like Newark’s Prudential Center than the fanciful renderings of Gehry’s circulated for the past couple of years. Sounds like another bait-and-switch. Or, as Gowanus Lounge put nicely, “it would seem Brooklyn was promised an SL-Class Mercedes, but now, it turns out that a Ford Focus may be delivered.”
Atlantic Yards Developer Denies Removing Architect [NY Times]
Cutbacks for Arena, Architect May Go [NY Daily News]
Nets Arena To Be a Little Less Frank [NY Post]
ESDC: Gehry to Control Aesthetics [AY Report]
Photo from the Atlantic Yards webcam
FtGreeneCorey,
Opinions are good. Informed opinions are better.
Cheers!
Thank you Dan Goldstein from protecting us from out-of-scale superblock dehumanizing development, paid for with my tax dollars, containing much less “affordable” housing than the Rat would have us believe.
Thank you Dan Goldstein for protecting us from paying for some billionaire’s arena for his sports team.
Thak you Dan Goldstein for protecting long-term neighborhood residents from being forced out of their rent-stabilized apartments.
Thank you Dan Golstein for protecting us from living in a borough known as home to a third-rate basketball franchise.
Thank you Dan Goldstein for protecting us from the biggest traffic clusterf*ck ever at an already-nightmarish intersection — and the air pollution resulting from all those exhaust fumes in an area already showing one of the highest asthma rates in the nation.
Thank you Dan Goldstein for protecting us from overflowing sewers, insufficient fire and police protection, overburdened hospitals, overcrowded schools, and all the other troubles that would have resulted from this ill-conceived and inappropriate plan.
The list goes on and on — I’ll take a parking lot any day, but at least we’ve stopped (for the moment) the destruction of an enitre neighborhood, although several buildings have been lost (including Ward’s Bakery, which should have been landmarked).
All I can say is thank you to Develop Don’t Destroy for delaying this long enough so that what would have been a nice building will look like the rest of Ratner’s buildings. Thank you for sticking up for us, so that we can have a parking lot next door for the next 40 years. Thank you for proving that one stubborn guy can stop a billionaire from making something useful. Now whenever I walk by the parking lots that could have been affordable housing, I’ll think “Thank you Daniel Goldstein” for protecting me from tall buildings and affordable housing.
FtGreenCorey. Yes, there are people who would live directly directly next to the arena and directly across the street, as currently planned.
as for Brooklyn raising its international and national profile by becoming a “major league” town, with all due respect Brooklyn’s profile nationally and internationally is way high. i don’t think we are hurting in that regard.
Limestonekid, if you actually READ what I said above, (i) I’m sorry, but I’m just expressing MY opinion that I think a professional sport team would be good for Brooklyn. Am I not entitled to that? (ii) I stated above (in my post at 11:32 AM) that I AGREE that tax payer dollars should not be used. Again, Ratner should be able to build the arena itself between the Barclays sponsorship proceeds and private financing, although the city should pay for the ajoining infastructure improvements (which are needed anyway).
Boerum Hill, I ask this question not to agitate, but because I’m really curious. Are there people that live on or near the arena site? I’m envisioning that intersection and I think the residential areas are either insulated by Atlantic or Flatbush, or set back somewhat (over on the Dean side). I know that prospect heights proper would be impacted by the larger AY footprint, but does the same hold true for the arena itself?
FtGreeneCorey,
is Oklahoma City now a “major league city”? Is Seattle now less of a city after having lost the Super Sonics? What about Montreal, Quebec after the Expos left? Have the Washington Senators now made our nation’s capitol more of a “major league city”?
Brooklyn is a city of neighborhoods. That’s what makes it cool. Manhattan is a city of tourist attractions. That’s what makes it annoying.
I’ll try not to get up too high on my soapbox here but you really should do some real research on the economic impact that professional sports teams have on a local economy. In a nutshell they are not worth the millions or billions of public taxpayer dollars that are poured into them. They’re economic impact is negligible, at best.
But what about all those people who will go out for dinner before the game and/or out for drinks after the games? All that is doing is shifting when and where I spend my disposable income. If I give my money to FCR and the concession stands inside the arena I won’t have that money to give to the local restaurants and establishments that make Brooklyn the great place to live.
Since FCR, the Nets & Barclays are going to be pocketing all the profits for this venture let them build the arena. If a businessman wants you to take all the risk for a project while he takes all the profits doesn’t that tell you something about that venture?
TGreeneCorey,
I ask your LA friend if he’d want to live in a house right next to the arena where the Lakers play. My guess is no.
I agree with Casper that the ideal location for these sorts of venues is an urban setting. Have you ever been to Giants Stadium? Talk about congestion….it’s a nightmare getting in and getting out! With practically every subway and train line in New York City, I can’t think of a better location for a stadium than this one…other than on top of Penn Station which MSG has covered. The key is to disuade people from driving to games…which is why NOT building a parking deck and NOT allowing surface parking (on the AY site) will be critical.