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
I almost bought a loft in the building in 2001. I lost the deal because the sale of another property fell through and I was devastated at the time, because the exterior of this building tells you nothing about the exquisite interior, which the developer beautifully restored. This demolition marks (again) the destruction of an important piece of Brooklyn building history. It may have been “blight” at one time, but not now.
FSRG-
The Atlantic Yards area is not blighted. There are plenty of developers that would build upon the land WITHOUT government subsidy. Ratner used his political contacts to seize private property and have the tax payer subsidize his private development. The question is not whether you are for or against change. Hell the Spaldeen building changed from a factory to condos. The question is what change is appropriate and whether public subsidies and the threat of eminent domain should be used to develop a private sports arena.
I actually supported the broader Gehry plan because I saw it was a radical reinvention of the neighborhood that increased housing. The initial plan would have not been an isolated mega sports arena cut off from the neighborhood. However, the Gehry plan was nothing more than Ratner’s bait and switch plan to get the project approved when he knew he never had the wherewithal to bring the project to fruition. If Ratner had initially proposed a stand alone sports arena subsidized by the already bankrupt City and State, the project would never have been approved. This project like the corrupt boondoggle that is “Ground Zero” embody the worse aspects of New York politics and go a long way to explaining why the City and State are broke.
Ninethreesix – under the US Constitution = YES
Not every parcel or property in an area need exhibit characteristics of blight in order
for the area as a whole to be considered blighted. United State Supreme Court in Berman v. Parker,
348 U.S. 26, 34 (1954)
Not sure how fsrg’s argument makes it any better – so it’s okay to seize a perfectly good building because it happens to be NEAR some blight? Uh oh, watch out anyone who lives near a cracked sidewalk or empty lot..
I generally agree that cities are supposed to evolve with their populations, and while this is a perfectly nice building, it’s not a monument of any kind. And frankly, I like the idea of building a centrally-located arena right here in Brooklyn. But when I attend events there, I’ll probably do it a little bit guiltily, because it is pretty unsettling that a private developer was able to orchestrate the taxpayer-funded seizure and destruction of someone else’s private property on the obviously trumped-up premise that it’s blighted. So to me, debating the architectural merits of the building is kind of missing the point, which is about the public interest and fair and reasonable application of the law.
Again I doubt the location ever made SPAULDEENS because spauldeens werent introduced till 1949 and the Factory was sold by Spalding in 1942.
As for the DUMB) blight issue – Ratner was not required AND did NOT need to show that every building within the footprint was “blighted in order to have ED declared. Therefore perpetually showing one piece of the plot and saying in the snarkiest way imaginable – “see this wasnt blighted” is just a totally irrelevant argument – b/c no one said THIS building (for example) was ‘blighted’.
“it’s New York City. It’s supposed to grow, evolve and reinvent itself.”
Rookie;
Please don’t talk such heresy on Brownstoner. As for myself, I’ve felt that Brooklyn has never been the same since those damn housing developers sub-divided the cabbage farms in its southern reaches.
I’m pretty sympathetic to anti-AY arguments(although I’m, on balance, for it), but..really? A generic building in which they once made small rubber balls? This isn’t a museum – it’s New York City. It’s supposed to grow, evolve and reinvent itself.
Wow – almost 10 comments on a Ratner thread and no one has mentioned “back room deals” yet
+10