Atlantic Yards | 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...

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...

Agreement Reached on Authorities Reform

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:14:54 -0500

ALBANY—Assemblyman Richard Brodsky just swung by to announce an agreement between legislative leaders and David Paterson to increase oversight of public authorities.

"It's an idea that is about the control of rogue institutions. I've called them Soviet-style bureaucracies. This is the end of that era," Brodsky said. "For people worried about debt reform or who are worried about secretive decision making or who ware worried about people taking political orders and about people lobbying...

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,...

Bust Out the Sand Chair! Ratner Buys Long Beach Spread for $2 M.

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:46:22 -0400

Bruce Ratner went modest this year.

In June, the Atlantic Yards developer conceded that Frank Gehry won’t be designing any of his 22-acre, $4.9 billion site’s 17 buildings; cheaper alternatives replaced the architect’s plans, and, among other things, shrunk the arena slated for his basketball team.

In September, Mr. Ratner sold an 80 percent stake in that team, the Nets, plus a 45 percent interest in the arena to Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia’s richest man, for $200...

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...

Atlantic Yards Gets a New Suit

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:09:54 -0400

Another day, another Atlantic Yards lawsuit.

This morning, project opponent Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn filed their second suit in as many weeks, alleging--among other things--the state's development agency didn't properly assess changes to the project since its initial approval. It's the fifth major suit filed against the project, and it's similar to another suit filed by DDDB last week against the M.T.A.

"Victory by the petitioners would doom the besieged development plan," DDDB writes on its...

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

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Atlantic Yards Opponents Sue M.T.A.

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:47:49 -0400

On the eve of their big day in the State Court of Appeals, opponents of Atlantic Yards have filed another lawsuit, this time against the M.T.A.

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn alleges that the transit agency violated the Public Authorities Accountability Act of 2005 when it agreed to sell an 8.5-acre parcel of land called Vanderbilt Yards to developer Forest City Ratner earlier this summer, as part of the larger 22-acre Atlantic Yards development. Also party...

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...

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...

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...

ESDC Finally Fills Top Post With Former El Diario Owner

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 11:24:12 -0400

After an odyssey of a search process, the state’s top development agency has finally filled a top position, with the state on Tuesday announcing that Peter Davidson, former owner of El Diario/La Prensa and chairman of the non-profit JM Kaplan Fund, will be the Empire State Development Corporation’s new executive director.

Mr. Davidson, who founded a media group that runs numerous Spanish language radio stations, will come in as the...

Russian Billionaire Prokhorov to Buy Stake in Nets, Atlantic Yards

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:57:25 -0400

The Russians are coming! To Brooklyn.

The investment fund Onexim, headed by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, has agreed to a $200 million deal in which it will take a major stake in the NBA's Nets franchise and its new arena planned for Brooklyn, part of the larger $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project.

The news came Wednesday afternoon in the form of a joint announcement from Onexim and Forest City Ratner—the New...

Once Again, State Approves Atlantic Yards; City May Pay Ratner for Infrastructure Work

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:01:42 -0400

Bruce Ratner today got to check off another box on his Atlantic Yards “To-Do Before the New Year” list.

The state’s development agency Thursday morning approved Mr. Ratner’s revised plan for his $4.9 billion Brooklyn project, giving New York's assent to the planned Nets arena as well as the surrounding 15 apartment towers nearly three years after the state's initial approval. (Changes were made to plans for phasing and the size of the arena...

Talking SHoP About Atlantic Yards

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 07:52:05 -0400

Location: How big are you guys now?

Mr. Pasquarelli: We’re 60-something people—a 65-person firm, which is a little smaller than we were a year ago, but we’ve been stable. We were probably 80 at the top.

What’s the breakdown of work? You’re a principal and you have four co-principals?

There are five partners in total: two husbands and wives, and then the identical twin brother of one of the husbands. So...

After Negative Report, Bloomberg Cheers Louder for Atlantic Yards

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:00:58 -0400

With an election two months away, Mayor Bloomberg certainly isn’t running away from Atlantic Yards, the $4.9 billion mega-project that never ceases to elicit fervent opposition in neighboring areas of Brooklyn.

Confronted Thursday with an Independent Budget Office report that alleges the centerpiece Nets arena is a net-money loser for the city—which is incentivizing the project with $169 million in discretionary subsidy—Mr. Bloomberg loudly hailed the project, implicitly comparing the private development to the...

New Atlantic Yards Design Less Bad Than It Could Be

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:00:03 -0400

The consensus on yesterday’s renderings of the new Atlantic Yards’ arena -- with its futuristic, clamshell shape and weathered steel facade – seems to be that the new design is, well, passable.

In the Times, Nicolai Ourusoff said the latest proposal for the Barclays Center, designed by Manhattan architecture firm SHoP, is “somewhat more promising” than the last set of drawings -- by the Missouri-based firm Ellerbe Becket -- which were widely...

Nets Arena a Net Financial Loss for City, Report Finds

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:47:37 -0400

The planned new Nets arena in Brooklyn is anticipated to result in a net loss of money for the city, a new report from the city's Independent Budget Office has found, a change from the agency’s last report in 2005 that found a small financial gain. The report, released Thursday, comes a day after the Nets released renderings of a new arena design, and announced their intention to seek financing for the arena within...

A Brief History of Atlantic Yards Designs

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:19:50 -0400

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New Design in Hand, Ratner Plans to Seek Nets Arena Financing Within Weeks

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:42:27 -0400

Nearly three years after receiving a green light from the state government, the mega-Atlantic Yards development is entering a critical stage, as developer Bruce Ratner is rushing to secure financing and tie up loose ends before an end-of-year tax deadline.

On Wednesday, in releasing renderings of a trimmed-down, redesigned arena, Mr. Ratner said he planned to market to investors $700 million in tax-exempt bonds at the end of the month. While Mr. Ratner and...

Post-Gehry, Atlantic Yards' Nets Arena To Be Designed by New York Boutique SHoP

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:54:29 -0400

After dropping famed architect Frank Gehry from the Nets basketball arena planned for Brooklyn, the developer of the massive mixed-use project has brought in New York-based architecture firm SHoP to assist in the design of the venue, according to a person informed of the decision.

The developer, Forest City Ratner, plans to unveil renderings of the $800 million arena later this month.

The choice seems a face-saving move for Forest City, as a...

Pro-Atlantic Yards Rally and A Question of Place

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:44:40 -0400

Decked out in a red that would scoff at being labeled “apple” or “ketchup,” a brigade of Atlantic Yards supporters from ACORN marched out of the auditorium of Brooklyn's Polytechnic University on Wednesday evening during a pro-Atlantic Yards rally. In the lobby of the auditorium stood opponents of Bruce Ratner's mammoth downtown Brooklyn development, some wearing yellow T-shirts.

After several no-shows to the auditorium's podium, a 16-year-old African-American woman approached, announcing herself as an...

Public Review of Atlantic Yards, Without the 'View' Part

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:41:02 -0400

With changes to the design and timetable, Bruce Ratner’s $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project is back in public review, complete with public meetings, public comment and a vote of the board of a public authority.

Theoretically, this month-long public comment period is meant to review the changed project. But one thing that’s absent in this re-review: renderings, or any other look at the project’s design (which one would assume has changed dramatically since the...

New Uncertainty for Atlantic Yards as Court of Appeals Takes Eminent Domain Suit

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:27:23 -0400

New York’s highest court has agreed to hear an eminent domain case over the Atlantic Yards project proposed for Brooklyn, a move that infuses new uncertainty into the planned $4.9 billion development that entails a new Nets basketball arena and 6,400 apartments.

The decision by the Court of Appeals was not expected by the project’s developer—Bruce Ratner and his Forest City Ratner—at least based on its public statements and actions. After a year and...

Analysts: New Atlantic Yards Deal A 'Significant Positive' for Forest City Ratner

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:26:00 -0400

After a renegotiation of the terms of the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project, financial analysts have warmed to the project.

A look at a recent rating of Forest City Enterprises by investment firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods shows that the development company, which is the parent of Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, seems to be making at least a little bit of a comeback. After months of tanking stock prices—the stock...

M.T.A. Approves Less Lucrative Atlantic Yards Deal

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:43:20 -0400

Bruce Ratner can now cross a major task off his to-do list.

For months now, Mr. Ratner, the developer planning the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards apartment and arena complex in Brooklyn, has been seeking financial relief from an agreement he struck with the M.T.A. in better times.

Lawsuits and other issues have pushed back the project, which involves selling the rights over an M.T.A.-owned rail storage yard, by years. The old deal from...

The New Atlantic Yards: Less Pretty, More Pricey

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:15:35 -0400

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Ratner To Pay $180 M. Less Upfront For Atlantic Yards

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:16:51 -0400

In the world of public-private real estate deals, the word “renegotiation” has been popping up a lot lately.

The latest installment came early Monday afternoon, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a revised plan for the Atlantic Yards project on M.T.A. land in Brooklyn, for which the agency was once promised $100 million upfront and a $250 million new rail yard.

Developer Forest City Ratner, which intends to build a basketball arena...

Electeds Want Delay on M.T.A. Atlantic Yards Vote

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:29:30 -0400

A group of seven state and local elected officials are trying to thwart an M.T.A. board vote scheduled for Wednesday on the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, seeking to delay the agency’s final approval for the project, which includes a new arena for the Nets in Brooklyn.

The officials’ consternation comes as the M.T.A. is expected to recommend a deal in which developer Forest City Ratner gives less upfront cash than it initially agreed...

Gehry or Not, Here He Comes! Ratner To Get Shovels Moving Again for Atlantic Yards

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:16:44 -0400

Fresh off dumping Frank Gehry from his planned Brooklyn Nets arena, Bruce Ratner appears to be putting his money where his mouth is, as the real estate developer plans to restart stalled construction work again on his $4 billion Atlantic Yards project.

Preliminary work at the site, including the construction of a temporary rail yard, has been stalled since December 2008, when Mr. Ratner abruptly halted all work in an apparent bid to save...

As Plans for Atlantic Yards Evolve, Government Benefits Don't

Fri, 29 May 2009 20:54:40 -0400

In case there was any doubt, government officials are now saying that it is far more difficult to get Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project started in today’s financial environment than that of the heady days of 2007.

Now that key lawsuits have been dismissed and development firm Forest City Ratner is newly confident in its ability to get the project built, it’s becoming clear that its benefits to the public sector will decrease, as the government...

Atlantic Yards, Finance Footrace

Tue, 19 May 2009 18:37:10 -0400

Daniel Goldstein was sitting in his Prospect Heights condo Friday when an email hit his inbox. One of the last remaining holdouts in the footprint of the Brooklyn-based Atlantic Yards project, Mr. Goldstein was informed by the courts that his challenge of the use of eminent domain had been rejected.

Relatively unfazed, he did what he’s done now many a time before: He got in touch with his attorney, and drafted a press release...

Court Rules Against Atlantic Yards Opponents, Legal Options Narrow

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:53:00 -0400

Developer Bruce Ratner has won another victory in his undying attempt to bring the Nets to Brooklyn as part of the $4 billion mixed-use project, Atlantic Yards. In a decision posted online on Friday, landowners and tenants were rebuffed by the state appellate court in a case that contested the use of eminent domain for the project (the case was against New York State, not Ratner himself). The favorable court decision narrows the legal options for...

The Perils of Public-Private

Tue, 12 May 2009 18:03:24 -0400

Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson, the Port Authority, developer Larry Silverstein and a list of other top officials are slated to convene in a summit at Gracie Mansion this week to discuss a familiar subject. As done after Sept. 11, 2001, and then again in 2006, the redevelopment of the World Trade Center is being renegotiated, this time with Mr. Silverstein seeking public sector financing to help build two of his three planned office...

Pascrell to Geithner: Block Barclays' Naming Rights

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:19:00 -0400

The shaky state of affairs for a proposed pro basketball arena in Brooklyn is turning heads across the Hudson. Despite developer and New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner’s plans to move the Garden State’s only N.B.A. team to New York City as part of his Atlantic Yards mega-development project, New Jersey electeds have generally refrained from publicly disparaging the plans, at least in the past couple years. But now, with the more than $4 billion...

Jersey Pol Takes Swipe at Bruce Ratner's Arena Deal

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:42:36 -0400

The shaky state of affairs for a proposed pro basketball arena in Brooklyn is turning heads across the Hudson.

Despite developer and New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner’s plans to move the Garden State’s only NBA team to New York City as part of his Atlantic Yards mega-development project, New Jersey electeds have generally refrained from publicly disparaging the plans, at least in the past couple years. But now, with the more...

Ratner Wins Another Round in Legal Fight Over Atlantic Yards

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:10:07 -0500

A state appellate court struck down a crucial, but not final, legal challenge to Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project Thursday, as the court rejected a challenge to the environmental review brought by project critics.

Mr. Ratner is still awaiting a key decision on a lawsuit that challenges the use of eminent domain for the project, which calls for the development of a Nets basketball arena and more than 6,000 apartments near downtown Brooklyn. The...

Could Atlantic Yards Get Stimulus Cash? It's Possible

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:43:43 -0500

The government is pouring money into state coffers for infrastructure, and Bruce Ratner apparently has his hand out, hoping to get a slice of the $789 billion pie in an effort to save his troubled Atlantic Yards project.

Opponents of the project are livid about the mere fact that Mr. Ratner wants more public money; supporters of the project are cheering the effort. But is the massive Brooklyn project, planned home of a Nets...

Atlantic Yards: '09's $4 B. Question

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:31:22 -0500

In this week's print Observer, Eliot Brown lays out the financing questions surrounding Brooklyn's mightiest development in modern times:

For now, with Forest City still planning to build at some point, the question becomes how long the developer can keep doling money out without seeing any come back in. Forest City is awaiting what is likely the last major court challenge to the use of eminent domain, with a decision expected in the first half...

Atlantic Yards Becomes a Question Mark

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:09:02 -0500

In a Forest City Enterprises conference call last week, the top executives at the real estate developer took a decidedly solemn tone, addressing analysts and investors who have seen the company’s share price drop 92 percent in the past 18 months.

“I must confess, I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” Forest City’s president, Chuck Ratner, said of the financial crisis. “We believe conditions will worsen.”

With the financial crisis swallowing...

Forest City: All New Development On Hold (Except Atlantic Yards)

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:42:46 -0500

The word from the top brass at Forest City Enterprises, parent company of Brooklyn-based mega-developer Forest City Ratner, is the firm is suspending all new development. That is, except Atlantic Yards.

Forest City Enterprises president Chuck Ratner said in a conference call with investors and analysts that the financial crisis has forced the company to shift strategy from a development focus to a property operator focus.

“This...

Atlantic Yards as Political Theater

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:39:59 -0500

Bruce Ratner has drawn resentment and scorn in the Brooklyn community surrounding his planned $4 billion Atlantic Yards project, but now he’s inspired cultural enrichment. Sort of.

A local theater company has created a production, running this week, on the fight over and the effects of the Atlantic Yards project, for which Mr. Ratner’s firm plans to build a Frank Gehry-designed arena for the Nets and more than 6,000 housing units.

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Film To Bash Media for Not Bashing Atlantic Yards

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:47:23 -0500

Opponents of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn have never held back in criticizing the media’s coverage—or what they say is a lack thereof—of the more than $4 billion planned development. Now, as Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn points out to us, the issue has apparently piqued the interest of a TV mini-series that examines flaws of mainstream print and broadcast outlets.

The IFC Media Project, made up of producers who worked on Michael...

Forest City Downgraded; Analysts 'Particularly Concerned' About Atlantic Yards

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:30:05 -0400

Standard & Poor's yesterday downgraded the credit rating of mega-developer Forest City Enterprises, the parent company of Forest City Ratner, the developer of the planned Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. The downgrade came as the credit markets have made the financing of new development near impossible, and Forest City, based in Cleveland and with projects in numerous regions, is no exception.

Among the agency's worries was Forest City Ratner's more-than $4 billion signature project,...

Tish James: Term Limits Bill All About Atlantic Yards, Legacy Projects

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:21:22 -0400

Here's Brooklyn Councilwoman Tish James explaining her vote on the term limits extender bill a few moments ago on the Council floor:

"I believe that this is really all about a legacy—about Moynihan Station, about Willets Point, about the West Side, about Ground Zero, and yes, about Atlantic Yards; and about the displacement of low, moderate and working families in New York City. Let me end by decrying, let the people decide."...