Endangered AY
This morning the Times has a couple articles about Atlantic Yards that more or less boil down to the following: Aspects of the mega-project aside from the Nets arena are likely to be delayed or go unrealized; Forest City Ratner has not been able to lure an anchor tenant to Miss Brooklyn, his planned office…
This morning the Times has a couple articles about Atlantic Yards that more or less boil down to the following: Aspects of the mega-project aside from the Nets arena are likely to be delayed or go unrealized; Forest City Ratner has not been able to lure an anchor tenant to Miss Brooklyn, his planned office tower; and Frank Gehry’s overarching vision for AY will be severely compromised if all that’s built is the arena. In one article, Charles Bagli includes snippets of an interview with Bruce Ratner in which the developer concedes that construction of Miss Brooklyn will not begin until a tenant has been secured for the office tower; Bagli also notes that the three residential towers surrounding the arena, which are slated to have 1,000 units of housing—including many affordable units—may not happen anytime soon, since developers are finding financing harder to come by. Ratner still sounds cautiously optimistic about the first phase of AY, though. It’s not going to happen in a nanosecond, he tells the Times. I hope it’s not going to be drawn out. I’d hope that the first residential building will be done within six months of the opening of the arena, and a second one a year after that. In the second article, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff says the possibility that all we’ll be left with is a Nets arena “feels like a betrayal of the public trust.” Ouroussoff calls on Frank Gehry to walk away from the entire development: “by pulling out he would be expressing a simple truth: At this point the Atlantic Yards development has nothing to do with the project that New Yorkers were promised. Nor does it rise to the standards Mr. Gehry has set for himself during a remarkable career.”
Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards [NY Times]
What Will Be Left of Gehry’s Vision for Brooklyn? [NY Times]
Ratner Admits Major AY Delays, Rising Arena Cost [AY Report]
Miss Brooklyn & Housing to Die as Arena Lives? [GL]
Bullet Points of Bagli Article [No Land Grab]
Photo by threecee.
“I agree with Nicolai Ouroussoff: Gehry should walk away.
Why should his architectural legacy be tarnished by the greed of a hack mega-developer that bullied everyone to satisfy his insatiable ego?”
Why because Gehry is as much of a hack architect as Ratner is a hack developer. Gehry’s legacy is to have designed the same schlock over and over. The greed of developers is about the only thing he has ever satisfied… as well as his own greed.
so, what has develop don’t destroy achieved ? many people bought out many,people evicted many people …… for a fucking stadium!
If they didn’t delay the all process by now things would have been built already and miss williamsburg would have been built as well, at least we would have had something interesting rather than just a stadium. can he build just the stadium?
It really is a shame that a few entitled nimbys go out of their way to sabatoge a great public works for Brooklyn. This set back is not a good thing for our city and the comments by a lot of these really old, over-the-hill people are out-of-touch with their peers.
The arena was always the carrot to draw in public support, mostly by drawing on some kind of nostalgic civic pride in Brooklyn having a major sports team again, and the promise of jobs.
While the traffic and transit mess, as well as all of the other negative aspects of living next door to a Madison Square Garden will still be there, if the arena gets built, it’s still a win. No horrendous Miss Brooklyn, no need for eminent domain, no need to even tear down Ward’s bakery, although I think we lost that one, unfortunately. No overbloated, isolated condoland.
No real affordable housing, either – I’m SHOCKED! Aside from temporary construction, no real jobs, either, as the office/retail component won’t be built as planned either. Again, shocked! Blaming anti-AY forces for these failures is ridiculous. It’s always been about money and power. FCR is a money making machine, and if there is no money to be made, all promises of community good go out the window, as they do what’s best for them. It’s that simple. It’s just business.
Preservationista
build a park instead, many, many trees, fountains, sculptures, swimming pools, cafe’s ………..
fuck you all,
Bruce Ratner.
How about fourteen 400 ft. high inflatable Bruce Ratners in place of the buildings?
U-N-D-O-N-E-D-E-A-L
Even better: The Scranton Nets