Remember when Forest City Ratner was going to build a beautiful new arena in Brooklyn and move the Nets there? Beautiful Frank Gehry structure on top of the Atlantic Yards, supposed to create a long-overdue downtown? It would look like this:
The stadium itself had a bit of an inside-out vibe, with a giant glass wall allowing the public to literally look inside and a public park on the roof to create the ultimate skylobby:
It seems they had a bit of a change of heart, and decided to go with something a bit more Oversized Costco:
Actually, that’s not quite fair. It is simply a relocated Conseco Fieldhouse, which nicely saves everyone the trip to Indianapolis:
Those towers? Not getting built. The park on the roof? Nope. The improvements to the rail yards below? Seven tracks, not nine. FCR’s equity contribution? Basically what they are taking as a developer’s fee. Hey, if it works for FIAT…
Meanwhile, what is the Mayor‘s reaction to having a developer renege on the terms of his deal?
During his weekly radio show, Bloomberg said that thanks to the lower cost of the Ellerbe Becket plan for the Barclays Center Coliseum, lining up financing for the Brooklyn mega-project would be possible. “It looks like it will go ahead, which is great,” he said.
If you are keeping score at home, there are three elements that make any sort of interesting development impossible in NY:
- Incredible cost of construction and materials;
- Community activists who see Robert Moses behind every rebar and devote their intelligence and organization to shutting down any attempt at urban renewal;
- Developers who lie about what they are actually going to build.
I guess they all deserve each other. But I would have expected more from Mayor Mike; of all people, I would think he would understand the value of honoring a deal. Going forward, why not require any developer looking for land sales from the city to post a meaningful bond upfront; if the city grants the permits and the building does not check out as advertised on the date committed at the beginning, the city gets the bond.
You would have expected more from Mayor Mike??!!!
Put down the kool-aid! This is the “environmental mayor” who just slaughtered how many forests to send everyone in NYC how many glossy ads about how wonderful he thinks he is? When he’s not flying every weekend to Bermuda in a private jet?
That’s the spin and hypocrisy you should expect.
Step away from the punch bowl!