May 16, 2008
By the numbers
Bergen Record
The Nets kicked off sales Thursday of a portion of their luxury suites for the proposed Barclays Center, which they hope to open in Brooklyn by the end of 2010. Some seating facts:
64 "Level A" luxury suites, priced at $190,000 to $450,000
54 "Level B" luxury suites, priced at $155,000 to $400,000
12 Court-level "bunker" suites, priced at $540,000
3,200 Premium "club" seats, price not set but probably more than $150 per game
2,000 Upper-level seats for $15
NoLandGrab: Interesting that the Nets also remembered to promote the promised 2,000 $15 seats. Those, of course, won't be on sale for a very long time. Most likely, though, they'll be available much, much sooner than any of the units listed below.
Posted by eric at May 16, 2008 12:22 PM | Permalink
Nets are selling the luxury side of their dream arena
Bergen Record
by John Brennan
The New Jersey Nets, who vow to move to Brooklyn in two years, kicked off a critical phase of that effort Thursday with the opening of a sales center in midtown Manhattan.
"We've been saying that Brooklyn has been real for years, and it is real, but this truly is another validation for us," Chief Executive Officer Brett Yormark said during a media tour of the sales office, which includes a 500-square-foot replica of one of the 130 luxury suites at the proposed $950 million Barclays Center.
NoLandGrab: Pinch me! Brooklyn is real!
"We've got hot prospects that we'll be talking to over the next 30 to 60 days, who have been waiting to be able to come in and walk through a suite," said Yormark, who returned to the Nets after gaining a national reputation for his sponsorship and marketing success at NASCAR. "We've got people what I call 'teed up and ready to go,' and [Thursday's events for corporate leaders] could be a closer for them."
Given the current economy, Nets owners may need every bit of Yormark's sales talents to entice major corporations to shell out an average of $300,000 a year for the suites for terms of five to 10 years. Those sales would serve as part of the collateral for the considerable construction loans the Nets will need to break ground by the end of the year.
The Nets, who expect to obtain one-third or more of the building costs from New York City and New York State subsidies, also announced "founding partner" sponsorships worth $100 million this week. Foxwoods Resort Casino, Anheuser-Busch, and Cushman and Wakefield are among those core partners.
NLG: Foxwoods and Anheuser, two more "Brooklyn" companies?
The Nets lose an estimated $40 million annually at the Izod Center, whose design does not feature modern suites or lucrative "club seats" that can fetch hundreds of dollars per ticket for each game. But Yormark reiterated the franchise's insistence that a move to the Prudential Center is not in the cards, either short-term or long-term.
"We're at the Izod Center and committed to the Izod Center, and from the Izod Center we go to the Barclays Center," Yormark said. "There are no other options for us, and we will consider no other options."
NLG: Alas, poor Yormark. We thinks he and his Nets and Forest City Ratner cronies doth protest too much when it comes to the unrelenting efforts to dispel the inconvenient Nets-to-Newark rumors.
Posted by eric at May 16, 2008 9:31 AM | Permalink
Nets Spin Launch of Suite Sales as Proof of Brooklyn Move
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The multi-pronged media effort to repair the damage from Bruce Ratner's shockingly candid March 21st interview with The New York Times continued yesterday with the launch of luxury suite sales for the planned Atlantic Yards arena.
Newark Star-Ledger, Nets say showroom is proof of move
The Nets yesterday showed off a full-size replica of the luxury suites they expect to feature in their $950 million Brooklyn arena, in yet another push to demonstrate they are serious about leaving New Jersey in 2010.
..."The Barclays Center showroom is one more validation that we're alive and well and we're going to Brooklyn," Yormark said. "The next step is opening day."
NoLandGrab: Actually, the next step is to prove that the arena, let alone any of the rest of the project, can actually be built. Some of the land needed to build the arena is still in the hands of private owners and tenants, who are fighting the use of eminent domain in court. And Ratner has yet to demonstrate that he can actually secure financing for Atlantic Yards.
The marketing push comes as New Jersey officials and Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek are seeking to assemble a group of investors to buy the Nets and move the team to the Prudential Center in Newark instead.
...Yormark dismissed that as a possibility, saying sharing the Prudential Center with the Devils "is of no interest to us."
Newark Star-Ledger, Nets show off luxury suites in New York
The team has already sold one-fifth of the suites, at prices up to $540,000, according to Yormark.
NoLandGrab: While Yormark has repeated frequently the claim that 20% of the suites have already been sold to "friends and family," he has yet to publicly identify any of those who allegedly ponied up.
Bergen Record, Nets show off luxury suites
Chief Executive Brett Yormark led more than a dozen media members on a tour of the site in the morning, with a luncheon and then a celebrity-studded party rounding out the day.
...Pricing for the 3,200 premium "club seats," which would have access to high-end lounges, has not been completed, Yormark said. The price is likely to be higher than the $150 per game that the Devils charge for such seats at the Prudential Center in Newark, given the New York City location.
WNYC Radio, Execs get Peek at Nets Arena Luxury Boxes
Nets President Brett Yormark says the amenities are be a big draw.
YORMARK: Cork floors, induction burners. No more chafing dishes with fire underneath. So a little bit of technology there. Frank Gehry designed lighting fixtures.
REPORTER: The Nets are guaranteeing that the arena will open in the fall of 2010, even though their parent company does not yet own all of the property in the arena footprint. Forest City Ratner Companies says it will begin construction later this year.
Nets Daily, Nets Begin Marketing Suites with Press Tour, New York Gala
Posted by eric at May 16, 2008 7:37 AM | Permalink
No Nets Arena Yet, but Suites Are on Sale
The New York Times
by Richard Sandomir
Construction of the Nets’ proposed arena near downtown Brooklyn is long delayed and financing has not been completed. But the effort to sell the Barclays Center’s luxury suites began Thursday with the opening of a showroom in Manhattan.
The 130 suites arranged on three levels are renting for an average of $300,000 (for 5-, 7- and 10-year rentals). But the 12 elite ones are going for $540,000; they are actually under the stands (making them luxurious party bunkers), with no views of the court, but they come with eight seats at plum locations near courtside. The first of 12 was taken Thursday night by Jay-Z, the hip-hop impresario and a Nets investor.
For those seeking a suite, it will be a relief to hear that only 5 percent is due on the first year’s lease at signing, with the rest due in three installments ending in July 2010.
NoLandGrab: It's no biggie for Mr. Z, as The Times might refer to him, to plunk down north of half a million bucks for a Nets' suite, what with his new $150 million deal with Live Nation. But that same $540,000 would house more than 50 families for a year in Atlantic Yards' affordable housing units — if they ever get built.
Posted by eric at May 16, 2008 7:36 AM | Permalink
Suites go on sale, timing unquestioned, ticket prices rise, parking prized
Atlantic Yards Report
A revamped Barclays Center web site with renderings of luxury suites for the Barclays Center emerged yesterday in tandem with the first effort to sell such suites.
The news coverage could've used more skepticism. The New York Times, unwilling to grapple with the developer's dubious claims about timing, suggested, Construction on the arena is expected to start later this year, assuming that financing being arranged by Goldman Sachs has been completed.
However, that financing depends on the resolution of three pending lawsuits (and possibly more), as even the Times has acknowledged. After all, Forest City Ratner official Andrew Silberfein submitted an affidavit in the case challenging the AY environmental review saying that "there is a serious question as to whether, given the current state of the debt market, the underwriters will be able to proceed with the financing for the arena while the appeal is pending before this Court."
Interestingly, a lawyer for groups challenging the environmental review noted that a threat was not dispositive, and that the bond market should "price the risk accordingly." Still, I'd bet there's no construction until the lawsuits are cleared, and it's likely such suits will linger well into next year.
Posted by lumi at May 16, 2008 5:11 AM | Permalink
PRESS RELEASE: SHOWROOM OPENS FOR SALES OF SPONSORSHIPS, SUITES, AND PREMIUM TICKETS FOR BARCLAYS CENTER IN BROOKLYN
Features Frank Gehry-Designed Full-size Replicated Suite
Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (BSE), an affiliate of Nets Sports and LLC, today officially opened the dynamic, state-of-the-art Barclays Center Showroom on the 38 th floor of The New York Times Building, 620 8th Avenue, for sales of sponsorships and luxury suites for the Frank Gehry-designed Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Premium season tickets for Nets games will also be available for purchase at the Showroom at a date to be determined.
The opening of the Showroom will be celebrated with a private party tonight to be attended by Nets principal owner Bruce Ratner, Nets part-owner Jay-Z, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver, and many more.
...
From the moment they arrive at the Barclays Center, suite holders and their guests will receive an unprecedented “Street to Suite” experience with hotel-inspired hospitality including red-carpet greeting, distinctive private entrance and lobby, premium concierge service, private elevators, and access to exclusive restaurants and lounges.“The opening of the Barclays Center Showroom is another significant step towards bringing a world-class arena and major sports team to Brooklyn,” said Brett Yormark, president and CEO of Nets Sports and Entertainment. “The Showroom will be a snapshot for what suite and premium season ticket holders can expect to experience at the Barclays Center when it opens in calendar year 2010. We are already receiving extensive interest in sponsorships, suites, and season tickets and we expect that momentum to continue with the opening of the Showroom.”
Full press release (PDF)
Posted by lumi at May 16, 2008 5:08 AM | Permalink
This guy faults Bruce Ratner and Atalntic Yards foes
The Brooklyn Paper, Letters to the Editor
Though Bruce Ratner has managed to cynically divide the neighborhood among race lines, it appears that Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn has not bridged the gap.
I am black, born and bred in Brooklyn. I despise Bruce Ratner not only for the assaults he has made on the borough with Metrotech and the Atlantic Center and Terminal malls, but for his lies to people of color that accompanied each over-reaching project. ...
Yet, given all this background, I have not been involved in the fight to stop Ratner at Atlantic Yards. Why? Because the fight against Ratner has not jumped the inner-city cultural divide. Develop Don’t Destroy has failed to persuade their minority neighbors that Ratner is fooling them again, this time through surrogates.It is a pity that those fighting Atlantic Yards didn’t keep trying to find common ground with us people of color. Not everyone for Atlantic Yards is a bought-off loudmouth.
Leon de Augusto, Bushwick
Of course, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn would want to list diverse organizations and ethnicities under its aegis. My point is: where are the many different faces and voices of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn,?
Goldstein, exclusively, speaks for Develop Don’t Destroy, their 26 allied groups and 4,000 supporters. And the people in the pictures — take the Brooklyn Museum protest, for example — look like him, not me.
Thomasina Millet, Crown Heights
Posted by lumi at May 16, 2008 5:00 AM | Permalink
Barclays Center to open December 31, 2010?
Atlantic Yards Report
Nets CEO Brett Yormark said in Sports Business Journal this week that the Barclays Center would open in time for the 2010-11 basketball season, meaning October. But today's Forest City Ratner press release about the sale of luxury suites suggests that Yormark and the developer are further hedging their bets.
The statement:
“The opening of the Barclays Center Showroom is another significant step towards bringing a world-class arena and major sports team to Brooklyn,” said Brett Yormark, president and CEO of Nets Sports and Entertainment. “The Showroom will be a snapshot for what suite and premium season ticket holders can expect to experience at the Barclays Center when it opens in calendar year 2010." (Emphasis added)
So if Forest City Ratner wants to conform to the letter--if not the spirit--of its pledge, it will have to open the building once in 2010. I'm predicting New Year's Eve.
Posted by lumi at May 16, 2008 4:28 AM | Permalink
May 15, 2008
DDDB PRESS RELEASE: Tonight: Ratner to Show Off Atlantic Yards Arena Luxury Suites
Back in Reality:
Atlantic Yards and Barclays Center Are On Precipice of Failure
BROOKLYN, NY— Tonight, as reported last week in Crain’s, Bruce Ratner’s New Jersey Nets will “debut a prototype of their Frank Gehry-designed, $300,000-a-year Barclays Center corporate suites at a splashy party in their New York Times Building showroom.”
Meanwhile, back in reality, Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development proposal—including the arena for which Barclays Bank has purchased naming rights for $400 million—is on the precipice of failure and currently cannot be built.
“Bruce Ratner once promised ‘affordable’ housing. Now, all he is promising are luxury arena skyboxes, and he’s in no position to build even those,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “Tonight’s luxury skybox party vividly represents the Atlantic Yards bait and switch. The proposed ‘affordable’ housing was the bait to enlist the support of many elected officials backing the project, as well as ACORN; the switch is that those in need of an affordable home are left hanging while the ridiculously expensive luxury skyboxes will be given full priority over everything else Ratner once promised.”
Developer Forest City Ratner (FCR) does not own all of the properties it needs to build its proposed arena. Some of that property is in the hands of other private owners or tenants. New York State’s intention to seize those properties by eminent domain, and hand them over to Forest City, is currently being challenged in the courts. Back on March 31, 11 property owners and tenants filed a petition to the US Supreme Court in their case alleging that New York State’s use of eminent domain violates the US Constitution. If the Court takes their case, it would be heard by the end of the year, and a decision would be rendered roughly one year from now. If the Court does not take their case, the plaintiffs intend to file their challenge to eminent domain in New York State court.
In addition to this ownership problem, Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards proposal faces other substantial obstacles, including:
FCR needs at least $1.4 billion in tax-free housing bonds, but they are not available.
FCR does not have the bond it needs for its $950 million arena—more than double the price tag of the most expensive arena every built.
The credit market is in crisis.
Construction costs have increased astronomically, and continue to rise.
New York City’s real estate boom is over, and Brooklyn has a large oversupply of condos.
Political opinion has substantially shifted against the project. (See: May 3rd protest rally)
A coming appeal of the community lawsuit challenging the project’s environmental review and overall approval.
Other outstanding litigation and the possibility of new litigation beyond that.
Posted by eric at May 15, 2008 3:40 PM | Permalink
TONIGHT: Brooklyn Songwriters Against Atlantic Yards
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Posted by lumi at May 15, 2008 5:46 AM | Permalink
TONIGHT: "Brooklyn Was Mine" at WORD
Thursday, May 15, 7:30pm
Contributors to Brooklyn Was Mine, including Philip Dray, Rachel Cline and Joanna Hershon read and sign books at Greenpoint's WORD.
Brooklyn Was Mine gives some of today's best writers an opportunity to pay tribute to the borough they love in 20 original essays that draw on past and present to create a mosaic that brilliantly captures the quality and diversity of a unique, literary landscape.
WORD, an independent bookseller with selections for adults and children, opened in Greenpoint in March and has been featured in The New York Times, Lucky Magazine, New York Magazine's Intelligencer, The Brooklyn Paper and Shelf Awareness.
WORD is located at 126 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Take the G train to Greenpoint Avenue. Call 718.383.0096 or visit wordbrooklyn.com.
Posted by lumi at May 15, 2008 5:45 AM | Permalink
Brodsky calls for "time out" on West Side projects; hearing next Friday
Atlantic Yards Report
A powerful Assemblyman is calling for a "time out" on a major development, but it's not Atlantic Yards, focus of a recent "time out" rally. And that Assemblyman, Richard Brodsky, while calling for a timetable and cost-benefit analysis for megaprojects in the state, said that the focus of an Assembly committee's first hearing next week will be limited to projects on Manhattan's West Side.
The New York Times, in an article Wednesday headlined City Revisits Old Bidders After Railyards Deal Fails, reported:
Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky and other critics, however, say that the authority should wait for the economy to improve, while working with a master plan to coordinate all the activity on the West Side. “These deals are breaking down because the governance system for authorities doesn’t work and because the public subsidies are out of control,” said Mr. Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester. “We need a time out before this disaster repeats itself everywhere else.”
Posted by lumi at May 15, 2008 5:44 AM | Permalink
Ward Bread Bakery demolition continues
Photo by Tracy Collins, via Atlantic Yards Photo Pool (flickr).
Posted by lumi at May 15, 2008 5:39 AM | Permalink
JPMorgan sees Bear's Midtown NY site saving $3 bln
Reuters
In an article about JP Morgan's savings on real estate after the acquisition of Bear Stearns, Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project is cited as an example of the effects of the commercial real estate downturn:
New York City's real estate market is slowing as financial companies lay off tens of thousands of workers and developers find bank loans harder to get and more costly. The withering credit has already delayed mega-projects including Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards and Midtown Manhattan's Hudson Yards.
Posted by lumi at May 15, 2008 5:33 AM | Permalink
The Dolans’ Conflict of Coverage
The Deal Book [The NY Times]
Now that the Dolan family is lined up to purchase NY Newsday, will the paper have to disclose conflict of interest in stories covering the family's other ventures? The Times says it does (emphasis added):
When the sale was announced, she said, “I asked if we have to drop a line into stories that says, ‘The Knicks, who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday.’ ”
When reporting on Bruce Ratner, the owner of the Nets, The Times often says that he was a development partner in The Times’ new headquarters building. The newspaper also notes that The New York Times Company owns 17 percent of New England Sports Ventures, the parent company of the Boston Red Sox.
NoLandGrab: Thank goodness the Times had the likes of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, NoLandGrab and Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report to harass them into "often" (though not consistently) including conflict-of-interest disclosures in articles covering Forest City Ratner.
Posted by lumi at May 15, 2008 5:23 AM | Permalink
CURIOUSER: Brooklyn Public Library
This week, there's a raging debate at Gowanus Lounge over the suitability and propriety of adults viewing online porn at the Brooklyn Public Library. Some claim that public viewing of porn is creepy and shouldn't be condoned in a public institution frequented by children, while others champion citizens' First Amendment right to access all available media.
The Brooklyn Public Library addressed the issue by releasing a statment to Gowanus Lounge which included the following:
While some topics and content may be unpopular it is our job not to judge, just to provide.
We find it curious that this is the same Brooklyn Public Library that rejected several works of art from the Atlantic Yards Footprints Exhibit due to the controversial content.
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No one really thinks that the above photos, taken by NoLandGrab contributor Amy Greer, are more controversial than public viewing of online porn. Granted, the library isn't launching an exhibition of porn, but the public institution ought to recognize that they make judgments every day about appropriate content.
It's ironic that the same library that appeared so nervous about the Atlantic Yards controversy can display principled confidence while addressing the great online porn debate, which will surely rage on as Atlantic Yards opponents continue to grind their teeth to the sounds of Bruce Ratner's demolition of the Footprint.
Posted by lumi at May 15, 2008 4:50 AM | Permalink
May 14, 2008
Richard Lipsky: Real Estate Scion
The Neighborhood Retail Alliance
Unlike the self-deprecating Norman Oder, lobbyist-for-the-little-guy-like-Bruce-Ratner, Richard Lipsky, toots his own horn upon being named to the NY Observer's list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, and complains that he's ranked below... Norman Oder.
We really got a big kick out of the Observer's ranking of Richard Lipsky as one of the 100 most influential people in NYC real estate. Here's the blurb:
80
Richard Lipsky
Lobbyist, Richard Lipsky Associates To many large developers, particularly those who build big-box retail, Mr. Lipsky is a pain in the ass. He organizes public opposition and pitches to the media a constant David vs. Goliath story line, usually with small retailers, threatened by the Vornados and the Related Companies of the world, playing the David role.In over twenty five years of lobbying work on behalf of small businesses, communities and labor, we have stooped over twenty separate big box and shopping center developments-the only consistent force operating successfully in this capacity; which makes the ranking of Norman Oder ahead of us as something of a mystery. What has Norman actually stopped in his vendetta against Atlantic Yards, and has he ever done anything else to create a body of work?
Oder posted this response on Lipsky's MomandPopNYC blog:
Richard, guess what--I'll agree you (and others) should be ahead of me.
I won't agree it's a vendetta.
And shouldn't you mention that you're paid by Ratner?
Cordially,
Norman Oder
NoLandGrab: Frequent reminders that the big-box-fighting Lipsky is on the payroll of the big-box-building Ratner wouldn't sit well with the lobbyist's David-vs.-Goliath storyline. Of course, as Kathy Goldman, the founder of a nonprofit group that supported a project against which Lipsky lobbied, told The New York Times in 1997, "He'll work for whoever pays him. I don't know where principle ends and expedience starts when you do that."
We're also not sure why Lipsky called his post "Real Estate Scion," since a scion is a descendant or heir. Lipsky's pop was a theatrical agent, according to that same Times article. Maybe he confused his father with his patron, Bruce Ratner.
Posted by eric at May 14, 2008 11:06 AM | Permalink
The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate
Bloomberg, Trump, Ratner, De Niro, the Guy Behind Craigslist! They’re All Among Our 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate
NY Observer
It's noteworthy that the three highest-ranked developers on the Observer's list — #1 Jerry Speyer, #3 Stephen Ross, and #8 Bruce Ratner — are all having a heap of trouble closing their marquee deals: Hudson Yards, Moynihan Station/Madison Square Garden and Atlantic Yards, respectively.
Power. Webster’s Dictionary defines power as … No, no, no, never mind that: Power in New York City real estate means money—its acquisition, spending and creation—especially now, as the market enters a tremulous sunset after several bright, shiny years.
Our list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate was assembled with this finance-centric criterion at the forefront. The list, especially higher up, contains those who animate the deals and the trends. They are the deciders and the money providers. They make the real estate world the rest of us live in; or cover, as the case may be.
...#8 Bruce Ratner
Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies
The leader of what is perhaps New York’s most high-profile development, the controversy magnet Atlantic Yards, Bruce Ratner is one of the most active developers in the city, often pursuing large, publicly administered projects. He’s recently taken a liking to famous architects, ensuring that his developments leave a notable impression on the skyline.
NoLandGrab: Bruce Ratner only #8 while Amanda Burden is #5? Anyone familiar with the phony 8% Atlantic Yards "scaleback" knows that when Bruce Ratner says "scaleback," Amanda Burden asks "how much?"
Posted by eric at May 14, 2008 10:40 AM | Permalink
So, who's #77 on the Observer's 100 most powerful people in NY real estate list?
Atlantic Yards Report
For those of you who think that the all-too-powerful real estate industry pulls most of New York City's levers (is there anyone who doesn't think that?), a ray of light has emerged: it's a man, it's a journalist/blogger, it's Norman Oder!
According to the New York Observer's quite arbitrary list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, Bruce Ratner is #8, Frank Gehry is #51, and I am number #77.
While the listing is flattering, I can't say they have me convinced. For example, Charles Bagli, the veteran real estate/development reporter for the New York Times--and formerly at the Observer--does not appear on the list and he's way more powerful than I am. (Despite my criticisms of his AY coverage, he's a very able reporter.) And I am not more powerful than Nicolai Ouroussoff, the Times's architecture critic, at #85, nor Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, chair of the Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, at #89; he has the power to grill public officials. And where's Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute, a savvy and provocative commentator?
NoLandGrab: Like some modern-day Lincoln Steffens (or Fremont Older), Oder has raked the muck caking Atlantic Yards, and in so doing, has exposed the project's seamy underside like no other journalist.
Posted by eric at May 14, 2008 9:55 AM | Permalink
An open letter to NYT Public Editor Clark Hoyt about the paper's curious AY silence
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder publishes an open letter to the NY Times Public Editor, which maybe really hopefully just might actually be more effective than the other calls for comprehensive coverage over the past four and a half years. [Not that we're counting.]
Dear Mr. Hoyt,
If you read other newspapers in New York, you would’ve noticed that there was a lot of Atlantic Yards-related news last week. If you followed the story online, you would’ve learned even more.
That’s why any consumer of media in New York should be disappointed by the New York Times’s failure to publish a word about Atlantic Yards in the past week. Not only is it a major story for the city and region, the Times, given the parent New York Times Company’s business relationship with developer Forest City Ratner, developing the new Times Tower, has a special obligation to be exacting in its coverage.
Norman Oder outlines the litany of news missed by the greying lady, such as:
- more public subsidies needed,
- the release of the State funding agreement,
- the release of the City funding agreement,
- tenant lawsuit development,
- rumors of Nets to Newark talks,
- a protest,
- a counter protest,
- shiny new renderings,
- gigantic parking lot renderings,
- green roof gone,
and more!
Posted by lumi at May 14, 2008 5:27 AM | Permalink
NYC Mayor Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough Pres. Announce Brooklyn Bridge 125th Birthday Celebration
Five-Day Celebration to Feature Special Bridge Lighting, Film Series, Concerts, Lectures, Bike Tour, Children's Readings and other Family-Friendly Cultural Events
Atlantic Yards developer Forest CIty Ratner is listed among the "major sponsors" in the City's press release.
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz today announced plans for a five-day celebration in honor of the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge.
...
Major sponsors of the Brooklyn Bridge 125th Birthday Celebration include General Contractors Association of New York, Inc., National Grid, Forest City Ratner, Target, as well as Empire Blue Cross, Verizon, Astoria Bank, Citi, Warner Bros. and Sovereign Bank. For more information, visit www.nyc.gov or call 311.
Posted by lumi at May 14, 2008 4:28 AM | Permalink
Forest City in the News
The Journal News, Major builders among top donors for Yonkers Business Week
Forest City Ratner is still making friends in Yonkers:
[Yonkers] Business Week, sponsored by the city's Office of Economic Development, cost $330,000, which was covered entirely by private companies, city officials said. The two top donors are also two top developers: Forest City Ratner, builder of the Ridge Hill, a development whose handling by the Yonkers City Council is under federal investigation; and Struever Fidelco Cappelli, which wants to build the massive River Park Center, just east of City Hall. Both were listed as "pinnacle donors," contributing $30,000 each.
And in the Forest City "lifestlye center" (a mall with housing and/or offices) news :
Denver.YourHub.com, Orchard Town Center to Host Summer Concert Series
The Orchard Town Center to Host Summer Concert Series May Through August "Concerts on the Square" feature Hazel Miller, The Fab Four and Wendy Woo.
...
The Orchard Town Center, located at the northwest corner of Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue, is a unique, pedestrian-friendly lifestyle village. The center offers residents and visitors exceptional options in shopping, dining and entertainment in an environment that invites lingering, relaxing and socializing. Designed in classic prairie craftsmanship, The Orchard Town Center provides more than 40 entertainment, retail and restaurant establishments, including AMC Orchard 12, JCPenney, Macy's, SuperTarget, Rock Bottom Brewery and Woodlands Grill. The project was developed by Forest City Commercial Group Inc. and the City of Westminster.
The Press-Enterprise, List of eateries grows for Temecula mall
Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que and P.F. Chang's China Bistro have joined the roster of businesses slated to occupy a 126,000-square-foot expansion at The Promenade in Temecula, mall operator Forest City Enterprises announced Tuesday.
Posted by lumi at May 14, 2008 4:17 AM | Permalink
May 13, 2008
Artists Publicize DDDB
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by Sam Howe
The Eagle's arts columnist tosses a bone to DDDB's design team.
Designers Daisy Tikkanen, Sirius Madra Dubh and Scott Turner of Superba Graphics in Greenwood Heights are the talent behind the poster for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s (DDDB’s) May 15 benefit concert at Park Slope Avenue Southpaw. The same designers, who specialize in “yesteryear” aesthetics, have become the go-to artists for DDDB. They also created posters for previous DDDB fundraisers including “Garden Don’t Destroy” and “Walk Don’t Destroy.” Thursday’s concert will bring together Brooklyn musicians in opposition of the Atlantic Yards project: up and coming Clare & The Reasons, Richard Julian and John Wesley Harding, who has shared the stage with big guns such as Bruce Springsteen and Joan Baez during his 20-year career.
Posted by eric at May 13, 2008 5:11 PM | Permalink
Time Out Rally on BCAT TONIGHT at 8pm
Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse
Tonight at 8pm on BCAT 1, Time Warner Channel 34
Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse presents:
Chris Owens, Velmanette Montgomery, Letitia James, Hakeem Jeffries, Tony Avella, and others. It's all the speeches from the May 3, 2008 rally that appeal to Governor Paterson to call Time Out on the disastrous Atlantic Yards (or Atlantic Lots) project.
If you would prefer to watch tonight's show on the small screen, it has been posted to YouTube for your convenience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jttjp4-b8CQ.
Posted by steve at May 13, 2008 1:24 PM | Permalink
In Yonkers, the feds investigate aspects of Ratner's Ridge Hill deal
Atlantic Yards Report
Enter into the shadowy world of Forest City Ratner and public approvals. Norman Oder offers an overview of what is known and suspected regarding the approval by the Yonkers City Council of the Ridge Hill development.
What critics consider a sweetheart deal regarding Atlantic Yards hasn't provoked investigation into any wrongdoing. It was presented as a fait accompli fast tracked by the Empire State Development Corporation, rather than debated in public by local officials. In Yonkers, however, the curious twists and turns of Forest City Ratner's $630 million, 1000-apartment, 81-acre Ridge Hill project (above) have generated a federal investigation.
Some parallels are found in the way public benefits are promoted for both projects:
The Times reports: Promoters say it will create 4,000 permanent jobs and generate some $20 million a year in property, sales and income tax revenues for Yonkers. But from the start, some questioned the way the project was fast-tracked.
The same questions have been raised about AY.
...
The Times reported:
In a news release at the time of her vote switch, Ms. Annabi cited 11th-hour negotiations with Ratner over property taxes, in which she said she was able to wring out millions of additional dollars. Later, it became clear that some of the promised riches had little chance of being paid because of fine print in contracts that Ms. Annabi said she never saw.Well, many of the riches projected by Atlantic Yards backers were vastly overstated, given flaws in the cost-benefit analysis, increased public costs, and delays in the project.
NoLandGrab: It's always interesting to see how far Forest City Ratner will go to prevent public scrutiny of its publicly-funded projects
Posted by steve at May 13, 2008 8:30 AM | Permalink
Nets partnership announcements, suites showroom are four months late
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder offers his take on today's Sports Business Journal story, and highlights the latest in Netspeak.
Meanwhile, we apparently get a new term to add to the Atlantic Yards Lexicon: "construction activation platform."
The newspaper reports:
Incremental to the founding partnership fees, many of the new sponsors will support what the Nets are calling a “construction activation platform” with signage, countdown clocks and other media in which partners will be identified.“We’ll be marketing the heck out of the building even before it is being built,” Yormark said.
Indeed, that's the subject of the article.
Posted by eric at May 13, 2008 7:24 AM | Permalink
Rocking and rolling against Ratner's Atlantic Yards plan
Courier-Life Publications
By Meredith Deliso
Over the past four years, DDDB has had approximately 15 benefit performances with more than 30 artists in genres ranging from klezmer to hip-hop to punk. For the upcoming benefit, event coordinator Rob Reilly wanted to feature up-and-coming indie talent in Brooklyn.
"I haven't gotten another response beyond 'I would love to do this, schedule permitting,'" says Reilly, a Cobble Hill resident who volunteers his time to put together benefit concerts for DDDB. "For me it's a matter of setting up the right line up for the night out."
Those who schedule permitted and made for a good indi-heavy line up, are John Wesley Harding, Clare and the Reasons, Richard Julian and Jolie Holland.
[Click image to enlarge.]
Posted by lumi at May 13, 2008 5:40 AM | Permalink
Nets add 6 founding partners for Barclays
Sports Business Journal
By Terry Lefton
As part of the marketing campaign in advance of the May 15 rollout and pre-sale of "Barclays Center" luxury suites, Nets CEO Brett Yormark is announcing six new arena sponsors, who just happen to already be sponsors in New Jersey. [Eyes rolling.]
A couple of photos offer a sneak-peak of the May 15 rollout:
While the organization’s Barclays Center project is mired in legal delays and reports surfaced recently that New Jersey officials were making a run to have the team move to the Prudential Center in Newark, Nets Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Brett Yormark said last week that he expects to break ground in the fourth quarter of this year and open the building in time for the 2010-11 season.
And as evidence, Yormark said the team has signed six new founding partners that join previously announced Jones Soda, representing more than $100 million in sponsorship commitments in the new building. The founding-partner deals are all five to 10 years in length and range from $1.5 million to $5 million a year, Yormark said.
Most are existing Nets sponsors: Anheuser-Busch, Cushman & Wakefield, MGM Grand/Foxwoods, ADT, Emblem Health and Izod, which has naming rights to the Nets’ current home court at the Meadowlands. Barclays is the naming-rights sponsor for the planned $950 million arena, which is supposed to host more than 200 events a year.
Yormark said that many of the partners are architecturally integrated within the building, plazas or clubs.
Posted by lumi at May 13, 2008 5:25 AM | Permalink
Columbia Alumnus David Paterson Takes the Helm in Albany
Columbia Spectator
By Melissa Repko
One of Columbia’s own, David Paterson, CC ’77 and an adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs, was sworn in as governor of New York state on March 17.
All New Yorkers involved with land grabs (grabbers and property owners alike) are holding their breath wondering if the new governor's position may have evolved:
In the future, the chief executive and Columbia alumnus could come in handy for Columbia as it moves toward construction of a new campus. With three Manhattanville business owners still unwilling to make deals with the University, state use of eminent domain—which would allow the government to seize ownership of the private property for the public good if the land is deemed underused—may be necessary.
“I’ve talked to Governor Paterson over the years,” Bollinger said, referring to Paterson’s tenure as a state senator. “I know he is supportive of this project. He has said so publicly. And I believe that were eminent domain to be needed to implement the plan, I believe that he would be supportive.”
Yet Paterson’s stance on eminent domain remains murky. In August 2005, the then-New York state Senate minority leader called for a moratorium on the use of eminent domain at a press conference. He also expressed support for a plan to restrict the use of the policy in the city after Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn), whose district includes the area of the proposed Atlantic Yards development, proposed the bill. He has not publicly addressed his views on eminent domain since being sworn in as governor.
Posted by lumi at May 13, 2008 5:20 AM | Permalink
May 12, 2008
Closing Bell: Ratner, Gehry, Pool Barge Win Awards
Brownstoner.com
by Sarah Ryley
Forest City Ratner and Frank Gehry were cited by the Municipal Art Society, but no, the awards weren't for the new renderings of Atlantic Yards.
The Municipal Art Society announced last week the winners of its seventh annual MASterwork Awards, and three Brooklyn heavy hitters made the list. Renzo Piano's New York Times building, built by Forest City Ratner, and Frank Gehry's IAC Building won for best buildings. While both buildings are in Manhattan, Ratner is the developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards area and high-rise megaproject and that place where there's a Target, and Atlantic Yards is designed by Frank Gehry. The Floating Pool lady, moored at the future Brooklyn Bridge Park last summer (and now in the Bronx), won for best neighborhood catalyst along with The New Museum. Diane von Furstenberg's DVF Studio Headquarters in the Meatpacking District and the Museum at Eldridge Street won for best historic renovation.
Posted by eric at May 12, 2008 11:05 PM | Permalink
AYR briefly on BCAT tonight
Atlantic Yards Report
For those of you who can't get enough of Atlantic Yards Report, you can see Norman Oder tonight on BCAT:
I will make a very brief appearance on BCAT's Brooklyn Review show tonight, in the second segment mentioned below. (Online clips will be available later.) The blurb:
Brooklyn Review (Brooklyn's Only News Magazine)
Premiere: Monday, May 12 at at 9pm (Time Warner 56/Cablevision 69)
Encore Presentations: Thursday, May 15 at 1pm & 9pm; Friday, May 16 at 3pm & 11pmOn this episode, Brooklyn Review’s team of reporters explores tension between the African American and Jewish communities in Crown Heights; looks at the role real estate and watchdog blogs are playing in Brooklyn development; visits a Bensonhurst high school where students are examining the ethics of war through live interviews with survivors; checks out the Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden; and samples the borough’s tastiest foods at the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Brooklyn Eats event.
Posted by eric at May 12, 2008 12:20 PM | Permalink
Why luxury suite sales this week are needed to market arena bonds
Atlantic Yards Report
Forest City Ratner's ability to recruit buyers for luxury suites — which it begins marketing this Thursday — may be critical to its ability to secure funding for the arena.
A counter-protest in response to the "Time Out" rally. An Bruce Ratner op-ed in the New York Daily News. The release of new renderings of the Atlantic Yards arena, office tower, and first residential building.
Let me try to put Forest City Ratner's recent efforts in some perspective. The office tower rendering is aimed to help attract an anchor tenant and get the building started. The rendering of a residential rental tower, with half the units subsidized, is aimed to maintain public support for the project.
But, more than anything else, the developer's efforts are about getting the arena built. That means the public must be convinced it's viable and, crucially, buyers of luxury suites must be recruited. The guarantee of certain suite revenues, I believe, will back bonds for the now-$950 million arena.
NoLandGrab: With Madison Square Garden embarking on a top-to-bottom renovation, new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees opening next year, and a new home for the Giants and Jets underway, it'll be interesting to see what demand there might be for suites in an arena that's still in rendering stage.
Posted by eric at May 12, 2008 9:36 AM | Permalink
What would an interim arena without titanium look like?
Atlantic Yards Report
Current plans for Phase 1 construction of the proposed Atlantic Yards development leaves out the "Urban Room" that was originally designed to connect with the arena, at least until later in the construction. If only the arena and one tower are built for now, what would the arena look like? Norman Oder takes a look.
We can't be sure. But we can be sure that the new renderings, as New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff recently wrote in another context, produce a "distorted picture of reality."
That's why it's important for Forest City Ratner to produce more accurate renderings, including descriptions of the publicly accessible open space that (its spokesman told the Post) would occupy what the MAS portrays as vacant lots.
Oder also questions whether the new arena design would conform to the Design Guidelines in the General Project Plan.
I asked ESDC spokesman Warner Johnston if the arena, with a truncated amount of glass, would conform to the Design Guidelines. He said it did.
Because my initial email did not cite the precise dimensions of 125 feet and 7500 square feet, I asked for confirmation. I didn't get a response.
...
And it is notable that the current renderings don't tell us whether the arena would meet the current guidelines, nor when exactly in the development process the current renderings might be realized. So we could have some vacant lots instead.
Posted by steve at May 12, 2008 9:24 AM | Permalink
It came from the Blogosphere...
Here's what they're saying about all things Atlantic Yards:
Daily Gotham, Pimping for Ratner?
The Brooklyn Papers has an interesting revelation that one of the people leading the pro-Ratner counter rally to Community opposition to Ratner's Atlantic Yards is an admitted pimp:
One of Bruce Ratner’s boosters at the pro–Atlantic Yards rally on Saturday is a former strip club manager who used to arrange for dancers to have sex with NBA stars.
This comes as no surprise.... Ratner's whole scheme is about buying favors, so he and a pimp would get along just fine.
The Gowanus Lounge, Upcoming: Brooklyn Songwriters Against Atlantic Yards
There’s a benefit concert coming up at Southpaw for Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn on Thursday, May 15 featuring Clare & The Reasons, John Wesley Harding, Richard Julian and special. There’s a screening of the documentary Brooklyn Matters at 7PM and the show starts at 8PM. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Doors open at 6:30.
Nets Daily, Architecture Critics Mixed on New Plans for Nets Arena
The Nets are admit to marketing their new Brooklyn arena more as a “destination” than an oversized gym. With new designs for the arena and surrounding Atlantic Yards just out, what are critics saying? James Gardner of the Sun is disappointed in the arena, but likes the new design for the adjoining skyscraper, “an unruly and asymmetrical mountain of rectilinear boxes”. Local architects think it’s the reverse.
The Knickerblogger, Not So Sure About This Atlantic Yards
According to NY Magazine, the newly appointed head of the Port Authority "thinks Bruce Ratner should consider recruiting architects other than Frank Gehry for the Atlantic Yards."
When the chief of one of the worst boon-doggler/eminent domain abusers in the city is 'not so sure' about atlantic yards, you can bet its a lousy idea. Really, other than Ratner, people Ratner has bribed or stand to benefit directly, financially from it...and of course, the truly foolish does anyone think this is a good idea?
vous lisez... you are reading..., Forest City Unveils Frank Gehry’s New Atlantic Yards Designs
One blogger ran the press release for the new renderings, which begins more like a movie trailer:
“Powerful. Distinguished. Energetic. Iconoclastic."
Lucid Culture, Welcome to the FantasyDome: Frank Gehry’s New Atlantic Yards Renderings
A "slightly edited repost from the DDDB email list," which doesn't sound like a movie trailer.
cuz produces, Collapse of complex real estate projects
In keeping with the previous post (two in one day!), I also see that yet again the large, complex Hudson Yards development has fallen through. This follows the collapse of the Penn Station project and the massive slowdown at Atlantic Yards. Certainly, this has much to do with the declining economy, but I wonder how much of it has to do with the increasing complexity of arrangements among an ever-wider number of actors involved in these contemporary mega-projects. Does their complexity make them less stable than earlier mega-projects?
Sustainable Flatbush, Brooklyn Blogfest 2008
This year's Blogfest had less Atlantic Yards:
When I attended last year’s Brooklyn Blogfest at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, Sustainable Flatbush had been online for only a few weeks. Most of the names and people and language of the blogging world were very new to me, everyone at the event seemed to be from Fort Greene or Prospect Heights, and covering Atlantic Yards was the primary reason for many of the blogs’ existence.
This year’s Blogfest (held at the Brooklyn Lyceum) was much larger and more diverse, and the one topic we could all agree on was that the word “blog” has become inadequate to describe the many different forms an online journal can take.
unwakeable, D.B.A Brooklyn Grand Opening
At least one retailer believes Bruce Ratner's timetable:
D.B.A (Doing Business As) will be opening their doors Friday May 5th from 5p.m to 10p.m. D.B.A is a sneaker/lifestyle store that will carry a very diverse array of items including limited edition sneakers from Nike, Adidas and others.
D.B.A is located for on 454 Dean St in Brooklyn across the street from Atlantic Yards, the home of the 2010 Brooklyn Nets.
NoLandGrab: Most experts believe the 2010 Nets will still be playing in NJ.
Posted by lumi at May 12, 2008 4:49 AM | Permalink
THURSDAY: Brooklyn Songwriters Against Atlantic Yards
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More info at Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's web site.
News of this event came to us via Carroll Garden's neighborhood watchblog Pardon Me For Asking.
Posted by lumi at May 12, 2008 4:20 AM | Permalink
May 11, 2008
Is It The Brookyn, New York, New Jersey Or Newark Nets?
bleacher report.com
William Henry Jones wants the arena to come to "Downtown Brooklyn" (that should say Prospect Heights!!!!), but speculates that the Nets could also be happy near Shea Stadium:
Will somebody please get their story straight? It seems like every day I pick up the paper there is a story about the NJ Nets moving or not moving to Brooklyn. One day the story is saying that the arena will never be built and another day I read that the Barclays Center as it will be called will be open for the 2010 season.The latest stories appeared last weekend. The New York Daily news reported that the NJ Devils were interested in buying the team and moving them to Newark only to have Bruce Ratner in a guest opinion piece on Sunday deny the story and reassert that the arena would open as planned. On Monday, another article claimed that Brooklyn would never happen.
Mr. Jones will probably not be placated by Mike Lupica's comment in yesterday's Daily News:
As soon as Caring Bruce Ratner said the Nets weren't for sale and were still on their way to Brooklyn, I immediately imagined the team bus making a U-turn and heading for Newark.
Posted by amy at May 11, 2008 11:15 AM | Permalink
Rally Calls for Time-Out on Atlantic Yards
Our Time Press has great rally coverage, although we're pretty sure Velmanette Montgomery did not give a shout-out to "Joe Melman."
Atlantic Yards Report had this to say about the coverage:
Note that Our Time Press, a Bed-Stuy-based newspaper (formerly twice a month, now weekly) aimed at the black community, has published a variety of voices on Atlantic Yards. Miller's piece, as well as co-founder Bernice Elizabeth Green's endorsement in 2006 of Owens for Congress, looked critically at the project. Regular "Commerce and Community" columns by Errol Louis, on the other hand, have cheered Atlantic Yards and harshly criticized opponents.
Posted by amy at May 11, 2008 10:52 AM | Permalink
Are AY foes 'real land-grabbers'? The Courier-Life gets "brutally weird"
Atlantic Yards Report apparently had time for the pain of reading Stephen Witt's articles in the Courier. AYR sorts out the "brutally weird" numbers, such as crowd size estimates at the rally, and looks at who the real land-grabbers are...
The real land grabbers?The next paragraph in the Courier-Life article amps up the claim:
"They are the real land grabbers, because they took the property first and turned back what was jobs into condos," chimed in Charlene Nimmons, sitting nearby and a signatory to the Atlantic Yards community benefits agreement (CBA) with developer Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC).Nimmons is not a neutral observer and, in this case, not a coherent one.
It's not unusual to repurpose former industrial properties as housing. Forest City Enterprises, the parent company of Forest City Ratner, does it all the time; it's called historic preservation and saving embodied energy.
In the Brooklyn, the "they" who "took" property includes Boymelgreen, an ally of Forest City Ratner in a lease dispute with Henry Weinstein, who owns a building in the footprint. Should counter-protestors have be protesting Ratner and Boymelgreen?
Posted by amy at May 11, 2008 10:35 AM | Permalink
May 10, 2008
Site V missing and dangling
This week, The Brooklyn Paper reported some chatter about the building planned for Atlantic Yards Site V, which was missing from the most recent rendering released by architect Frank Gehry.
And the so-called Building Five, which would sit on the opposite side of the Atlantic and Flatbush bowtie intersection, is also no longer part of any Forest City Ratner renderings, the latest suggestion that Gehry will not be the designer of that part of the project. (A source told The Brooklyn Paper that the developer has dangled the site to other architects, including the controversial Robert Scarano, but no decisions have been made.)
NoLandGrab: Just when you thought the project couldn't be more loathsome, imagine the collective groan that would follow, if Scarano was named the architect for Site V, the current site of PC Richard and Modell's.
Posted by lumi at May 10, 2008 4:05 PM | Permalink
Ward Bread Bakery Demo cloud
threecee on flickr
Ward Bread Bakery Building demolition, Prospect Heights Brooklyn, New YorkThis building is being demolished for Atlantic Yards.
This short video was produced from a sequence of photographs.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 1:17 PM | Permalink
Records show Sharpton owes overdue taxes, other penalties
AP
DAVID B. CARUSO
Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the governor's mansion.
...
But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and associated penalties.
...
Since the late 1990s, his civil rights group has grown from a small outfit, with a few hundred thousand dollars in annual revenue, to an organization that now routinely takes in $1 million to $2 million per year, thanks partly to corporate support.Donors have included beer giant Anheuser-Busch, which gave more than $100,000 last year, and Forest City Ratner, a real estate development company that courted black leaders for support of a plan to build an NBA arena in Brooklyn.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 12:59 PM | Permalink
Prosecutors subpoena Michael Spano
The Journal News
By Timothy O'Connor and Glenn Blain
The feds now want to talk to former Assemblyman Michael Spano about his dealings with the Yonkers City Council and Forest City Ratner's controversial Ridge Hill development project:
Federal prosecutors investigating the Yonkers City Council's handling of the controversial Ridge Hill development have issued a grand jury subpoena to Assemblyman Michael Spano.
Two federal agents visited Spano on Thursday at his office and asked him about his dealings with Ridge Hill as well as powerbroker Albert Pirro, the estranged husband of former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro and a one-time lobbyist for the $630 million project.
...
Spano's subpoena orders him to appear before a federal grand jury in White Plains on May 20.After he left the Assembly in 2004, Spano worked for the Patricia Lynch Associates lobbying firm, which has Forest City Ratner as a client. He said he was asked in 2005, because of his knowledge of Yonkers, to speak to city officials to gauge their views and objections to the project. He said he spoke to council members Annabi, Dee Barbato and John Murtagh.
His dealings were "strictly informational," he said. He did not lobby them, he said, but just relayed the information to his firm.
"No one at any time did anything inappropriate that I am aware of," Spano said.
The probe has focused on lobbying efforts of council members on behalf of the project.
Read the rest of the article for more details and a wrap-up of the political scandal forming around the approval of Bruce Ratner's project.
Three words: Follow the money.
Posted by lumi at May 10, 2008 12:55 PM | Permalink
Last call at Mooney’s
The Brooklyn Paper
Mooney’s pub has lost its fight to stay in its Flatbush Avenue home and will close for good by the end of June.
...
Now that Mooney’s has been priced out, and there’s a wrecking ball destined to demolish Freddy’s on Dean Street to make way for Atlantic Yards, it’s getting tougher and tougher to find a decent boozing environment.
article
NoLandGrab: That's okay, we can all hang out in the public space on the arena's green roof, or in the urban room. Oh, wait...guess not.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 12:42 PM | Permalink
Tale of two rallies
The Brooklyn Paper
Ben Muessig
“Just because we don’t want the arena to happen doesn’t mean we don’t want development,” said Lillian Hope of Prospect Heights. “We’re not saying they shouldn’t have jobs. We just don’t want them working to build Ratner’s vision.”Others said that union members should have joined the anti-Ratner rally, given that the developer originally promised 15,000 union construction jobs, but has since admitted that Atlantic Yards will employ 1,500 construction workers per year over its proposed 10-year buildout.
“Protest Ratner, he’s the one not building and he’s the one who proposed a project that couldn’t happen or get financing,” said Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.
Though Goldstein sought common ground, the standoff between camps was tense — especially when a group of protestors from the pro-Yards rally looped around the “Time Out” demonstration, surrounding the opponents of the project. Police officers, with plastic handcuffs dangling from their belts, formed a human wall that halted the energetic, though nonviolent, procession.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 12:34 PM | Permalink
Tale of two renderings
The Brooklyn Paper
Gersh Kuntzman
Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner and his foes presented starkly different visions for the mega-project this week — one, a scaled-back, Frank Gehry wonderland, the other, a collection of bulky buildings and a basketball arena surrounded for decades by parking lots.Fittingly, the rival visions were published on Monday in rival newspapers, with the Daily News trumpeting the new Gehry renderings and the New York Post playing up the Municipal Art Society’s far-less-glamorous vision in its own exclusive, “The future’s ‘blight’; Nightmare vision of B’klyn arena.”
The Society said it was moved to create the doomsday renderings because Ratner himself has admitted that the 16-tower Atlantic Yards project now contains only two confirmed structures: a residential building and a publicly financed $950-million basketball arena that he intends to begin building before the end of 2008.
The memorable quote in this article comes from Architect Errol Crawford, with language evoking an art piece from Donald O'Finn:
“I think the new design looks like student work at best,” he said. “It is a shame the amount of money being spent on crap like that. I realize that Gehry’s signature is deconstructivist architecture, but his elevations [an architecture term meaning “exterior views”] suck.“The Williamsburgh Savings Bank building should not have to look down at a clogged toilet bowl every morning,” he added.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 12:19 PM | Permalink
Atlantic Yards Showdown Over the Slowdown
Village Voice: Runnin' Scared
Duncan Meisel
Accusations are flying from all sides of the Atlantic Yards debate over the apparent slowdown in developing the Prospect Heights mega-project. In the four and a half years since the project was announced, delays, lawsuits and controversy have dogged the plan, and some are eying a potential endgame for the project. The timetable for completing the project has been pushed back to 2018, and subsidies for the project ballooned out to $2 billion, even as the first phase of the project has shrunk to include only the Nets Stadium and adjacent office tower.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 12:10 PM | Permalink
Ratner backer once a pimp
The Brooklyn Paper
Ben Muessig
One of Bruce Ratner’s boosters at the pro–Atlantic Yards rally on Saturday is a former strip club manager who used to arrange for dancers to have sex with NBA stars.The Atlantic Yards supporter, Thomas “Ziggy” Sicignano, who now runs Brooklyn U.S.A., a youth basketball program in Park Slope, said that Ratner’s foundation gave his organization $10,000 in 2005.
That donation came four years after his stunning courtroom admission that he prostituted strippers to attract NBA stars to the Gold Club in Atlanta.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 11:48 AM | Permalink
Writ large
The Brooklyn Paper
Mike McLaughlin
News that the venerable firm of Weil, Gotshal will relocate workers from its IT, finance and operations departments, currently in Midtown, to Bruce Ratner’s Downtown campus this summer was hailed as a major win for the Brooklyn business community.But the announcement initially sounded more monumental for Metrotech — whose tenants include behind-the-scenes employees of JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns. On Tuesday, Forest City Ratner Executive Vice President MaryAnne Gilmartin trumpeted the Weil, Gotshal news at the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable, claiming that the deal would involve high-priced law partners and their big expense accounts.
Such “front office” relocations are “a paragon shift” for Metrotech, Gilmartin said.
But hours later, the law firm put out a press release that revealed that only a small portion of its staff will move to 15 Metrotech, between the Myrtle Avenue promenade and Tech Place, this summer. The firm would not say how many of its 1,300 Manhattan-based employees would end up in Brooklyn.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 11:45 AM | Permalink
On the AY web site, the timetable gets an update
Atlantic Yards Report
I think the new timetable is unrealistic, especially since Chuck Ratner, CEO of parent Forest City Enterprises, told investment analysts last year, speaking about three other projects, "As you know, in our business, these things take a very long time, most often, frankly, longer than we anticipate."
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 11:42 AM | Permalink
Hudson Yards plan snagged by lowered revenues; new plan might involve multiple developers
Atlantic Yards Report
When it comes to megadevelopments, it may be better for developers to lock in the deal, then declare (and even negotiate) a flexible timetable, as with Atlantic Yards.The negotiations over the Hudson Yards project are a notable counterexample. In an article yesteday headlined Deal to Build at Railyards on West Side Collapses, the New York Times reported:
Six weeks after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority selected Tishman Speyer Properties to build a vast complex of office towers, apartment buildings and parks over the railyards on the West Side of Manhattan, the deal has fallen apart.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 11:38 AM | Permalink
Courier News Round-Up
Did the Courier stop publishing news online because it was too easy for us to criticize its horrific reporting? Stephen Witt's trifecta of crap really takes the cake today. Although his article on last week's rally, "Yards Foes Called 'Real Land-Grabbers,'" does cover both rallies, eventually, the heading and the first 3/4 of the article could have been written by Ratner. Witt's second diatribe against DDDB, "Dissension Erupts within DDDB's Ranks," is about one member being removed from the steering committee. The article also repeats a quote which was included in the rally article from CBA signer Charlene Nimmons accusing opponents of being land grabbers. If your blood pressure is not yet high enough, continue on to Witt's third installment, "Miss Brooklyn Reinvented," which is a reprint of FCR's press release on the subject.
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 10:33 AM | Permalink
Yards foes: Let’s set the records straight
The Brooklyn Paper's letter to the editor section was on fire with Ratner criticism. A letter from Daniel Goldstein criticizes a previous letter insinuating that DDDB only represents white, brownstone Brooklynites.
Those who have already been displaced by the threat of eminent domain, and those who remain steadfast in their homes, include rent-stabilized tenants, homeowners, business owners and commercial property owners. This courageous group includes African-Americans, whites, Latinos, and people of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent.Last we checked, these were all Americans deserving the right to defend what they view as an abuse of their constitutional rights, and an improper seizure of their homes and businesses. DDDB’s support of these tenants and owners is resolute, and absolute.
Steve de Sève wins the humor and irony awards:
How stupid of Bruce Ratner to replace “Miss Brooklyn” with a building called “Building number 1,” especially since it looks like number two. That building literally looks like robot poop! (“The new ‘Miss Brooklyn,’” online update, May 5). Brooklyn Bridge RealtyHey Frank Gehry, stop dumping on Brooklyn!
Also, one thing that was interesting about Saturday’s rally against Atlantic Yards: There was a counter-protest by some union guys. Imagine: this was the first time I can remember that a “save-our-homes” rally has been protested against.
Larry Penner looks at how developer money pays off officials and community groups (we're looking at you today, Al Sharpton), with taxpayers paying for the projects:
Your recent story about the city’s use of taxpayer dollars to underwrite Bruce Ratner’s land purchases (“Tax dollars paid for this mess,” May 3) was insightful. In too many cases, projects have been heavily subsidized by taxpayers, commonly known as corporate welfare. Between direct government funding, low interest loans and long term tax exemptions, the bill to taxpayers may be greater than the benefits.There also is a relationship between pay-to-play campaign contributions from developers to elected officials looking for favorable legislation, permits and subsidies. Don’t forget the conflict of interest for senior staff from city or state regulatory and permitting agencies.
Too many leave at the end of any mayoral or governor’s administration to become consultants to the same developers they previously oversaw (yes, I’m talking about you, former Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff).
Posted by amy at May 10, 2008 10:13 AM | Permalink
May 9, 2008
Yonkers councilwoman's lawyers meet with feds in Ridge Hill probe
The Journal News
By Timothy O'Connor
Here's the latest news on the federal corruption probe investigating matters pertaining to the approval of Forest City Ratner's controversial Ridge Hill development project:
Lawyers for Yonkers City Councilwoman Sandy Annabi met with federal prosecutors and FBI agents yesterday in a long-running probe of the council's handling of the controversial Ridge Hill development.
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Annabi cast the deciding vote in the council's passage of the $630 million development project on July 11, 2006. She had previously voted against the project.
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The council's handling of the proposed 81-acre development is at the center of a federal investigation launched March 1, 2007, with the issuance of a federal subpoena seeking all council records from the time the seven-member body took up debate of the project in 2004.
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Ridge Hill was not mentioned in that first subpoena; but it was cited in the last two rounds of subpoenas federal prosecutors issued Feb. 5 and March 28.In the latest subpoena issued in March, federal prosecutors demanded Annabi's financial disclosure form for 2006, all her e-mails from 2004 to March 2008, as well as all of Councilwoman Patricia McDow's e-mails related to Ridge Hill, Forest City Ratner, and Melvin Lowe, who city council members described as a consultant for the developer.
Posted by lumi at May 9, 2008 6:33 PM | Permalink
