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About DDDB
Our coalition consists of 21 community organizations and there are 51 community organizations formally aligned in opposition to the Ratner plan.

DDDB is a volunteer-run organization. We have over 5,000 subscribers to our email newsletter, and 7,000 petition signers. Over 800 volunteers have registered with DDDB to form our various teams, task-forces and committees and we have over 150 block captains. We have a 20 person volunteer legal team of local lawyers supplementing our retained attorneys.

We are funded entirely by individual donations from the community at large and through various fundraising events we and supporters have organized.

We have the financial support of well over 3,500 individual donors.

More about DDDB...
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Saturday, 5/17: Mega Stoop Sale Benefit

Spring Cleaning? Donate Your Rummage...

Please DONATE and VOLUNTEER for a day of Thrifty Shopping to raise money for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's court cases against the Atlantic Yards project and eminent domain abuse.

BRING YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS to a Stoop Sale of arts & crafts, books, music & media, lightly-used clothing, household items, small furniture, and more.

Saturday May 17th
10 AM to 4 PM
At 622 Carlton Avenue
[map]

** You can bring items to the Mega Stoop Sale on Saturday May 17th after 9:30AM.

And you can come shop for stoop treasures from 10 - 4.
Posted: 5.16.08

Grassroots Preservation Award for DDDB from the Historic Districts Council

Last night Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn was honored to receive the Grassroots Preservation Award from the Historic Districts Council. We'd like to thank HDC for the award and recognition of our work. And we'd like to thank of our donors, volunteers and supporters for everything over the past 4 years.
Posted: 5.16.08

Eiffel Tower. Roman Coliseum. Barclays Center!?

From the Newark Star Ledger upon the opening tour of the new Bruce Ratner Frank Gehry New Jersey Nets Atlantic Yards Barclays Center Luxury Suite Showroom in the New York Times Tower:
...Yesterday's tour offered a glimpse of the planned Brooklyn arena's plush seats, kitchen facilities and pool table in a mock luxury box, with digital displays of the sightlines from each suite.

It also included a four-minute video about Frank Gehry's design for the venue, whose renderings were shown with pictures of such icons as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Coliseum in Rome...
Is that right? You tell us:
Posted: 5.16.08

Nets Yormark: "Brooklyn...is Real"

The Nets marketing guru explains—on the occasion of the opening of a mock luxury skybox showroom in the New York Times Tower in Midtown Manhattan for the proposed Bruce Ratner Frank Gehry New Jersey Nets Atlantic Yards Barclays Center Luxury Suite Showroom —that "Brooklyn...is real". From the Bergen Record:
..."We've been saying that Brooklyn has been real for years, and it is real, but this truly is another validation for us," Chief Executive Officer Brett Yormark said during a media tour of the sales office, which includes a 500-square-foot replica of one of the 130 luxury suites at the proposed $950 million Barclays Center...
Yes, that makes sense. A mock luxury skybox on the 38th floor of the New York Times Tower is undeniable evidence and validation that "Brooklyn...is real."

Who could know what's real any more when spoken by the Ratner team, which once said the Nets would be playing in their new Brooklyn arena in 2006.
Posted: 5.16.08

Atlantic Yards: Luxury Suites Now! "Affordable" Housing Later...Maybe!

The indomitable NoLandGrab is hip to the flimflam Brett Yormark is trying to sell. We republish NLG's posting in full, below:

By the numbers

Bergen Record

The Nets kicked off sales Thursday of a portion of their luxury suites for the proposed Barclays Center, which they hope to open in Brooklyn by the end of 2010. Some seating facts:

64 "Level A" luxury suites, priced at $190,000 to $450,000

54 "Level B" luxury suites, priced at $155,000 to $400,000

12 Court-level "bunker" suites, priced at $540,000

3,200 Premium "club" seats, price not set but probably more than $150 per game

2,000 Upper-level seats for $15

link

NoLandGrab: Interesting that the Nets also remembered to promote the promised 2,000 $15 seats. Those, of course, won't be on sale for a very long time. Most likely, though, they'll be available much, much sooner than any of the units listed below.

AYHousingBands.jpg
Click to enlarge.

Posted: 5.16.08

Auto-oriented Atlantic Yards
Every lot a parking lot

On his Atlantic Yards Report Norman Oder scrutinizes the FAQ on the relaunched Barclays Center (Atlantic Yards arena) website:
Suites go on sale, timing unquestioned, ticket prices rise, parking prized

...Another element of the FAQ addressed parking:
Q. Where will I park as a Suiteholder at the Barclays Center?
A. You will have a reserved spot within a one to two block radius from the premium entrance. Important to note that our parent company controls parking both on the Arena site and surrounding areas that will enable us to deliver the most convenient parking access possible to our suite customers.

Remember, one of the rationales for this arena is that it would be at a major transit hub. But the rich aren't expected to take public transit, apparently.
Full article
Posted: 5.16.08

Poor Attendance Modeled for Atlantic Yards

This model is from the new Bruce Ratner Frank Gehry New Jersey Nets Atlantic Yards Barclays Center Luxury Suite Showroom in the New York Times Tower.

Looks like the Ratner team is expecting even worse attendance in their planned Brooklyn arena than they have in the Meadowlands.


(Image from the Bergen Record)
Posted: 5.16.08

No More Chafing Dishes!

Atlantic Yards started out in December 2003 with this slogan: "Jobs, Housing and Hoops." Now?

"NO MORE CHAFING DISHES!"

From WNYC-radio's preview of tonight's Barclays Center luxury skybox party:
...Nets President Brett Yormark says the amenities [of the arena's luxury skyboxes) are [to] be a big draw.

YORMARK: Cork floors, induction burners. No more chafing dishes with fire underneath. So a little bit of technology there. Frank Gehry designed lighting fixtures...
Posted: 5.15.08

Forest City Focused on Luxury Skyboxes, Not "Affordable" Housing

For Immediate Release: May 15, 2008


Tonight: Ratner to Show Off
Atlantic Yards Arena Luxury Suites


Back in Reality:

Atlantic Yards and Barclays Center
Are On Precipice of Failure


Read the press release.
Posted: 5.15.08

Tonight: DDDB Benefit Concert at Southpaw

From Gothamist:

Pencil This In
BENEFIT:
Come join in on a benefit concert for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn tonight, with a handful of Brooklyn-based singer/songwriters (including Clare & The Reasons, John Wesley Harding, Richard Julian, and Jolie Holland) taking the stage. The show will be "raising funds and awareness for DDDB in its legal battles against eminent domain abuse in the proposed Atlantic Yards development, the concert series will also highlight how such irresponsible development could threaten the artistic community that has flourished in Brooklyn over the last several years." There will also be a screening of Brooklyn Matters a documentary on the Atlantic Yards development.
6:30 p.m. // Southpaw [125 5th Ave, Park Slope] // $15

Tickets at the door, or in advance at TicketWeb.
Posted: 5.15.08

Tonight, Songwriters Against Atlantic Yards at Southpaw: John Wesley Harding, Richard Julian, Clare
Posted: 5.15.08

A Public Letter to the Times's Public Editor

On his Atlantic Yards Report Norman Oder has posted an open letter to the NY Times's Public Editor Clark Hoyt

An open letter to NYT Public Editor Clark Hoyt about the paper's curious AY silence

Dear Mr. Hoyt,

If you read other newspapers in New York, you would’ve noticed that there was a lot of Atlantic Yards-related news last week. If you followed the story online, you would’ve learned even more.

That’s why any consumer of media in New York should be disappointed by the New York Times’s failure to publish a word about Atlantic Yards in the past week. Not only is it a major story for the city and region, the Times, given the parent New York Times Company’s business relationship with developer Forest City Ratner, developing the new Times Tower, has a special obligation to be exacting in its coverage...

Continue reading to find out what numerous stories didn't make it into the Paper of Record.

Little doubt they will cover the unveiling of Frank Gehry's Barclays Center Arena Luxury Skybox Suites on May 15th at a "splashy party" in the developer's showroom in the New York Times Building. Just have to take the elevator!
Posted: 5.14.08

Assemblyman Brodsky: "We need a time out before this disaster repeats itself everywhere else."

In this NY Times article, Assemblyman Brodsky, chair of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, was speaking not just about the failing West Side/Hudson Yards deal but, more generally, about projects overseen by agencies such as the MTA and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC); such projects, of course, would include the Atlantic Yards proposal overseen by the ESDC.

City Revisits Old Bidders After Railyards Deal Fails

...“These deals are breaking down because the governance system for authorities doesn’t work and because the public subsidies are out of control,” said Mr. Brodsky, a Democrat from Westchester. “We need a time out before this disaster repeats itself everywhere else.”...

Full article

Posted: 5.14.08

Observer's 100 Most Powerful Includes Ratner, Gehry, and Oder

The New York Observer has put out its list of "The 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate," and it includes three players in the fight over the Atlantic Yards proposal: Bruce Ratner, Frank Gehry and Norman Oder. Oder, not convinced he belongs on the list, has posted his observations on the Observer's 100:
So, who's #77 on the Observer's 100 most powerful people in NY real estate list?

According to the New York Observer's quite arbitrary list of the 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, Bruce Ratner is #8, Frank Gehry is #51, and I am number #77.

While the listing is flattering, I can't say they have me convinced. For example, Charles Bagli, the veteran real estate/development reporter for the New York Times--and formerly at the Observer--does not appear on the list and he's way more powerful than I am. (Despite my criticisms of his AY coverage, he's a very able reporter.) And I am not more powerful than Nicolai Ouroussoff, the Times's architecture critic, at #85, nor Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, chair of the Assembly's Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, at #89; he has the power to grill public officials. And where's Julia Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute, a savvy and provocative commentator?
...

The Observer on Ratner

8 Bruce Ratner

Chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies

The leader of what is perhaps New York’s most high-profile development, the controversy magnet Atlantic Yards, Bruce Ratner is one of the most active developers in the city, often pursuing large, publicly administered projects. He’s recently taken a liking to famous architects, ensuring that his developments leave a notable impression on the skyline.


The Observer on Gehry

51 Frank Gehry

Owner of Gehry Partners LLP

If Bruce Ratner is right, and his 16-skyscraper-and-arena Atlantic Yards project comes to fruition, Mr. Gehry, its designer, will alter Brooklyn’s aesthetic as we know it. If, however, it continues to stumble … Well, just ask the Municipal Arts Society, which recently put out some ugly renderings to that effect.


The Observer on AYR

77 Norman Oder

Journalist/Blogger, Atlantic Yards Report

The Park Slope-based Norman Oder runs a one-man, one-topic journalistic operation that brings a constant stream of mostly critical articles on Atlantic Yards. His presence appears to have propelled attention and criticism of the project now 17 months since approval.
Posted: 5.14.08

Feds Continue Investigation Surrounding Ratner's Ridge Hill Project

Norman Oder takes a look at the knowns, unknowns and suspicions as the federal investigation into the passage of the Ridge Hill project in Yonkers continues:
In Yonkers, the feds investigate aspects of Ratner's Ridge Hill deal
Atlantic Yards Report

What critics consider a sweetheart deal regarding Atlantic Yards hasn't provoked investigation into any wrongdoing. It was presented as a fait accompli fast tracked by the Empire State Development Corporation, rather than debated in public by local officials. In Yonkers, however, the curious twists and turns of Forest City Ratner's $630 million, 1000-apartment, 81-acre Ridge Hill project (above) have generated a federal investigation...

Continue reading
Posted: 5.13.08

"Time Out" Rally on BCAT and YouTube

Tonight at 8pm on BCAT 1 (Time Warner 34), Freddy's Brooklyn Roundhouse presents Chris Owens, Velmanette Montgomery, Letitia James, Hakeem Jeffries, Tony Avella, and others speaking at the May 3, 2008 rally urging Governor Paterson to call "Time Out on the Atlantic Yards proposal.

You can also watch tonight's BCAT show on the small YouTube screen (below):
Posted: 5.13.08

Civic Project: "We'll be marketing the heck out of the building..."

The Empire State Development Corporation designated Forest City Ratner's Barclays Center Arena, the one with the $400 million naming rights deal, as a "civic project" as defined under the state's Urban Development Corporation Act (UDCA). The UDCA defines a a "civic project" as one in which findings have been made that:

(a) there is a need in the area for an “educational, cultural, recreational, community, municipal, public service or other civic facility;” (b) the project consists of facilities suitable for such civic purposes; and (c) the project will be “leased to or owned by the state or an agency or instrumentality thereof, a public corporation, or any other entity which is carrying out a community, municipal, public service or other civic purpose..."

DDDB and our co-plaintiffs raised a claim in our challenge to the state's Final Environmental Impact Statement and overall project approval. That suit said that the Court should make a declaratory judgment that a sports facility for a professional sports team leased to a private entity is not a “civic project” under the UDC Act; specifically a privately leased, for-profit sports arena, such as Forest City Ratner's (FCR) arena, is not a project that the ESDC may lawfully undertake within its enabling legislation.

The court, while not discussing the UDCA "civic project" ownership structure, decided that the arena is a recreational facility as, according the Court, entertainment—watching a Nets game—is recreation. That decision is currently under appeal,

But today we have an article in the Sports Business Journal about how Nets Sports & Entertainment President and CEO Brett Yormark has signed six current Nets sponsors to new deals as "founding partners" for the imaginary arena in Brooklyn (Anheuser-Busch, Cushman & Wakefield, MGM Grand/Foxwoods, ADT, Emblem Health and Izod). It is not difficult to understand the plaintiffs' argument that he arena is not a "civic project" when the Nets marketing guru says in the article:
...“We’ll be marketing the heck out of the building even before it is being built,” Yormark said.

(Emphasis added.)
Ahhhh, it is so refreshing to hear such heartfelt civic spirit and pride.
Posted: 5.13.08

"Rocking and Rolling Against Ratner's Atlantic Yards"

Click to enlarge
.
Posted: 5.12.08

On Tiffany Chains and Eminent Domain

Last week Crain's announced for Forest City Ratner that the developer will be holding a "splashy party" to promote the sales of luxury suites in the Barclays Center Arena -- presumably the "splashy" attendees will not be told that the arena's construction requires the abuse of eminent domain, and as they are schmoozed to buy the tricked out arena rumpus room tax write-offs, Ratner does not own the land he needs to build his arena:
Nets hold court on luxury suites
Crain's New York Business [subscription required]

Next week [May 15], the Nets will debut a prototype of their Frank Gehry-designed, $300,000-a-year Barclays Center corporate suites at a splashy party in their New York Times Building showroom.

To entice 185 of New York’s top CEOs to attend—and buy—the organization delivered a series of gifts over the past month, including a Tiffany key chain with a key, one of which will open a door to a free suite for the team’s inaugural season.

The arena is set to open in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards in 2010, if developer Bruce Ratner can clear all the legal hurdles in its path.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and rap star Jay-Z, a part-owner of the team, will be on hand for the May 15 event...
Today, on his Atlantic Yards Report, Norman Oder takes a closer look at the recent publicity campaign Ratner has waged in order to assure the public, elected officials, and, most importantly, potential skybox investors, that the $950 million arena can receive bonds and be constructed:
Why luxury suite sales this week are needed to market arena bonds

A counter-protest in response to the "Time Out" rally. An Bruce Ratner op-ed in the New York Daily News. The release of new renderings of the Atlantic Yards arena, office tower, and first residential building.

Let me try to put Forest City Ratner's recent efforts in some perspective. The office tower rendering is aimed to help attract an anchor tenant and get the building started. The rendering of a residential rental tower, with half the units subsidized, is aimed to maintain public support for the project.

But, more than anything else, the developer's efforts are about getting the arena built. That means the public must be convinced it's viable and, crucially, buyers of luxury suites must be recruited. The guarantee of certain suite revenues, I believe, will back bonds for the now-$950 million arena.
...

It's a good bet that a quota of suite sales, along with the value of the Barclays Center naming rights agreement and of other, as yet unnamed, partnerships, are part of the package that Forest City Ratner must put together to sell arena bonds. So far, Forest City Ratner has acknowledged that the naming rights agreement "lends itself pretty nicely" to securitization, but hasn't spoken about securitizing suite revenue.
...

The road is a bit rockier in Brooklyn, given the presence of some pesky lawsuits and skeptical public officials, not to mention some plausible portraits of an arena that surely won't get its full--or perhaps any--shiny titanium skin until the towers around it are complete.

Will the Tiffany key chain recipients be daunted?

Full article.
NoLandGrab, incisive as always, comments on the luxury suite glut:
With Madison Square Garden embarking on a top-to-bottom renovation, new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees opening next year, and a new home for the Giants and Jets underway, it'll be interesting to see what demand there might be for suites in an arena that's still in rendering stage.
Posted: 5.12.08

Atlantic Yards: Information Sharing Recordkeeping, Part 5
(Part 1) (Part 2 ) (Part 3) (Part 4)

In the February 26 NY Observer Forest City Ratner spokesman Loren Reigelhaupt said:
“When it comes to sharing information with the public and governmental bodies, there’s no such thing as too much, as far as we are concerned."
The Brooklyn Paper had no such luck in its article on the newly released Frank Gehry designs for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards proposal when seeking information from the developer:
Tale of Two Renderings

... A Forest City Ratner spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from The Brooklyn Paper...
Posted: 5.11.08

Nets to Newark Denial Sounds Funny to Mike Lupica

Daily News sports columnist Mike Lupica commented on the Nets to Newark chatter (and Ratner's denials that meetings about such a move have even occured) in yesterday's paper:
...As soon as Caring Bruce Ratner said the Nets weren't for sale and were still on their way to Brooklyn, I immediately imagined the team bus making a U-turn and heading for Newark...
Posted: 5.11.08

Southpaw, May 15th: Brooklyn Songwriters Against Atlantic Yards


Click to purchase tickets.

DEVELOP DON’T DESTROY BROOKLYN CONCERT SERIES:
BROOKLYN SONGWRITERS AGAINST ATLANTIC YARDS

John Wesley Harding, Richard Julian, and Clare & The Reasons

Brooklyn-based songwriters join together to raise funds for Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's fight against the Atlantic Yards project.

Event Details are as follows:

Richard Julian, John Wesley Harding, Clare & The Reasons, and surprise guests with a screening of the film "Brooklyn Matters" a documentary on the Atlantic Yards development

Thursday, May 15th
Doors at 6:30pm; Film at 7pm; Concert at 8pm

Southpaw
125 Fifth Ave

Brooklyn
(718) 230-0236
$12 in advance, $15 at the door
CLICK to buy tickets on line at TicketWeb

ABOUT Richard Julian
After three independent-label releases, New York-based songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Richard Julian made his major-label debut in 2006 with "Slow New York" (Manhattan Records/EMI), introducing what Harp Magazine calls Julian’s “nimble lyricism” and “keenly observational songs” to a broader audience nationally and internationally. A ubiquitous presence of late, he has also enjoyed success as a member of The Little Willies, a country side-project featuring himself, Norah Jones, and Jim Campilongo; and as a co-producer, writer, and performer on vocalist/songwriter Sasha Dobson’s bossa-tinged "Modern Romance" (Secret Sun Recordings). Currently, Julian is touring in support of his latest album "Sunday morning in Saturdays Shoes" released through Manhattan Records in February 2008.

ABOUT  John Wesley Harding
The acclaimed musician, songwriter, and author, John Wesley Harding has been making his mark on American culture for almost twenty years. From the start of his career in Hastings, England to his current home in Brooklyn, NY, John Wesley Harding has seen incredible career highlights. Stand out moments include sharing stages with legendary artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Michelle Shocked, The Band, Ray Davies, Los Lobos, and Joan Baez. He's also released eight records with hit singles that have gained him national recognition. One such song, "I'm Wrong About Everything" was included on the soundtrack to the movie "High Fidelity". Under his real name, Wesley Stace, he has published two novels, the international bestseller "Misfortune", one of Amazon's Top Ten Books of the Year, and last year's "by George", selected by the New York   Public Library as one of the 25 Book To Remember of 2007.

ABOUT Clare & The Reasons
Clare & The Reasons released their debut album "The Movie" (Frogstand Records) in September of last year. The album features guests such as Van Dyke Parks, Gregoire Maret, Sufjan Stevens and an augmented string section. You can hear Clare sing two songs on the Fox show "Arrested Development". She also has songs in two Lion's Gate films. Most recently, her song "Cactus Tree", can be heard in the HBO show "Cathouse". Clare & The Reasons is becoming a fixture in the New York music scene, and have branched out with a short European tour, as well as a recent appearance at the SXSW 2008 Music Festival. 
Posted: 5.10.08

Area 51 Type Mystery Surrounds Site 5 and Atlantic Yards

Bruce Ratner's plan to take "Site 5" (PC Richards & Modell's at Flatbush and 4th Avenue) by eminent domain and develop it as part of the Atlantic Yards proposal has been known for a long time, and was planned to be part of the project's first phase. But, as Norman Oder explains on his Atlantic Yards Report, the building that was shown in renderings when the project was approved (below) is now missing in action. It did not appear in the new Frank Gehry Phase1 renderings released on May 5th.

Oder's questions to the ESDC were met with such obfuscation one would think that Area 51 was in question, rather than Site 5. This is odd, since Site 5 had once been called "central" to Atlantic Yards's goals.
Site 5 "central" to AY goal, but delay was expected, says ESDC
Atlantic Yards Report

The new renderings produced by Frank Gehry do not include Site 5, the tower on the wedge of land between Pacific Street and Atlantic, Flatbush, and Fourth avenues, currently home to P.C. Richard and Modell's. Previous renderings (right) did include Site 5.

The General Project Plan approved by the Empire State Development Corporation in December 2006 suggested that Site 5 was a priority:
The development of both Site 5 and Building 1, with high density buildings, is central to the goal of the Project to transform this very public and prominent area by creating architecturally significant buildings that would ring, and be connected to, the transit hub, and by developing uses that would activate and create a vibrant streetscape experience for the public.

Status of Site 5

Based on the renderings, my surmise is that either the building has been dropped, or its construction has been postponed. I asked ESDC spokesman Warner Johnston for information.

He responded, "Site 5 was never contemplated to be one of the first buildings and will be done in a future phase."

He's right that that buildings on the arena block, rather than across Flatbush Avenue, were the first buildings expected in Phase 1--though Site 5 has long been part of Phase . Still, the absence of a Gehry rendering, much less a mention by developer Forest City Ratner of Site 5 in Monday's press release, is reason to wonder about the timetable, as was its omission at an Investor Day discussion last October. (FCR told Crain's the building would be developed separately.)
...
Posted: 5.09.08

New Port Authority Chief Expresses Caution on Atlantic Yards

Along with a rebuke of Frank Gehry's new Atlantic Yards designs, comes a warning that should have come a long time ago from leaders in City Hall and Albany:
New Port Authority Chief Not So Sure About This Atlantic Yards
New York Magazine's Daily Intel. — Alec Appelbaum

Chris Ward, due to take over the Port Authority this month, suggests to us that he thinks Bruce Ratner should consider recruiting architects other than Frank Gehry for the Atlantic Yards. “Flatbush and Atlantic is a totally underused area and a major transportation hub, and I hope we don't lock ourselves into a design that does not allow other architecture or public space,” says Ward. That design is entirely Gehry's; even after Ratner admitted his multi-tower vision might not attract financing, public officials have kept the architect front and center. “Bruce, with his optimism, is probably feeling that he doesn't have to worry about those contingencies,” Ward continues. “But it would be worthwhile to pay attention to the real-estate risks there.”
...

Ward will have a lot of influence over state spending if the developer needs a cash influx.

Full article.
Posted: 5.08.08

Mixed Use Projects in Trouble
Increasingly Cautious Lenders Delay Mixed-Use Development
Investor's Business Daily
by Brad Kelly

Shy lenders are trying to avoid mingling with "mixed use." They're putting brakes on developments that blend offices and stores with condominiums, apartments and hotels.

Before the housing bubble's pop and a crunch in credit, developers drew up many mixed-use plans. They were a way to enliven urban blocks and use space economically.

But now it's harder to find lenders who'll back all parts of a project. They vary in which parts of mixed-use they fear.
Some consider office and residential aspects to be higher-risk, says Scott Lynn, a principal at Dallas investment bank Metropolitan Capital Advisors. It's far tougher today, he says, to get financing for mixed-use plans that are part residential, vs. a sole-use retail property.

"Banks are terrified of the residential market and see retail or hotel projects as a safer loan," he said, citing better assurance of income in the latter categories.
...

Developers across the U.S. are delaying mixed-use projects as lenders back away, concerned that risks outweigh returns. High construction costs and worsening fundamentals are jeopardizing major plans.
...

Two months ago in New York, Forest City Ratner Cos. warned of difficulties with office and residential parts of Atlantic Yards, a $4 billion, 22-acre Brooklyn project. Given lack of demand in both niches, the firm said, it would be hard to get enough leasing commitments to secure financing. This week it issued new designs and outlined a 10-year construction schedule that does include offices and residences.

Full article.

Posted: 5.08.08

Contact: Governor
David A. Paterson
Mail: State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Phone: 518-474-8390
Email Form: Click Here
Need contacts for other elected officials?
Click here.

In bookstores Jan. 2.
More info.
Forrest Taylor is the ESDC's "Atlantic Yards ombudsman."
You can contact him with your concerns and questions at:
(212) 803-3123 or atlanticyards@
empire.state.ny.us
What would Atlantic Yards Look like?...
Photo Simulations
Before and After views from around the project footprint revealing the massive scale of the proposed luxury apartment and sports complex.
Eminent Domain Lawsuit
Goldstein et al v.
Pataki et al

Click for all briefs and info on the federal lawsuit alleging that eminent domain for "Atlantic Yards" violates the U.S. Constitution.

On March 31, 2008 plaintiffs filed a petition to the Supreme Court of the United States asking the Court to hear their case.

EIS Lawsuit
DDDB et al v ESDC et al
Click for a summary of the lawsuit seeking to annul the review and approval of "Atlantic Yards" by the ESDC, PACB and MTA.

APPEAL:
Plaintiffs appeal is scheduled to be filed in July.
Argument to be held in the court's September term.
Appeal briefs are here.

Legal Decision Rendered
by Judge Madden on
January 11


Click for
Screening Schedule
of
Isabel Hill's
"Atlantic Yards" documentary
Brooklyn Matters


Read a review
-----------------------
Atlantic Yards
would be
Instant
Gentrification
Click image to see why:

Click here
to order DDDB tshirts. They cost $20 and all funds go to our legal campaign, shirts come in black, red, gold and pink tanktops.


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