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It has begun: Ratner starts work on Atlantic Yards
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del.icio.usDemolition work at Bruce Ratner’s $4-billion Atlantic Yards mega-project began this week — the first baby steps in what is expected to be a 10-year construction project.
A handful of workers spent much of the week removing debris from a former MTA bus depot on the eastern edge of the 22-acre project site.
“It brings us a step closer to making Atlantic Yards a reality for all of Brooklyn,” Ratner said in a written statement on Tuesday, the day work began.
The initial work involves turning the bus parking lot between Vanderbilt and Carlton avenues into a temporary rail yard that will house Long Island Rail Road trains while Ratner relocates the existing Vanderbilt Yards to make room for a $637-million, publicly financed, Frank Gehry-designed arena for the New Jersey Nets.
Ratner touted the fact that this week’s initial work was being done by A. Russo Wrecking, a Long-Island based, woman-owned firm.
It’s not the first time that guys in hardhats have been digging around the site. Last year, Ratner subcontractors tore down six buildings that the developer said were in imminent danger of collapse.
Opponents sued, but the buildings were gone by the time the ruling came down (in Ratner’s favor).
Opponents of Atlantic Yards called the demolition work premature in light of two pending lawsuits against the project, and the fact that Ratner does not yet have title over the land where his state-approved project will rise.
Ratner is paying the Metropolitan Transportation Authority $100 million to build over its rail yard — air rights that had been appraised at $250 million.
A source told the New York Post that the agency had given Ratner approval to start work, even though he doesn’t technically own the land.
Ratner also said his team would demolish a former auto-repair shop at 179 Flatbush Ave. this week, though it was still standing as we went to press on Wednesday night.
Ann Russo, owner of Russo Wrecking, said she expected Ratner to press ahead at full steam.
“We’ve bid on other demolition work within the project and we’ve been told to expect an answer very soon, like in the next few days,” she said.
“They’re moving quickly.”
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
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