June 16, 2006
$3.5B Atlantic Yards Slated for Fall Kickoff
$3.5 billion mixed-use project, is inching toward construction across the East River in Brooklyn. "Assuming all goes well, we are looking at work starting in the fall," said a spokesperson for the developer, Forest City Ratner Cos.
Located mostly on rail yards at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, the 8.7 million-square-foot project designed by Frank Gehry would include residential, office and retail space, plus an arena for the National Basketball Association's Nets. The program has been criticized on multiple fronts, from its skyline-changing scale to the alleged "backroom deal" selecting Forest City Ratner.
In response, Gehry last month unveiled renderings of what Forest City Ratner called a scaled-back version, which reduces the square footage by 475,000 and skrinks several of the taller building heights while increasing others, though an office building dubbed "Miss Brooklyn" would still be the borough's tallest structure at 620 feet. The revised plan calls for 6,860 apartments and condominiums, a reduction of 440 units. Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, the leading opposition group, says that despite the reductions, the project is still bigger than announced in 2003.
As Atlantic Yards moves through the environmental review process, observers have mixed predictions about how it would fit into the market. "(New York City) overall needs apartments," noted Jeffrey Troy, a senior director at Eastern Consolidated. "A lot of people are moving out to (New) Jersey and other areas because they can't afford Manhattan."
C. Glenn Schor, COO of investment and management firm The Treeline Cos., questioned whether the market, with Downtown Manhattan's pipeline, can absorb Atlantic Yards' 606,000 square feet of office space and its huge residential component. But he called the hotel and arena components "a fantastic idea," adding, "If the residential is phased in, it could be very successful."
ÑPaul Rosta