Last Rites for The Spalding Building
From Atlantic Yards Report comes the sad news that the Spalding Building at 24 6th Avenue is being prepped to meet its maker. Another clear example of an architectural eyesore that needed to be purged from the blighted neighborhood. Not. Ratner purchased the building for $2,200,000 in August 2009. As far as we can figure…
From Atlantic Yards Report comes the sad news that the Spalding Building at 24 6th Avenue is being prepped to meet its maker. Another clear example of an architectural eyesore that needed to be purged from the blighted neighborhood. Not. Ratner purchased the building for $2,200,000 in August 2009. As far as we can figure out, there’s still that last-minute lawsuit out there involving the building’s air rights too.
The Spalding Building Is Prepared For Its Fate [AYR] GMAP
Photo by Raul Rothblatt
Well the area wasnt deemed blighted b/c of “negros” but because it was the site of the Ft Greene meatpacking district that had fallen out of general usefulness….and while many of the areas you site were indeed deemed blighted, the did not have their blight designation constantly reaffirmed as various plans emerged – which WAS the case at AY – where the improvement district was reaffirmed (without any $ of course) up until the 90’s
9-3-6 – so if instead NYC/NYS built the Arena (and then leased it out) you’d be fine with ED at he site???? What sense does that make?
Oops, sorry double post.
It’s a private facility run for the profit of a private corporation, so while it’s “public” in that the public will use the building, it’s not publicly owned or provided as a service to the public, like a train station or a highway. It’s a place where you can pay a private company to attend events. As far as I know, ticket prices won’t be publicly subsidized or provided as a public service. It’s not any more a “public accommodation” than a movie theater, restaurant, or bar. That’s a big distinction.
Kelo wasn’t invented out of nowhere, no – all court cases build on precedent. But at some point, and I think it’s probably right around Kelo, the criteria necessary for eminent domain became so flexible that many people, including plenty of legal scholars, agree that it’s hardly fair or reasonable.
FSRG-
Yes the the area was deemed blighted during the reign of Robert Moses. Just a reminder that the likes of Soho, Tribeca and Penn Station were deemed “blighted” at that time as well. Under the Moses regime, “blighted Brooklyn” was often a code word for the presence of negroes.
Regardless, I hope you understand that many neighborhoods deemed “blighted” in 1963, 1973 or 1983 are very different neighborhoods in 2010.
Remember, you must embrace change. Stop living in the past.
ninethreesix – maybe Kelo will be pulled back but UNLIKE Kelo the arena is not simply a factory for Pfizer it is a public accommodation, and it is very possible that AY woudnt have fell under Kelo (if it came to that) and the ED (at least for the Arena portion) could have proceeded anyway.
People mistake Kelo as being the sole ground for AY ED but it isnt. Look at how the WTC was built for example -all the land of the old Radio District was taken through ED.
Rookie – Just in cases that involve giving property to private developers for projects of questionable public benefit under the guise of clearly invented charges of blight. Again, most other cases involve public projects, not private development. This case, Kelo, and the current situation around Columbia are the cases that I would say involve those circumstances. There may be more that I’m not aware of. But for now, those 3.
Rookie – Just in cases that involve giving property to private developers for projects of questionable public benefit under the guise of clearly invented charges of blight. Again, most other cases involve public projects, not private development. This case, Kelo, and the current situation around Columbia are the cases that I would say involve those circumstances. There may be more that I’m not aware of. But for now, those 3.
GrandPa – you are a moron- the vast majority of the AY area has been declared blighted area since 1963 – basically Hanson to Pacific – 3rd Ave to Vanderbilt.
Granted this specific building was NOT part of the original blight declaration from 1963 but the idea that the area in general was not blighted is dumb and against all historical facts.
I’m just curious. Are people on this board anti-Eminent Domain in every case, or just in this particular one?
Yes, I know. But the interpretation of eminent domain that allows this sort of seizure for anything other than transportation projects or meeting some major public need, and involves giving property to private corporations, is a much more recent and dramatic expansion of that power. (Kelo vs. New London was 2003, I think). Most people think its gotten hugely out of hand, and will probably be pulled back at some point.