Gehry & Ratner Show Their Cards
July 5, 2005, NY Times — The massive building plan surrounding a new Nets arena east of Downtown Brooklyn will include a ridge of a half-dozen skyscrapers as high as 60 stories sweeping down Atlantic Avenue, along with four towers circling the basketball arena, according to new designs completed by the developer Bruce C. Ratner…
July 5, 2005, NY Times — The massive building plan surrounding a new Nets arena east of Downtown Brooklyn will include a ridge of a half-dozen skyscrapers as high as 60 stories sweeping down Atlantic Avenue, along with four towers circling the basketball arena, according to new designs completed by the developer Bruce C. Ratner and the architect Frank Gehry. The project, the largest proposed outside Manhattan in decades, would include much more housing than originally announced in 2003, growing to about 6,000 units from 4,500, according to a plan made available to The New York Times. But the real impact would be in the size and density of the buildings, which are taller and bulkier than once envisioned. With 17 buildings, many of them soaring 40 to 50 stories, the project would forever transform the borough and its often-intimate landscape, creating a dense urban skyline reminiscent of Houston or Dallas. The project would be built in phases, starting with the blocks around the arena, then the apartment complexes along Dean Street at the Vanderbilt Avenue end, and finally the northern stretch of housing along Atlantic Avenue. The arena is planned to open for the 2008-9 basketball season, said James P. Stuckey, an executive vice president at Forest City Ratner Companies, with the entire project completed as soon as 2011. The project will come before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority tomorrow as Mr. Ratner makes a formal proposal to buy and develop the Atlantic Avenue railyards.
Comment: We have to admit that these renderings are pretty exciting. Over the past several months, as the debate over the project has intensified, we found our sympathies leaning towards the anti-Ratner camp. We’re extremely uncomfortable with the concept of eminent domain and if our brownstone happened to be directly affected by the plan we’re sure we wouldn’t be pleased. But it’s hard to look at Gehry’s renderings and not get swept up. We couldn’t give a rat’s ass about having a local basketball team, but being at the center of arguably the most significant urban development effort in a generation (or more) is starting to outweigh our earlier reservations. Let’s hope that it’s more than a giant P.R. stunt to close the deal. Enough people’s lives are being uprooted that this better end up being something special. From the looks of it, it just may be.
Instant Skyline Added to Brooklyn Arena Plan [NY Times]
An Appraisal [NY Times]
could you tell me what is the effect of privatization vs michell lama. is it good for the middle income? example; coop city.
Fear not! The combination of Gehry’s inability to design within budget and Ratner’s need to make the numbers work is totally incompatible. I wouldn’t mind betting that Ratner is using his influence to persuade the MTA to accept the Extell offer rather than his own so tht he can extricate himself from the inevitable fiasco without excessive loss of face.
Who is this collective “we”? Do you feel you had a voice in the rebuilding after 9/11? Do you feel you had a voice in the $22m Theater for a New Audience coming to FG, if that’s in fact moving forward still? Hey, as a supporter of the plan (until today the only plan submitted) I would’ve loved to have seen 5 or 10 plans too but it’s not Ratner’s fault that no other plans came through. And yes, another plan has come through. But Ratner’s plan is backed by Governor and Mayor with $100m in private funding. Anything can happen but if I were a betting man I’d say too little too late.
another developer has submitted a last minute counterproposal. I guess someone has the cojones to stand up to ratner and the city.
Oh, and to all those supporters of this plan, why is it that we didn’t see five or ten plans and get a chance to pick the best one.
Isn’t that democracy?
I wish Santiago Calavatra was chosen as the lead architect on this project. I think Gehry’s design looks like a Las Vegas hotel. Brooklyn needs outstanding modern architecture to complement its turn of the century (Victorian/Queen Anne) architecture.
“Housing Shortage” is a total farce.
In actuality there is a huge demand for below market priced apartments in desirable areas.
At the same time there are so many abandoned buildings and vacant lots in less than desirable areas such as BedStuy, Bushwick and EastNY.
Do we really need to flood the Fort Greene/Prospect Heights/North Slope market with 6000 units of housing?
This is in response to the person who made the statement that the apartments reserved for middle and low income people is only temporary.
Where is it stated that this will be phased out? Is this your spectulation or is it a fact?
if they’re affordable apt, then i’m all for it. my understanding, though, is that it’s not like they’re mitchell-lama housing or permanently rent stabilized. i’m just shocked that they’re counting on 6,000+ fancy-schmancy people buying these apts, i guess i still remember the guy who lived in a plywood house in the empty lot on atlantic and south portland from at least 1990-1994. and the dying body i saw at the corner of sixth avenue and atlantic in the middle of the day, just 2 blocks from the police station.
i’m not against affordable housing at all, and if they build all the apts and it does glut the market and drive down prices, that’s fine too. if they actually sell these at the market rate they intend, i’ll be shocked but not necessarily unhappy. i’m just wondering if maybe Ratner’s overshooting the market a little… though I actually think he’s pretty smart, so maybe I’m doubting he’s actually going to build as much as he’s claiming, maybe it’s a ploy of some sort, I don’t know.
what % of this project should be devoted to affordable housing? funny how this becomes the rallying cry for people to voice their disdain (everyone suddenly becomes concerned about those not as fortunate as those buying in FG/CH now) — in 5 years these same people will be complaining about how they can’t believe there’s still no whole foods or balducci’s in the neighborhood and how freshdirect never delivers on time or forgets to pack food what was ordered and paid for and how the thing to do here and now is form a food co-op so you don’t have to trek every week to PS.