Court of Appeals Will Hear AY Eminent Domain Case
The Atlantic Yards end game just got a whole lot more complicated. Despite claims on May 15 by Forest City Ratner CEO Bruce Ratner that the unanimous dismissal of the state eminent domain case in May “is really the last hurdle,” the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, has accepted (PDF) an appeal in…
Bklynrocks…you’re a liar…I guarantee that if a developer were to drop a carbon copy of prospect heights on top of the train yards, you would say “There’s no original details” “There aren’t enough trees” “The new developments will attract outsiders” “I’ve been here for twenty years…now people from Manhattan will move here!” NIMBY!
This whole project was out of scale from the beginning and if any developer wants to build within the context of the surrounding neighborhoods, the community will be very welcoming to reasonable development. We have lived in Prospect Heights for 20 years with that whole in the ground and can live another 20…40 years until someone who engages with the neighborhood comes along and does not ram a monstrosity down our throats and suck taxpayer money from us to line his pockets. Jackasses we will be. Go DDDB!
Arkady, my point is that there will never be a “better deal” in the minds of NIMBY’s. If some other developer (not named Ratner) promised to pay a Billion Dollars up front, people would still be bitching and moaning about “giving away public lands to private developers”. They would say “It’s too big”, or “It’s too small” They would say “Why is a retail development” or “Why is it a residential development”. They would say “The development is too modern for Brooklyn” or they would say “Why is it so old fashioned and traditional?” In our overly litigious society, there has to be damned near unanimity for any major project to get built, otherwise you end up with a slate of frivolous lawsuits..and in a place like this with all of the wacky characters we have here, unanimity is virtually impossible.
FtGCorey – I’d like to agree w/ you but the development is almost a side issue to the matter of MTA’s having virtually given away the space. I’d rather they get a reasonable sum so they won’t have to keep raising rates just to maintain infrastructure. It the whole AY deal falls apart, I imagine a better deal will be made in the future.
Whether Atlantic Yards gets built or not, I have no idea…but the one thing I do know with absolute certainty is that if AY does not get built, the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic will be a hole in the ground for the rest of our collective lifetimes. Do you really, honestly think that there would not have been NIMBY’s suing Extell if the “UNITY” plan had been adopted? Everyone in this fricken borough thinks that there a goddamned real estate developer and that they can do a better job in conceptualizing, planning and building development projects! If Jesus Christ came back to life and promised to build heaven on earth in Brooklyn, at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic, I assure you that there would be some group of NIMBY’s fighting against it. Look at every single development project proposed for Brooklyn in the past 15-20 years…Brooklyn Bridge Park, Willoughby Square Park, Renovation of the BQE, Coney Island, Navy Yard…the list goes on and on….every single time some project is proposed to improve this borough…there is always some group that comes out against it….sheesh!!
agree w Johnny – covering the rail yards would have been just the thing for the city to do – once it owned the yards or took some form of control over them.
In fact, I remember from the PLANNYC 2030 literature that the city was proposing to do essentially the same thing to the BQE, Prospect Expway, Sunnyside, and other sunken road or railways: deck them over and build housing.
But let’s remember also the the City is a peripheral player here….this is Albany’s game.
Isn’t a train yard already a hole in the ground DIBS?
Noboby told the MTA they have to sell the land, they can keep it and continue to use it forever and eventually sell the air rights to the highest bidder. It’s buy low, sell high, not the other way around. The sweetheart deal DDDB’s trying to fight reeks more of socialism than capitalism Dave.
From your mouth to god’s ears, dibs — and let that point be soon! I’d be another satisfied jackass if it’s a hole in the ground as opposed the pile of crap Ratner is trying to bury us with (knock on wood).
There may be enough attention there to get something good built. Something inspired, creative, accessible and human. Something that has community input. Have you walked the High Line Park in the past couple weeks? WOW. That’s the kind of brilliant (re-)development we deserve. Not arena knock-offs from Indianapolis built by hacks from Cleveland.
So the city offers a free cover for qualified developers.
Still $1.9 billion cheaper than Ratnerville.