ESDC Forced to Cough Up Financial Docs on AY
After dragging its feet for two years, the Empire State Development Corporation signalled yesterday that it would finally release documents containing financial information about the Atlantic Yards project. After the ESDC fought a freedom of information reques last year, Assemblyman James Brennan teamed up with state Senator Velmanette Montgomery on Monday to file a lawsuit…
After dragging its feet for two years, the Empire State Development Corporation signalled yesterday that it would finally release documents containing financial information about the Atlantic Yards project. After the ESDC fought a freedom of information reques last year, Assemblyman James Brennan teamed up with state Senator Velmanette Montgomery on Monday to file a lawsuit against the ESDC for improperly withholding the financial documents. One reason opponents of the project are so curious to see the documents is to get a better view into how profitable the project is expected to be for Bruce Ratner, hoping that big numbers would undermine his argument for needing to make the site so dense. The craving for transparency is due in part to the fact that the project gets to by-pass the city’s land-review process because so much of the land is state-owned.
Lawmakers Push for the Release of AY Financial Documents [NY Sun]
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and while the “history of real estate” continues to take it’s course your future kin would call you a stupid sell out.
No I’d call it the quickest doubling of my money (actually in terms of ROI more likely = 500%) in the history of Real Estate and walk away a happy and rich man.
Enter the Rat ners.
I bet you’d call it stealing if it was your home.
Eminent Domain is not “stealing” – it is a process outlined in the Constitution and requires just compensation (and given the expense in doing it actually results in excessive compensation)
What ROI will be considered acceptable to AY-opponents – please provide a specific number
And Shahn on what basis can you possible say that “most of the equity is coming from the City and State”?
BTW Shahn are you going to be getting 421(a) tax breaks on your new condo development
For some strange reson I dont think the truth will surface These guys are too sneaky and it took them 2yrs to hide the numbers properly. The truth will surface in 12 yrs when it’s too late.
i agree it should be done WITHOUT eminent domain…i hope the judicial system in place works and we are given a clear and lucid reasoning for or against eminent domain in this particular instance…my suspicion is that, irrespective of the decision, Ratner has a contingency plan in place, anyway.
Nope, sorry Brownstone Dreamin, that doesn’t wash. Shahn is right, the team/stadium is a marketing tool. The money end of the deal is all the rest of the complex. If FCR wanted to build a stadium and bring a team here, for the honor and glory of Brooklyn, his own ego, to close the gaping wound left when the Dodgers blew town, whatever spin you want to put on it, there is certainly enough room in the yards and the property he bought, for that to be done. Done without eminant domain, back deal shenanigans (well, not too many)or much of the end run around the legal process. This is not about a stadium or a basketball team.
10:53
I understand your point, but I respectfully disagree. The secrecy leads one to believe that that Ratner has his own interests in mind. It seems more likely he wants to develop a project that will give him huge profits and continue to make him money after all is said and done. That’s fine to make money. But when it’s a huge project that will affect hundreds thousands of existing residents, where tax money is involved, and the very structure of Brooklyn will be shaped, then the public has a right to have a say. And the fact that the project is far from transparent is suspicious at the very least.
Somehow, I’m not worried for Ratner (he may be risking a billion, but I’m sure he has another billion in his back pocket). I’m more concerned for Brooklyn and its residents.
i agree entirely with you on the use of eminent domain in this case…scary, for sure – hopefully the judicial system will render a fair opinion – no cynical comments, please – i also agree that the use of sports teams as tools of “community pride” is crap – any economist will tell you that sports teams bring absolutely zero net dollars into a community.