Bruce Ratner | The New York Observer

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...

Frank Gehry Will Wait to Ascend His Own Tower

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:50:03 -0500

At a topping-off ceremony for his Beekman Tower yesterday, 80-year old architect Frank Gehry took to the podium and made one of those slightly randy jokes that men can get away with when they're 80. Mr. Gehry pointed his finger upright toward the 76-tower residential complex and bluntly proclaimed: "No Viagra."

Mr. Gehry said he will wait awhile to see the view from what will eventually be the tallest residential building in Manhattan. "I can't...

Gehry Gets Topped Out in Lower Manhattan

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

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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...

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...

On the Way to Atlantic Yards, Brick City

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:01:45 -0400

Sounds like the Nets might be moving to Newark while they wait out the delayed Atlantic Yards project.

At a preseason game in Newark last night, several team officials said the Nets will leave the Izod Center next year if they can get out of their lease at the Meadowlands, according to the Star-Ledger.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker likes the idea. Fans seem to like it, too: The two preseason games in Newark drew about three...

Rent-A-Net for Just $25K

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:31:14 -0400

Wow, we thought Bruce Ratner was getting creative with his plan to put Atlantic Yards' investment money into escrow for awhile.

But today there's news that Mr. Ratner will attempt to stem a sieve of losses on his New Jersey Nets franchise--the team lost $77 million last year--by renting out the team's players. For $25,000 you can get courtside tickets to 10 games and, for one hour, you can have a Nets player at your...

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...

Atlantic Yards at New York's High Court

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

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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

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:49:09 -0400

When Bruce Ratner was looking for someone to buy the Nets and help fund Atlantic Yards, he turned to--where else--Goldman Sachs. And Goldman found Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, because he “was in the newspapers, he was someone who was interested in buying a team," Mr. Ratner explained to Eliot Brown on their hard hat tour yesterday. (The slideshow is here.)

In mid-July, Mr. Ratner flew over to Russia, had dinner at Mr. Prokhorov's house, and...

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...

Inside Beekman's World

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:41:12 -0400

Yesterday, Eliot Brown donned a hard hat and joined Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner for a tour of another Ratner project--one that's much further along and still hasn't lost Frank Gehry. The 77-story tower near City Hall, called Beekman, will be the city's largest residential building when it tops out in November. (Eliot says it's at 67 stories now, and they can add two floors each day when it's not windy, but apparently it's...

A Gehry Tower Rises

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

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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...

Bruce Ratner Not Helping Barclays' Bad Year

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:47:32 -0400

Yesterday, the state's development agency signed off on the latest plan for Atlantic Yards and that futuristic Barclays Center.

Two years ago, Barclays paid somewhere between $300 and $400 million dollars for what it thought would be an iconic Frank Gehry building, but that didn't quite go as planned--what with Bruce Ratner dumping Mr. Gehry sometime last winter, and then a less-than-iconic design emerging in June, before a more inventive set of renderings finally emerged...

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...

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...

Burdened! Jean Novel Tower Expected to Feel Planning Commish’s 200-Foot Chomp

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:18:28 -0400

Amanda Burden apparently doesn’t want to get Ratnered by MoMA.

Burned by a post-approval architect swap at Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project—the Brooklyn developer dropped Frank Gehry and his iconic basketball arena earlier this year—the chairwoman of the City Planning Commission is going to new lengths to see that she’s not the victim of a future bait-and-switch.

The first to experience this new approach are MoMA and Texas developer Hines Interests, which are planning...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

New Glassy Tower to Join Fort Greene Mini-City

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:41:44 -0400

The apparently inexorable rise of a skyscraper city on the edge of Fort Greene continues apace, with developer Bruce Ratner's announcement on Wednesday that Forest City Ratner had secured financing for its first residential tower in Brooklyn, the Costas Kondylis-designed, 34-story 80 DeKalb Avenue.

The glass building will join the Forte Condo (at Ashland Place and Fulton Street), and the soon-to-be-built Danspace project across the street to form a small mini-city on the edge...

Nets Arena May Not Be Finished Until 2011, Ratner Says

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:54:08 -0400

The planned new Brooklyn basketball arena for the Nets now may not be ready until 2011, according to developer Forest City Ratner, as the company acknowledges that the time to build the structure may take it past its current completion goal of calendar year 2010.

The news was first spotted by Norman Oder at his encyclopedic watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report, where he put up part of a transcript from a...

Landowners Bring Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Battle to State Court [UPDATED]

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:54:23 -0400

Six weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their federal lawsuit, landowners fighting the use of eminent domain for the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn have filed another suit, this time in state court.

Opposition group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn put out a release today announcing the lawsuit, filed Friday, which claims the development was approved to benefit a private developer (Bruce Ratner) as opposed to benefit the public...

U.S. Supreme Court Passes on Atlantic Yards [UPDATED]

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:48:57 -0400

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up an appeal in the fight over Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project, putting to an end the federal lawsuit filed by landowners and tenants in late 2006 that challenged the state’s use of eminent domain for the mega-project.

The plaintiffs in the suit are now pledging to take the case to state court, a route they initially avoided as eminent domain laws in New...

Forest City to Unveil Frank Gehry's First Manhattan Apartment Tower

Tue, 27 May 2008 16:07:43 -0400

In an effort to gin up publicity for Frank Gehry's first Manhattan residential cloud-buster, the so-called Beekman Tower, developer Forest City Ratner will unveil the design in a ceremony on Friday afternoon.

The development will be Mr. Gehry's second in Manhattan, following his wildly succesful design for the IAC headquarters on 11th Avenue.

The Beekman Tower is slated to rise 76 stories between Spruce and Beekman streets, with 903 market-rate rental apartments inside.

The 1.1 million-square-foot...

Brooklyn's Her Maiden Name: Ratner Offering Naming Deal for Atlantic Yards' Tallest Tower

Tue, 20 May 2008 18:44:01 -0400

Bruce Ratner is looking for a new name for the signature office tower in his $4 billion-plus Atlantic Yards project.

The Frank Gehry-designed tower was known as “Miss Brooklyn” until it was shrunk, redesigned and re-unveiled in April under a new, more staid moniker: “B1.” It turns out that that name, too, may change, should developer Forest City Ratner, led by Mr. Ratner, find a tenant eager enough to attach its...

Report: Newark’s Booker, Devils Seeking Group to Buy Nets from Ratner [UPDATED]

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:28:38 -0400

The Star-Ledger reports that Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the New Jersey Devils are trying to assemble investors to buy the Nets basketball team from development firm Forest City Ratner.

Should the Nets be sold—Forest City denied that the team is for sale—it would presumably kill the more than $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, developed by Forest City under the premise that a new Frank Gehry-designed arena would be created for the...

Ratner on NY1: A Snapshot

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:48:43 -0400

The notoriously press-shy Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is due to appear on NY1 tonight at 8:30, going one-on-one with reporter Budd Mishkin.

The folks at NY1 have sent us over a brief teaser quote from Mr. Ratner:

We need jobs, we need shopping that's appropriate, and the right price and quality goods, supermarkets that provide food of quality and well priced, we need housing, and the architecture is...

MTA Chief 'Concerned' About $100M Owed for Atlantic Yards

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:50:31 -0400

Metropolitan Transportation Authority executive director Lee Sander seems a bit uncertain about the $100 million that developer Forest City Ratner owes the agency for Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project. He had this to say earlier this month in a capital program “webinar” (no, we don’t quite know what that word is either), responding to a question about the MTA’s current capital plan:

There is $100 million associated...

Would-Be Brooklyn Beep De Blasio on Atlantic Yards: 'Constantly Disappointed'

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:43:39 -0400

Last night, City Councilman and candidate for Brooklyn borough president, Bill de Blasio, called for a moratorium on demolition at the Atlantic Yards footprint until developer Bruce Ratner outlines “what will be built when and confirms affordability,” Brownstoner and Gowanus Lounge reported this morning.

Mr. de Blasio told a meeting of Brooklyn bloggers that he was “livid” about Mr. Ratner’s recent admission in The New York Times that the Miss Brooklyn...

Cheerio There, Bruce!

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:03:19 -0400

Another scene from Thursday evening's protest outside the Brooklyn Museum of Art against Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner....