Eliot Brown | The New York Observer

Atlantic Yards Decision Drama! More Lawsuits as Financing Questions Remain

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:38:18 -0500

There's a question that's been coming up a good deal lately: Is Atlantic Yards ever going to happen?

Time will soon tell.

The planned $4.9 billion development--home to a new Nets basketball arena, 15 residential towers, and an office building--is now in a make-or-break few weeks, particularly after a big day of activity Tuesday.

The project, developed by the Brooklyn firm Forest City Ratner, received a key victory early Tuesday morning with a decision...

Atlantic Yards Passes State’s Top Court [Updated]

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:04:26 -0500

More than three years after a legal battle over property takings in Brooklyn began, it's now come to a close.

New York's highest court issued a ruling Tuesday morning that upholds the state's use of eminent domain in the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project, planned home of 15 apartment towers and a new basketball arena for the Nets.

Now the state, at the request of the project's developer, Forest City Ratner, is likely to...

After Rowdy Atlantic Yards Hearings, a Senate Bill to Punish Heckling

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:21:16 -0500

Back in May, at a state Senate hearing on the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project planned for Brooklyn, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery started to launch into criticism of a fellow senator, Marty Golden.

Mr. Golden, a Republican and Atlantic Yards supporter (unlike Ms. Montgomery on both counts), had arrived late at the hearing at a Pratt Institute auditorium, and caused a commotion as he arrived, with scores of union workers applauding and drowning out the...

Mom and Pop Go to City Hall

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:32:08 -0500

On Friday, Nov. 20, Councilman Robert Jackson was exasperated.

The Harlem Democrat had put in a call to the chair of the Council’s Small Business Committee, David Yassky, asking for a vote on the Small Business Survival Act, a bill of Mr. Jackson’s that would regulate commercial rents.

“I told David today on the phone, I said, ‘David, everyone who testified spoke in favor of the bill,’” Mr. Jackson said. “I asked him to just vote...

Gehry Gets Topped Out in Lower Manhattan

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:20:06 -0500

...

More Litigation, Questions Hurled at Atlantic Yards as Finance Deadline Nears

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:11:29 -0500

During its six years in the court of public opinion, this much has been certain about the planned Atlantic Yards project: It's not without drama.

Racing to meet an I.R.S.-imposed Dec. 31 deadline to secure financing, developer Bruce Ratner is scrambling to tie down all of the loose balloons that are trying to float away (he's been having trouble getting some $700 million in tax-free bonds rated, for one) and cobble together a completed...

Silverstein Wants $2.6 B. in WTC Bonds—But for What?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:10:39 -0500

Anyone paging through the end of The Times' business section Wednesday might have noticed an unusual legal notice nestled in between the commercial real estate classifieds and a bank ad (a reader had to point it out to us):

NEW YORK LIBERTY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Notice of Public Hearing

World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein, it seems, is eager to issue the $2.6 billion in tax-free bonds he was pledged to rebuild office towers at...

Four Years Hard Labor

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:48:54 -0500

A repetitive refrain filled City Hall’s council chambers on Tuesday morning. For a good hour at a zoning committee hearing on the contentious plan to redevelop the Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory into a mall, council member after council member battered the Bloomberg administration and the developer, the Related Companies, with a similar line of questioning: Given that city subsidies are to be used in the $323 million project, why isn’t there a guarantee that all...

New Doubts About Atlantic Yards Financing as Deadline Approaches

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:26:26 -0500

On Sept. 9, Bruce Ratner, the powerful developer scrambling to start building a new Brooklyn basketball arena for the Nets, gave a prediction: The credit ratings agencies would deliver ratings on about $700 million in bonds for the arena by the end of the month. The ratings are a necessary precursor of financing the arena, an act that must be finished by Dec. 31 to meet an Internal Revenue Service deadline.

On Sept. 30,...

NY CEOs Push Congressional Delegation to Resist New Banking Regulation

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:25:08 -0500

The New York City financial industry is less than pleased about proposals floating around Congress to significantly curb the size and influence of major banking companies.

The Partnership for New York City, a group representing the city's largest businesses, today sent a letter to the New York Congressional delegation pushing back against the proposals, strongly urging the elected officials to resist them.

"[W]e want to alert you to proposed legislation that could diminish America's...

Bloomberg Versus Thompson Again

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:12:50 -0500

A week after winning reelection, Mayor Bloomberg has sued Bill Thompson.

So was an electoral victory not enough? Is there bitterness over some campaign stunt?

Not exactly.

At first glance, it appears to be a bit less exciting than the names of the lead plaintiff and lead defendant might suggest (although the details of the case have yet to be posted online).

The suit, filed Monday, according to filings listed on the state courts...

Professor Skyscraper

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:52:33 -0500

In a late September planning conference at N.Y.U., Vishaan Chakrabarti strode into the college's Kimmell Center a healthy hour after the event began.

Taking his place onstage, the former city planning official and development executive began to speak about his favorite project: the redevelopment of Pennsylvania Station-in the planning stages for nearly two decades-an effort he led for developers Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust.

"What I've finally come to realize about this is that as...

Battle of the Holland Tunnel

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:54:59 -0500

It was Oct. 13, and inside the wood-paneled lobby of the Newport Office Center, which rises like a glass punctuation mark from the Jersey City shore of the Hudson River, Governor Jon Corzine was gleefully announcing a huge score in the Garden State's long-simmering battle with Manhattan for office tenants.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation had signed a long-term lease to relocate 1,600 of its employees from 55 Water Street in Lower Manhattan to...

After Push by Extell, Landmarks Backs Down Over West 57th Street Building

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:44:12 -0500

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission backed off its effort to landmark a B.F. Goodrich Company building on West 57th Street, a rare retreat by the commission and one that follows aggressive pushback from development giant Extell, which plans a mixed-use skyscraper on the property.

The LPC on Tuesday voted 6-3 to remove the building, 225 West 57th Street, from consideration as a landmark, just four months after the same board voted to consider it.

Typically,...

Planned Extell Skyscaper Faces Landmarks Test Over B.F. Goodrich Buildings

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:10:59 -0500

Extell Development's skyscraper planned for 57th Street and Broadway will face a big test Tuesday, as the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission is set to decide the fate of two connected buildings built by the B.F. Goodrich Company in 1909.

Just what that fate will be is unclear to many involved, a rare twist with a commission where decisions almost always seem predetermined.

Tuesday morning, the LPC is slated to vote on whether to landmark the...

Fitch: Stuy Town Loans Transferred to Special Servicer

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:49:55 -0500

The main $3 billion mortgage for Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village has been transferred to a "special servicer," according to the rating agency Fitch, a significant step taken when loans are in default or on the verge of default.

The owners of the giant 11,200-unit Manhattan apartment complex, a partnership led by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock, had just $24 million left last month in a reserve fund to pay off debt, and default...

Brodsky: ‘More Than Optimistic’ on Authorities Reform

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:07:25 -0500

If one Googles the term "Soviet Style bureaucracies," Assemblyman Richard Brodsky owns the top four results, each with quotes of his that refer to New York's public authorities--his favorite term on the topic.

The Westchester Democrat has long been pushing a bill to reform such public quasi-agencies--including the M.T.A., the Empire State Development Corporation and the New York Power Authority--and now it seems that reform could come within days.

On Thursday afternoon, the governor called...

Bill Thompson's Moment

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:31:53 -0500

For a brief while in the Hilton Trianon Ballroom Tuesday night, there was a collective feeling that somehow, the widely held expectations of an entire city might actually be wrong.

The Hilton was host to Comptroller Bill Thompon's post-election party, where a healthy set of elected officials, Democratic Party stalwarts and other supporters gradually filled a small ballroom (a tiny closet compared to the capacious Bloomberg venue at the Sheraton two blocks away).

The...

Four More Years! But for What? Experts Opine on Economic Development Through '13

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:45:38 -0500

Almost indisputably, the mayoral race this year was a desert of big new ideas for New York City. Be it the lack of a competitive Democratic primary, the billions in budget gaps or the challenger's preference for blanket criticism over policy prescription, the incumbent and-at the time of this writing-presumptive winner, Michael Bloomberg, was never forced to offer much in the way of innovative policy.

This was particularly true in the realm of the physical...

With Stuy Town, Electeds Play Bailout Card On Fannie, Freddie

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:42:46 -0500

With the ever-troubled Stuyvesant Town now bordering on default, particularly in the wake of last month's giant court decision, a set of elected officials has begun taking their concerns straight to the 11,200-unit complex's debt holders: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Bypassing the current owners--a partnership led by Tishman Speyer--the officials who represent the property sent a letter last week effectively asking for kindness and cooperation during the inevitable restructuring process (within the next...

Stuyvesant Town Rating: ‘Outlook Negative’

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:23:33 -0400

Friday afternoon, and for the first time since the big court ruling last week, ratings giant Fitch weighed in on Stuyvesant Town, downgrading the ratings for the $3 billion mortgage on the property (the 2006 transaction was a $6.3 billion deal, including reserve funds to pay off debt and upgrade the property).

No surprise with the outlook on the bulk of the loans: "Negative."

The new analysis has no bombshells, but offered a...

Latest State Budget Gap: $45 B. by 2013

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:05:47 -0400

New York State is facing a budget deficit of $44.2 billion over the next two-and-a-half years, according to the Paterson administration's estimates released today, a gap that's grown by an unfathomable $20 billion in just six months (some context: the budget for the entire the State of New Jersey is $29 billion).

The governor yesterday mentioned some of the daunting new figures--$3.2 billion for the current fiscal year, and a $6.8 billion gap for...

A Candid Ravitch Warns of $25 B. Budget Gap, Hints at Tax Overhaul

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:34:14 -0400

Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch does not have a rosy view of the state's finances.

Speaking Wednesday morning at N.Y.U., Mr. Ravitch, the state's point man on the ongoing fiscal crisis, warned of tremendous new budget gaps in coming years, saying the state faces a deficit of about $25 billion over the next two-and-a-half years, about $15 billion more than previously estimated by the state.

"The State of New York, has in the remainder of...

Hemmerdinger of an Appointment: Ex-MTA Head to Port Board

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:48:07 -0400

Governor Paterson’s recently departed M.T.A. chairman has apparently been offered a consolation prize: a seat on the Port Authority board.

Earlier this month, the governor’s office passed along the nomination of H. Dale Hemmerdinger to the State Senate, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats confirmed, clearing the way for the real estate magnate to quickly re-join New York’s world of public authorities.

Mr. Hemmerdinger’s first real foray into public service came in...

Pay Dispute Drives Paterson’s DOT Pick off the Road

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:17:44 -0400

It’s now been six months since the top job at the State Department of Transportation fell vacant, and, despite a giant capital plan being formed for the state roads and bridges system, the commissioner’s chair still sits empty.

The Paterson administration has clearly had trouble filling numerous top positions—anyone wanting long-term security would avoid a job that looks likely to end on Dec. 31, 2010—and the DOT job is hardly the only one to sit...

Want a New Lease at Stuy Town? Sit Tight

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:32:17 -0400

With all the great press coverage it's been getting lately, one might think people would be rushing in hordes to snap up apartments at Stuyvesant Town.

Not exactly.

The 11,200-apartment Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex has shut its doors to new renters, as the owners, a partnership led by Tishman Speyer, try to figure out what in the hell to do in the wake of last week's monstrous court decision.

"We are not...

Stuy Town's Columbus: How a Lawyer Rediscovered an Arcane Rent Rule and Shook New York

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:06:45 -0400

It didn’t take long after New York’s top court issued its major Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village ruling last week for celebrations at the East Side apartment complex to begin.

Just after 9 a.m. on Oct. 21, the Court of Appeals handed the complex’s owners a defeat with tremendous implications—ruling that they never had the right to take more than 4,000 apartments out of the rent stabilization program—and, by 2:30 p.m., a hastily organized press conference...

Bloomberg Casually Tweaks Affordable-Housing Ambitions; Thompson Offers Little Pushback

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:32:24 -0400

Four years ago, three weeks before his convincing defeat of Democratic challenger Freddy Ferrer, Mayor Bloomberg made a stop at a housing luncheon in midtown to unveil a grand $7.5 billion plan to build or preserve 165,000 units of below-market rate housing by 2013. The well-received plan was ambitious and politically adept: it more than doubled the scope of his existing 65,000-unit plan and blunted a policy edge Mr. Ferrer had held in the...

Thompson, Electeds Rally Behind Stuy Town Tenants; Bloomberg Doesn't

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:12:29 -0400

It didn't take long for elected officials to declare victory Thursday. Press releases went out all morning, and then five hours after the Court of Appeals dropped its far-reaching court decision on Stuyvesant Town, a pack of local electeds assembled on the northeast corner of First Avenue and 16th Street to hold a press conference before a gathering of reporters, cameras and curious tenants. Councilman Dan Garodnick, mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson, State Senator Tom...

Speyers Dealt Tremendous Hit as Court Rules for Tenants at Stuy Town

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:44:36 -0400

In a decision with seismic implications for Stuyvesant Town and property owners throughout the city, the state's top court has ruled against real estate giant Tishman Speyer on a far-reaching rent regulation lawsuit, declaring the landlord had no right to deregulate some 4,440 apartments.

In a 4-2 decision, the Court of Appeals upheld an appellate ruling that said Tishman Speyer was not allowed to take apartments out of the rent stabilization program at the 11,000-unit...

Sampson, Jeffries to Russian Billionaire, Ratner: Please Meet With Us

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:25:17 -0400

Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, and Assemblymen Hakeem Jeffries and Nick Perry apparently want a meeting with Bruce Ratner and Mikhail Prokhorov.

The three Brooklyn elected officials have penned a letter--dated Monday--to Mr. Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who has agreed to buy the Nets from Mr. Ratner, the developer rapidly trying to get $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project started before a financing deadline of Dec. 31.

The letter praises the development, calling it "a major...

Harlem Power House Wants Addition

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:42:50 -0400

The owners of Lenox Terrace, a large central Harlem apartment complex with deep political roots, are planning a major new expansion on their property, a proposal that seems likely to set off a fight with the existing tenants.

But unlike most every other development battle in the city—which inevitably become political fights—the complex is literally the center of Harlem politics, as its tenants include Governor Paterson; Congressman Charles Rangel; Mr. Paterson’s father, Basil Paterson; and...

Vig Stuy: Stuy Town Deregulation Efforts a Mess as Financial Clock Ticks

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:05:23 -0400

If the saga of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village sale is a countdown clock-the $5.4 billion purchase by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock is nearing default-there's a loud ding every few weeks in the form of a new analysis by a real estate tracking firm.

Each shows a fresh, dismally depressed value for the property ($1.99 billion based on current income), and tells of the new low level of the reserve fund meant to cover debt...

Another Lawsuit On Atlantic Yards as Financing Clock Ticks

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:50:20 -0400

Once again, there's a new lawsuit seeking to stop Atlantic Yards.

On Monday morning, a series of Brooklyn neighborhood and community groups announced they had filed a suit challenging the approval of the $4.9 billion mega-project, an action that comes as the clock ticks ever closer to a Dec. 31 financing deadline that developer Forest City Ratner must meet.

The lawsuit--which challenges the approval process when the state re-approved a modified version of the project...

Thompson on Mega-Development: Look to Battery Park City

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:56:39 -0400

City Comptroller Bill Thompson has a model for building mega-projects, and—surprise!—it’s not the same strategy as Mayor Bloomberg’s.

Speaking at a Crain’s New York breakfast Thursday morning at the Hyatt on 42nd Street, the Democratic nominee for mayor offered a blast from the past as his standard-bearer for how the city should get giant real estate projects built: Battery Park City.

Unlike many of the Bloomberg administration’s signature development initiatives—Willets Point,...

Atlantic Yards at New York's High Court

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:40:30 -0400

...

Neighbors, Electeds Sue City Over Walentases' Dock Street Project

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:43:09 -0400

City Council approval apparently failed to extinguish the fight against the Walentas family’s Dock Street project in Dumbo. On Wednesday, a neighborhood group announced it had filed a lawsuit against the city regarding the planned apartment building by the Brooklyn Bridge, challenging the approval of the project.

They raised red flags over a number of environmental and planning review-related issues, saying the project approval should be revoked. The group, the Dumbo Neighborhood Foundation,...

Wolfe Grins? Rosen Gets 980 Madison O.K.--for Stumpier Tower

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:54:48 -0400

It’s been a long three years for Aby Rosen.

The landlord and art collector has tried for that long to get approval for an apartment tower at Madison Avenue and 77th Street designed by British starchitect Norman Foster. He’s gone to hearing after hearing at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, repeatedly rebuffed with instructions to cut the building down and make it more harmonious with the historic Upper East Side that surrounds it.

Proprietress of the Skyline

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:41:28 -0400

As the summer was winding down, Hines Interests, the Texas-based firm planning a 1,250-foot slender tower set to soar next to the Museum of Modern Art, visited the Department of City Planning’s Lower Manhattan offices, designs in hand, to seek the approval of Amanda Burden, the agency’s director. The tower, designed by acclaimed French architect Jean Nouvel, was lauded in the architectural community.

She wasn’t pleased.

“They hadn’t finished the design.”...

Atlantic Yards Heads to Albany

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:16:50 -0400

On Wednesday, Albany will host the start of a closing chapter in the saga of Atlantic Yards, the mammoth $4.9 billion housing, office and sports arena development proposed to rise near downtown Brooklyn.

Six years since the project was first publicly announced, opponents of the plan are slated to argue their case against eminent domain before the state’s highest court, the last main pending lawsuit that has the potential to kill the project (other...

On Development and Related Things

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:04:54 -0400

The Commercial Observer: Tell me about this building you’re building at 42nd and 10th.
Mr. Beal: At the end of ’07—it was a $900 million deal, we got $700 million of financing. That was all put together prior. … We built the foundation and I think then we woke up in the middle of ’08, and we said, ‘The market’s changing drastically, the cost structure doesn’t work anymore.’ Rather than just putting the blinders...

State Consultant: Ratner’s Assumptions at Atlantic Yards 'Moderately Aggressive'

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:55:55 -0400

For its Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, developer Forest City Ratner has planned construction of its 6,430 apartments based on a set of relatively aggressive assumptions, a state-commissioned report found.

The report—which was not expected to be negative given that it was commissioned by the agency sponsoring the project—looked at Forest City’s planned numbers on rental rates, sales prices and absorption for the 14 apartment towers planned for the 22-acre...

City Council To Formally Step In Front of Fast-Moving Transportation Commish

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:55:54 -0400

The City Council appears to be trying to stand up to Janette Sadik-Khan, the Bloomberg administration’s relatively radical and innovative transportation commissioner who has rapidly closed down car lanes and replaced them with bike lanes and open space across the city.

Two separate bills that are slated to be heard before the Council’s Transportation Committee on Thursday would throw new layers of public review at the Department of Transportation, forcing it to come before...

‘So Slim!’: Frenchman Begs Council for Reprieve on His Chic Tower

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:23:45 -0400

Jean Nouvel wants his 200 feet back. Mr. Nouvel, the bald Frenchman who won architecture’s esteemed Pritzker Prize in 2008, engaged in a last-ditch effort on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to save the 1,250-foot height of the tower he’s planned to have rise next to the Museum of Modern Art.

Four weeks after City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden put her own giant stamp on the project, chopping the allowed height to 1,050 feet, Mr. Nouvel...

Plot Twist

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:16:45 -0400

There’s a rule of thumb that applies to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission: The agency shouldn’t try to designate a building a landmark against its owner’s will unless the commission’s ready for a loud public skirmish. And, generally in the Bloomberg administration, the commission has steered clear of such battles, making for relatively few such messy designation attempts.

So in July, it came as something of a surprise when the LPC took the confrontational action...

Nouvel/Hines to Ask Council for Their 200 Feet Back on MoMA Tower

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:19:01 -0400

The Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper planned to rise next to MoMA goes before the City Council today for a hearing, where, according to a person informed of the decision, developer Hines Interests plans to request that its original height be restored.

The request comes after City Planning Commission chairwoman Amanda Burden chopped 200 feet off the top of the tower, which was to rise to 1,250 feet, the height of the Empire State...

Nouvel/MoMA Tower Opponents Target Quinn in TV Ads

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:02:35 -0400

It seems opponents of the Jean Nouvel-designed skyscraper planned to rise next to MoMA are well-funded.

The opponents, mostly neighbors of the 1,050-foot tower-to-be, are hitting the airwaves Monday with a television ad that directly targets Council Speaker Christine Quinn, urging her to oppose the development, planned to be built by the Texas firm Hines. The ad buy comes a day before the City Council holds a hearing on the building,...

City Closes on Willets Point Land as Opponents Question Funding

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:22:12 -0400

In the past month there’s been a fair amount of deals closing at Willets Point, with the Bloomberg administration finishing up the acquisitions that it negotiated with some of the property owners on the industrial site by Citi Field that’s slated for a major redevelopment.

In the run-up to a City Council approval of the redevelopment plan last year, the Bloomberg administration made deals with more than a dozen property owners, most of the...

When Bruce Met Mikhail: The Backstory on the Nets-Atlantic Yards Deal

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:21:37 -0400

By Bruce Ratner's telling, his deal to sell the Nets to Mikhail Prokhorov began in earnest this summer over dinner at the Russian billionaire’s home.

Mr. Ratner, on a tour Wednesday of his Frank Gehry-designed Beekman apartment tower under construction in Lower Manhattan, shared a few details about the recently announced deal, which is key to his efforts to get the giant Atlantic Yards development—starting off with a new Nets arena—moving forward.

His sit-down with...

A Gehry Tower Rises

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:41:26 -0400

...