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Atlantic Yards

James and Ratner: 2 heads ’a’ buttin’

Atlantic Yards: Opponents of Bruce Ratner’s arena-residential-commercial mega-development at the Atlantic Yards were crying “foul” this week after the master builder moved forward with preliminary demolition work on six buildings within the project’s footprint. Comment.

The year of living Ratnerly

Atlantic Yards: He doesn’t build amusement parks, but 2005 was a roller-coaster ride for Bruce Ratner. Comment.

December 24, 2005

DEMOLITION MAN Ratner preps Atlantic Yards site

Atlantic Yards: It has begun: Bruce Ratner has started clearing the site of his proposed Atlantic Yards arena, residential and office mega-project. Comment.

Carolers to Bruce: You’re a Scrooge!

Atlantic Yards: At first glance, the carolers — with their red-and-green felt hats, their sheet music and their accordion accompaniment — appeared to be just another group of holiday mirth-makers on Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue this week. Comment.

December 17, 2005

MTA strands fans No new trains after Nets games

Atlantic Yards: If 19,000 cheering Nets fans come pouring out of an arena at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues someday, the MTA is not going to add service to help get them home. Comment.

Profits down for Ratner

Atlantic Yards: The company that wants to build an arena for the struggling New Jersey Nets had a bad third quarter of its own. Comment.

December 10, 2005

‘Soho lofts’ on the way to Fulton Mall

Atlantic Yards: Is Fulton Mall the next Soho? Comments (1).

December 3, 2005

Piering into the future of Red Hook

Atlantic Yards: Red Hook’s gritty industrial waterfront will become a maritime-themed tourist attraction, under a new plan for the neighborhood’s piers unveiled by city officials this week. Comment.

November 26, 2005

Gehry: My design was ‘horrible’ Architect tinkers to reduce impact of Atlantic Yards

Atlantic Yards: Even world-renowned architect Frank Gehry thinks his design for the Atlantic Yards project — a scheme so massive that even its supporters grumbled after it was unveiled in July — was “horrible.” Comment.

Knicks promo targets Brooklyn

Atlantic Yards: Can two National Basketball Association teams share the same city without driving each other crazy — or hurting Knicks ticket sales? Comment.

November 19, 2005

Ratner to Gehry: Try again ‘Yards’ architect sent back to drawing board

Atlantic Yards: Bruce Ratner has reportedly sent his world-renowned architect Frank Gehry back to the drawing board to revise the developer’s 24-acre arena-and-skyscraper project at the Atlantic Yards. Comment.

Rosie: Yards could court crackheads

Atlantic Yards: How big is Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards development? Comment.

November 11, 2005

Atlantic Yards ‘is not blighted,’ says Green Assemblyman speaks against eminent domain

Atlantic Yards: Speaking before fellow state legislators at a hearing on eminent domain last Friday, assemblyman Roger Green challenged the legality of exercising eminent domain in his Prospect Heights district, where up to 11 acres could be condemned to accomodate Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project. Comment.

MERCURY FOUND IN TOWER Toothy stuff for Magic and condo developers

Atlantic Yards: City inspectors have found dangerous levels of mercury vapor in the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower, the landmark building at 1 Hanson Place which is being converted into luxury condominium apartments by Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s development company. Comments (1).

November 5, 2005

Freddie quibbles over Ratner

Atlantic Yards: A dispute over the number of affordable housing units planned for Forest City Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards mega-development surfaced several times in a short speech given Oct. 28 by Fernando Ferrer, Mayor Bloomberg’s Democratic opponent in next Tuesday’s election. Comment.

October 29, 2005

Ratner execs huddle with heads of CB2

Atlantic Yards: A private meeting between Forest City Ratner executives and the executive committee of Community Board 2 has left some who were excluded up in arms. Comment.

‘Affordable’ units may go to Crown Hts

Atlantic Yards: Forest City Ratner is considering the acquision of the former St. Mary’s Hospital in Crown Heights, leading some to speculate that the 3-acre site could be used for the affordable housing component of the proposed Atlantic Yards mega-project. Comment.

Ratner picks Philly firm for mega-project

Atlantic Yards: They’ll be working on the railroad. Comment.

October 22, 2005

Public packs Ratner meet Hundreds cheer & jeer Atlantic Yards project

Atlantic Yards: The boos of dissenters and jeers of supporters resounded throughout a packed Downtown Brooklyn auditorium Tuesday night as the state agency leading developer Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards project heard testimony in the first of two public hearings on the plan. Comment.

Ratner exec admits funding supporters

Atlantic Yards: A top Forest City Ratner official for the first time this week acknowledged that the development company has been paying large sums of money to organizations offering what they’ve presented as grassroots neighborhood support for the proposed Atlantic Yards development. Comment.

October 15, 2005

PAPER PRIZE Accolades for Ratner coverage

Atlantic Yards: Praising The Brooklyn Papers “on a courageous piece of work” in its “Not Just Nets” coverage of developer Bruce Ratner’s “Atlantic Yards” plan, the National Newspaper Association this week awarded the newspaper its top prize for Best Investigative or In-depth Story or Series. Comment.

October 1/8, 2005

Ratner to bar public from promised park

Atlantic Yards: Plans for a glorious, 52,000-square-foot publicly accessible recreational space on the roof of Bruce Ratner’s proposed Frank Gehry-designed basketball arena will not be open to the public, according to a document released last week by the state authority acting as lead agent for the project. Comment.

Charge Ratner bought arena plan’s support

Atlantic Yards: If you fund BUILD, they will come … and support your project. Comment.

September 24, 2005

MAKE IT SMALLER Marty downsizes his support for Ratner

Atlantic Yards: Borough President Marty Markowitz has urged that developer Bruce Ratner downsize his Atlantic Yards mega-development, a project vigorously supported by Markowitz since 2003. Comment.

September 17, 2005

RATNER GETS SITE With MTA’s blessing, Bruce leaves $10 million deposit on rail yards

Atlantic Yards: The cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday accepted developer Bruce Ratner’s $100 million bid for the development rights over 8.5 acres of train yards at the cusp of Downtown Brooklyn. Comment.

Ratner seeks to house Katrina exiles

Atlantic Yards: With condominium apartments to spare, developer Bruce Ratner — who has bought out most of the loft owners within the footprint of his Atlantic Yards mega-development in Prospect Heights — may be seeking to use the empty dwellings to temporarily provide shelter for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Comment.

September 10, 2005

RATNER DOUBLES DOWN Higher bid still far short of MTA site’s value

Atlantic Yards: Forest City Ratner this week doubled its bid for development rights over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Atlantic Avenue rail yards, but is still offering less than half of what the property is estimated to be worth, according to a published report. Comment.

Report rips NY Times on Ratner

Atlantic Yards: Charging that the New York Times has shied away from critical coverage of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards housing, office skyscraper and basketball arena plan because of its own land deal with the developer, about two dozen Brooklynites gathered outside the newspaper’s Manhattan headquarters last Thursday to draw attention to the issue. Comment.

IBO: Ratner plan brings less than $1M a year to NY

Atlantic Yards: A long-awaited analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office, released this week, finds that the Atlantic Yards arena project would bring $28.5 million in revenue to the city over 30 years. Comment.

September 3, 2005

‘NIMBY’ Bloomie films TV ad in Fort Greene

Atlantic Yards: If it’s in Brooklyn, build away. Just don’t build it anywhere near Mayor Mike’s backyard. Comment.

Strange bedfellows in Rat-Nets village

Atlantic Yards: Talk about an odd couple. Comment.

August 27, 2005

Council to attack land grabs Bill would axe city cash for Ratner’s Nets plan

Atlantic Yards: A bill was introduced in the City Council this week that would bar the city from using eminent domain solely for economic development purposes and prohibit city funds from being used for such projects. Comment.

Ratner arena foes pack Freddy’s Bar amid word of ‘NewsHour’ interview

Atlantic Yards: Not that the regulars of Freddy’s Bar and Backroom in Prospect Heights needed an excuse to stop by the watering hole on Aug. 23, but a call for action, in the form of a mass e-mail, packed the bar more than usual for an early Tuesday evening. Comment.

August 20, 2005

DOUBLE DEALING While heralding Atlantic Yards, city & state officials quietly agree to let Ratner build atop adjacent sites

Atlantic Yards: The same day they signed a widely publicized agreement setting aside land for developer Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards project, top officials of the Pataki and Bloomberg administrations signed a separate pact with the developer, granting him the right to build up adjacent urban renewal sites without city review. Comment.

August 13, 2005

Tax plan is said to be used as mayor’s own slush fund Atlantic Yards and Brooklyn Bridge Park have similar financing

Atlantic Yards: The Bloomberg administration illegally diverted more than $22 million in city funds, using the money as a slush fund to further the agenda of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, city Comptroller William Thompson charged this week. Comment.

August 6, 2005

A HIGHER ‘STANDARD’ Arts group refuses profile in Ratner ‘rag’

Atlantic Yards: An attempt by real estate mogul Bruce Ratner to curry favor among local artists for his plan to build a basketball arena, skyscrapers and apartment high-rises in Prospect Heights backfired this week when an arts group not only turned down the offer of free publicity in his bimonthly Brooklyn Standard but then went on the Internet to slam both the Atlantic Yards developer and his publication. Comment.

‘HOTEL HARVEY’ Developer pays $12M for 3 lots next to BAM’s Fulton St. theater

Atlantic Yards: A developer has quietly bought up property next to a Brooklyn Academy of Music theater, planning what neighbors believe will be a high-rise hotel and condo. Comment.

July 30, 2005

Ratner gets 45 days to up ante MTA talks exclusively with Bruce despite his low offer

Atlantic Yards: As it once was, so it shall be again, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board decided this week, when it cast aside the high bidder — who offered $150 million to develop the Long Island Rail Road storage yards at Atlantic Avenue — and instead voted to continue their exclusive negotiations with preferred developer Forest City Ratner. Comment.

Tish bows out of NY1 show

Atlantic Yards: City Councilwoman Letitia James refused an invitation to appear on a special cablecast of news station New York 1’s “Road to City Hall” last week — live from St. Francis College and focused on Brooklyn issues — because of what she said was an unbalanced presentation by the show’s producers on the Atlantic Yards project. Comment.

July 23, 2005

Doctoroff: Brooklyn key to economy

Atlantic Yards: The future of New York City’s economy depends on Brooklyn, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said this week. Comment.

July 16, 2005

MTA receives rival bid for Atlantic Yards News Analysis

Atlantic Yards: At first glance, the May 24 issuance of a request for proposals by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the development rights over the state agency’s Vanderbilt Yards train tracks seemed a mere formality. Comment.

Eminent domain fight

Atlantic Yards: In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last month affirming the right of governments to take private property in the name of economic development, bills are gaining momentum in both the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate that would bar federal tax dollars from being used for projects that employ eminent domain. Comment.

Downtown development more than just the Nets

Atlantic Yards: New York City will be changing dramatically over the next two decades as developers take advantage of the up-zoning that is being completed by the Bloomberg administration. Vast spaces throughout the city have already been rezoned for increased development. The most visible being the Hudson Yards in west Midtown Manhattan. Comment.

July 2/9, 2005

Ratner commits to select groups

Atlantic Yards: More than 100 supporters of developer Bruce Ratner’s plan to build an arena for the New Jersey Nets basketball team and 17 residential and commercial high-rises in Prospect Heights showed up Monday at Fulton Ferry Landing to celebrate the completion of a community benefits agreement, or CBA, between the developer and community groups that have supported his project. Comment.

Ratner execs move in on Freddy’s

Atlantic Yards: It’s not that Frank Yost went out of his way to get involved in the fracas surrounding developer Bruce Ratner’s plans to build a basketball arena and skyscrapers in Prospect Heights. Comment.

It’s all about money

Weintrob: Whether Bruce Ratner gets to build his Atlantic Yards mega-project rests not on any eminent domain decision (he already owns much of the private property on the site) but on government’s willingness to put our treasuries at the developer’s disposal. Comment.

June 25, 2005

SUPREME COURT OKS HOME SEIZURES

Atlantic Yards: The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people’s homes and businesses — even against their will — for private economic development. Comment.

TISH RIPS GIFF

Atlantic Yards: Letitia James is no fan of Gifford Miller. Comment.

Slope group rips Ratner plan After taking on Commerce Bank, Atlantic Yards is next

Atlantic Yards: A civic group in Park Slope that began by successfully pressuring Commerce Bank into modifying the look of a new branch to fit in with the neighborhood, is now taking aim at developer Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards basketball arena and skyscraper project. Comment.

Atlantic Yards community deal due Monday

Atlantic Yards: An agreement regarding hiring, job training, community facilities and housing, negotiated between developer Bruce Ratner and select community groups that support his Atlantic Yards development, will be announced Monday, The Brooklyn Papers has learned. Comment.

June 18, 2005

YARDS AWAY Ratner train relocation could affect eminent domain fight

Atlantic Yards: If he wants to build a new home for his New Jersey Nets basketball team atop rail yards at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, developer Bruce Ratner will have to pay for more than air space over the Long Island Rail Road tracks — he’s also going to have to help pay to move those tracks. Comment.

Dumped by beep, member is back

Atlantic Yards: It’s a hard battle, fighting the man. Especially if that man has veto power, and many of your opinions are diametrically opposed to his. Comment.

June 11, 2005

Bridge march rips Brooklyn development

Atlantic Yards: Nearly 500 protesters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday evening in a show of solidarity against Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards development and other contentious projects. Comment.

STAY PUT! Beep says Ratner will protect the displaced

Atlantic Yards: Borough President Marty Markowitz attempted this week to allay the fears of tenants who may be displaced by the proposed Atlantic Yards project. Comment.

Not everyone’s invited to Marty’s public meet Dean St. group bans outsiders

Atlantic Yards: If you ban them, he will come. Comment.

June 4, 2005

COUNCIL WON’T LISTEN Public barred from hearing on Ratner plan

Atlantic Yards: The only public hearing before a committee of the City Council on the Atlantic Yards project was held in a room so small that dozens of people — including, for a time, Borough President Marty Markowitz — were barred by police from entering. Comment.

Ratner site expands — into Park Slope

Atlantic Yards: Atlantic Yards is stretching out — and into Park Slope. Comment.

May 28, 2005

SEALED WITH A KISS Ratner, mayor, ACORN, agree on housing plan

Atlantic Yards: A deal binding a community organization to developer Bruce Ratner’s contentious Atlantic Yards project, anticipated since last fall, has finally arrived. Comment.

May 21, 2005

Magic’s kingdom

Atlantic Yards: He conquered the NBA, he’s a giant in the retail franchising field and now Earvin “Magic” Johnson towers above Brooklyn with his latest purchase — the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower. Comment.

May 14, 2005

WE’RE overdeveloped, Ratner foes tell Marty

Atlantic Yards: Borough President Marty Markowitz’s decision to hold a little-publicized meeting this week addressing overdevelopment in southern Brooklyn — which he called “suburban Brooklyn” in a recent newsletter — incensed residents in Brownstone Brooklyn, who say they are facing projects of a greater scale. Comment.

Don’t overdevelop us, Bensonhurst tells Marty

Atlantic Yards: At first glance, the media-savvy activists of Prospect Heights and the working-class families of Bensonhurst seem the dictionary definition of “odd couple.” Comment.

Freddy: Bloomy a Brooklyn nightmare

Atlantic Yards: Democratic mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer broke rank with his rivals this week by addressing for the first time in the campaign plans by developer Bruce Ratner to build a basketball arena and high-rises emanating from Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. Comment.

May 7, 2005

Tish to Gif: Look here!

Atlantic Yards: Prospect Heights Councilwoman Letitia James wants Speaker Gifford Miller to stop paying so much attention to the New York Jets stadium plan championed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and get serious about the Atlantic Yards basketball arena, office skyscraper and housing development being planned in her district. Comment.

April 23, 2005

Chamber bows to Ratner

Atlantic Yards: Kowtowing to demands by developer Bruce Ratner, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce this week barred the public from an official Chamber function, a luncheon where Ratner’s controversial Atlantic Yards project was discussed. Comment.

Experts: Arena will burden Brooklyn

Atlantic Yards: Planning, transportation and budget experts say developer Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards basketball arena, housing and office skyscraper project could overburden transit lines, clog streets with traffic and reduce pedestrian access. Comment.

Pols call for city review of Ratner’s arena

Atlantic Yards: Taking their first unified stance on developer Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards plan, a delegation of City Council members from Brooklyn gathered on the steps of City Hall to call for a city-level review of the basketball arena, housing and office skyscraper project. Comment.

April 16, 2005

SHUT OUT AGAIN

Atlantic Yards: Borough President Marty Markowitz has hosted another closed-door meeting about developer Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards proposal, continuing his policy of shutting out community members who have prominently voiced opposition to the plan to build a basketball arena as well as 17 residential and office high-rise towers. Comment.

April 9, 2005

$24M arena jackpot

Atlantic Yards: Opponents of Bruce Ratner’s basketball arena and high-rise plan were left singing “Heartbreak Hotel” this week as a competing developer sold his interest in the Prospect Heights site to the Atlantic Yards developer. Comment.

March 26, 2005

Pollsters push Ratner arena

Atlantic Yards: An advocacy telephone poll promoting Brooklyn’s biggest potential development project collided with the project’s fiercest opponent while canvassing the borough’s telephone lines this week. Patti Hagan, an outspoken opponent of developer Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards plan, said she received a phone call on Sunday at 6:30 pm from a pollster asking about her political inclinations and thoughts on the project and its supporters. Comment.

Atlantic Yards poll transcript

Atlantic Yards: The following are excerpts from Prospect Heights anti-arena activist Patti Hagan’s conversation with a pollster asking questions about developer Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards plan. Hagan tape-recorded the call, which she received at her home on March 20, 6:30 pm. Read our related story. Comment.

March 19, 2005

REC-U-U-USE ME!

Atlantic Yards: Brooklyn’s sole appointee to the City Planning Commission, one of only two city agencies with an official role in the proposed Atlantic Yards arena, housing and office complex will have no voice, the city said this week. Comment.

Ratner begins drilling at Yards

Atlantic Yards: To the surprise of many Prospect Heights residents, enormous drills have begun test borings of the earth below several sites within the 24-acre swath upon which developer Bruce Ratner plans to build his Atlantic Yards arena and high-rise development. Comment.

Shaya defies Ratner, moves ahead with Atlantic Yards hotel

Atlantic Yards: A developer is moving forward with plans to build a hotel smack-dab in the middle of Bruce Ratner’s proposed Atlantic Yards site. Comment.

Budget office greenlights Yards study

Atlantic Yards: A spokesman for the city’s Independent Budget Office told The Brooklyn Papers this week that the agency finally has a starting point to analyze the public benefit of developer Bruce Ratner’s proposed basketball arena, housing and office development in Propsect Heights. Comment.

CB6 has some ideas for Atlantic Yards review

Atlantic Yards: Community Board 6 has prepared a list of issues members hope will be considered in the anticipated environmental review of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards plan, which proposes to build a basketball arena and 17 high-rise residential, office and retail buildings on a 23-acre site emanating from the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues and stretching into Prospect Heights. Comment.

March 12, 2005

City, state & Bruce agree: ‘Yards the place for Nets

Atlantic Yards: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Gov. George Pataki and real estate developer Bruce Ratner signed a “memorandum of understanding” March 3 that officially spells out Ratner’s plan to build a basketball arena and 17 residential and office high-rises on 21 acres of property emanating from the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. Comment.

March 5, 2005

MTA on Nets site: ‘Bid Away’

Atlantic Yards: Responding to calls by elected officials and activists that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority open up the sale of development rights over rail yards at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues to competitive bidding, as the agency has done with the Hudson Yards in Manhattan, an agency spokesman reiterated what he told The Brooklyn Papers last month — they already are. Comment.

Arena foes stuck in Olympic spin cycle

Atlantic Yards: As members of the International Olympic Committee toured the five boroughs last Tuesday, organizers from Develop-Don’t Destroy Brooklyn split into factions over whether to step inside the Olympic rings or worry about what’s happening on their home court. Comment.

February 26, 2005

Atlantic Yards foes watch as eminent domain case reaches Supreme Court

Atlantic Yards: The U.S. Supreme Court struggled on Tuesday to balance the rights of property owners against the goals of town officials who want to sweep away old neighborhoods and turn the land over to private developers. Comment.

February 19, 2005

BUILD brief defends use of eminent domain to high court

Atlantic Yards: A neighborhood group that supports developer Bruce Ratner’s efforts to build a basketball arena, housing and office buildings in Prospect Heights has filed a “friend of the court” brief defending the use of eminent domain to condemn private property in a case being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this week. Comment.

February 12, 2005

RATNER’S MTA DEAL ON HOLD

Atlantic Yards: Bruce Ratner and his New Jersey Nets will just have to wait. Comment.

New BAMland theater set

Atlantic Yards: Adding to the growing cache of projects in place for the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Cultural District in Fort Greene, the mayor has unveiled designs for an ultramodern, $335.8 million, 299-seat Theater for a New Audience. Comment.

February 5, 2005

MARTY’S BROOKLYN

Atlantic Yards: Borough President Marty Markowitz promoted Brooklyn as a future home to professional basketball, the city’s first Ikea furniture store and, most conspicuously during his State of the Borough address, a dock for commercial cruise ships. Comment.

January 29, 2005

CB6 discusses Atlantic Yards

Atlantic Yards: Community Board 6 has begun holding meetings to decide what issues should be considered in an eventual environmental impact study of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development plan. Comment.

January 22, 2005

RATNER’S NEW PLAN

Atlantic Yards: The affordable and market-rate housing component in plans for the Atlantic Yards arena complex will likely expand by 1,300 units, a Forest City Ratner executive told The Brooklyn Papers this week. Comment.
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