Closing Bell: Ward's Bakery Demolition Imminent
After the (ab)use of eminent domain, the destruction of Ward’s Bakery is number 2 on our list of grievances about the Atlantic Yards project, so it was with a heavy heart that we read this week’s dispatch from the ESDC. According to the alert, demolition will begin (or should that be continue?) within the next…
After the (ab)use of eminent domain, the destruction of Ward’s Bakery is number 2 on our list of grievances about the Atlantic Yards project, so it was with a heavy heart that we read this week’s dispatch from the ESDC. According to the alert, demolition will begin (or should that be continue?) within the next two weeks on the building. What a shame that Ratner couldn’t have thrown the preservationists a bone on this one. The demo company with its name plastered to the protective netting clearly has no qualms in its role in destroying a slice of Brooklyn history.
Ward’s Bakery Collapse: The Photos [Brownstoner] GMAP
i still scratch my head over why anyone would not support AY. What amazing vision. bringing the Nets to Brooklyn! it’s so great! it’s so big, so bold, so over the top – and, it’s happening!!!
i can’t believe how anyone would have preferred the absolute craphole that it was / is. it’s awful.
the anti-AY people are so scared, so small, so un-entreprenurial.
bring it on!
screw a stupid old bakery – are you kidding??? it’s frickin’ useless.
good by train tracks meets ghetto meets dumping ground – hello Nets! hello parks! hello shiny pretty buildings!
hooray hooray hooray
I LOVE IT.
Brownstoner: Stick to the facts. ABuse? Funny, but none of the courts have ruled that way, to date. But I guess you know better than they what constitutes appropriate use of existing legal mechanisms. If you want to change the law, that’s OK with me. But don’t make an ass of yourself second-guessing established laws and recent case law.
LEEEEEDS!!!!! That is the biggest laugh!
What?
All they’re probably doing is using the building’s masonry for rumble infill somewhere and pulling what steel they can out and selling it. Hhhh…like THAT’S somehow going to make them go LEEDS Platinum. WHAT a laugh!
Was it LEEDS compliant when that huge parapet fell/was made to fall off the building?!
With all those cars–what like a dozen–that got totalled…was that LEEDS compliant?
Probably all those cars got junked AND the storm sewers probably took a shatload of motor oil, brake fluid and gasoline with that one big accident…hello.
All it takes is one can of motor oil dumped into a waterway and millions upon millions of creatures can be killed.
Are massive towers that easily LEEDS compliant? Come on! Hhhhh…
What they’re proposing to use compact fluorescent bulbs and Energy Star rated dishwashers? Big deal.
Just on the face of it, with the kind of Environmental Impact “Study†they pumped out (BS…cut…paste…click…print…) reveals they are hardly serious about LEEDS
The EIS is just about as thorough as a lousy house inspection doc you get from a cut’n’paste home inspector. Please. There should be years of hardcore study done on this project. That it were in Germany…Hhhh…oh, well.
It’s another taxpayer boondoggle that will drain the coffers and stick it in the hands of campaign donors/buddies.
“5:23pm: There were plans for the Ward Bakery far pre-dating AY. I believe it was going to be a hotel.”
See, this was a MUCH better plan than AY!
Gee here’s hoping 5:43! Better a empty lot than you’re prediction by wrong, right?
Free Mumia!
“America is outraged at abuse of eminent domain.”
This may be an overstatement.
5:23pm: There were plans for the Ward Bakery far pre-dating AY. I believe it was going to be a hotel. Like most of the buildings in the AY footprint, development before AY was announced was taking place steadily and organically. The large loft building on Pacific nr the corner of Carlton had, for example, already got to about 80% completion of a renovation to create residential space.
Elizabeth: FCRC boasting about their “green” demolition is a bitter pill to the residents of Dean St who have already had to endure asbestos abatement work done without basic precautions and water and gas cut-offs without ESDC mandated warnings.
My prediction: For the next 10 years, the block btw Pacific and Dean/Carlton and Vanderbilt will be a chain-link fence encircled, crime infested, litter strewn park-and-ride lot where once perfectly viable buildings stood.
This makes even less sense. LEED needs some serious revisions.
FOREST CITY RATNER TO BEGIN DEMOLITION OF FORMER WARD BREAD BAKERY
Over 75% of Building to be Recycled as Part of LEED Certification
(Brooklyn, NY) – March 22, 2007 – Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), the developer of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, today announced that abatement and demolition of 800 Pacific Street (also known as the Ward Bread Bakery building) will begin on Monday, March 26, 2007. As part of its sustainability efforts and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification process, at least 75% of the demolition debris is expected to be recycled.
“Obtaining LEED certification for Atlantic Yards is one of the highest ‘green’ standards we can achieve,†said Bruce Ratner, President and CEO of FCRC. “Whether it is recycling building materials, using low emission vehicles or reducing storm water overflows into the Gowanus Canal by more than 2 million gallons per year, we are seeking out every possible way to make Atlantic Yards as eco-friendly and environmentally responsible as possible.â€
Where were the proposals for this building before AY came along?
Successful preservation has to include establishing relationships with good developers, inviting them to submit proposals, and being proactive and being on the inside of city planning. Not just reacting and protesting everything. Everyone in this neighborhood walked past this building every day and never gave it a moment’s thought until it was being torn down.