Westchester Times Tribune - Volume 2, Number 80 - March 27, 2008

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[Hezi Aris]

More Atlantic Yards Bait and Switch (Update on Atlantic Yard Story)

State Had Approved 10 Year Construction Timeline;

Later Signs Agreement Allowing Just Phase 1 to Take 12 Years

And the Arena to Take 6 Years

Phase 2, The Bulk of the Housing, Has No Established Timeline

BROOKLYN, NY— As revealed today on the Atlantic Yards Report, the Empire State Development Corporation’s (ESDC) funding agreement with Atlantic Yards proposal developer Forest City Ratner, allows 6-plus years for the developer to build the arena, 12-plus years to build the rest of Phase 1 (five skyscrapers), and no established timeline to build the remaining 11 skyscrapers comprising Phase 2 which would account for the bulk of the proposed “affordable housing.” These details are contained within the funding agreement which was posted in 37 parts on Friday on the ESDC website on the same day of a bombshell article on the front page of the NY Times outlining the financial problems plaguing the failing project (“Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards”).

The General Project Plan, approved in December 2006 by the ESDC, stated that Phase 1 of the project (the arena and 5 towers) was "anticipated to be completed by 2010" and Phase II (11 towers and privately-owned, publicly accessible open space) was "anticipated to be completed by 2016." But that is not now the case as the Atlantic Yards Report explains:

Nine months later, in September 2007, the ESDC signed a funding agreement that gives developer Forest City Ratner much more time and also posits a scenario in which much less housing and open space would be built.

The details:
> Ratner would have six years to build the arena after the close of litigation and the ESDC's exercise of eminent domain to acquire needed properties.

> Ratner would have 12 years to build the five towers of Phase I after the close of litigation and the ESDC's exercise of eminent domain to acquire needed properties.

> Ratner would have an unspecified amount of time to build the eleven towers of Phase II, with an option for the ESDC to buy back the land from the developer.

> Should the project be abandoned, the city might pursue a plan that would bring 1845 units of housing 646 of them affordable, and 2 acres of open space, as opposed to 6430 units, 2250 of them affordable, and 8 acres of open space…

…If the Effective Date [close of litigation and completion of property condemnation] does not occur prior to December 19, 2009 and Forest City Ratner fails to pursue the site litigation or take "reasonable steps" in furtherance of the project, it "will be deemed abandoned," and the ESDC will get its money back.

“The ESDC and the Public Authorities Control Board signed off on a project that would take 10 years to construct. Less than a year later the ESDC has agreed to allow Forest City Ratner to take 6 years just to build the arena, 12 years just to build the first phase of the project, and no established timeline for the second phase where the bulk of the ‘affordable’ housing would be,” said Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn spokesman Daniel Goldstein. “This is a bait and switch of an incredible degree. The project’s political supporters, as well as ‘affordable’ housing partner ACORN, ought to be up in arms about this drastic timeline change negotiated completely behind closed doors.”