Posts Tagged ‘Bruce Ratner’

Childs Anchors Atlantic Yards?

East | March 10th, 2010 | Matt Chaban

Might a 1- or 7-WTC-style building by David Childs one day replace some of those ghost towers behind SHoP's rendering of their Atlantic Yards arena?

The Brooklyn Paper bumped into David Childs last week, during the opening of his SOM colleague Roger Duffy’s new Toren condo tower, and the BKP is reporting the surprising news that both could possibly be working on some of the 16 residential towers proposed for Bruce Ratner’s nearby Atlantic Yards development.

“First, he brought me in to look at the arena design, which I think is very good now,” Childs said, referring to the current design collaboration between Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects. “And then we talked about working together on the residential buildings,” added Childs.

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The Final Slam Dunk?

East | December 15th, 2009 | Matt Chaban

Forest City Ratner successfully sold bonds today, paving the way for construction of its new arena in Brooklyn.

Forest City Ratner successfully sold bonds today, paving the way for construction of its new arena in Brooklyn.

There may be a few hoops left to jump through before Bruce Ratner can begin construction of his SHoP- and Ellerbe Becket-designed arena for the Brooklyn, né New Jersey, Nets, such as completing a partial sale of the team to a Russian oligarch, prevailing in some outstanding lawsuits, and going ahead with eminent domain against the area’s remaining holdouts. But the developer appears to have cleared the final major hurdle standing in his way with the successful sale of $511 million in tax-exempt bonds today for his $900 million arena. (There are still taxed bonds and an equity stake to be taken care of, but they lacked the December 31 deadline.) (more…)

Everybody Wants a Bailout

East | July 6th, 2009 | Matt Chaban

Money pits.

Money pits: World Trade Center and Atlantic Yards.

With the news today, reported by The Observer, that Larry Silverstein has begun legal proceedings against the Port Authority to end the gridlock at Ground Zero, as well as the developments two weeks prior at Atlantic Yards, it seems obvious to us what’s going on here. Having witnessed the financial titans across town receive hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money, these developers now want theirs. Granted, so did Larry Flint and the porn industry, but the comparison bears consideration. (more…)

Atlantic Yards Gets Contextual

Other | January 26th, 2009 | Matt Chaban

Ratner Gehry Atlantic Yards Brownstone Brooklyn

The Post has put a design to Marty Markowtiz's "proposal" for Atlantic Yards. (Rendering by the New York Post/Original Aerial Photograph by Jonathan Barkey/Courtesy the Post)

The Atlantic Yards has been through a number of iterations, including one by the Post entitled Atlantic Lots, which was developed with the MAS. But today’s rendering by the paper is perhaps its slyest yet, taking a proclamation by “biggest cheeleader” Borough President Marty Markowitz, who called for the project to be clad in brownstone as a cost-saving measure. (more…)

Cutting the Nets?

Other | October 30th, 2008 | Matt Chaban

Courtesy Forest City Ratner

Courtesy Forest City Ratner

At Monday’s Coney Island charrette kick-off, hosted by the Municipal Art Society, a number of stakeholders from the area gave presentations to the design team to help them form ideas for leading the charrette in a few weeks. (To share your own, visit the imagineconey.com, which just launched today.)

One of the presentations was given by Jon Benguiat, the director of planning and development for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who spoke about Asser Levy Park, a small outdoor amphitheater and park across Surf Avenue from the aquarium, which is getting a dramatic $64 million retractable roof courtesy of Grimshaw. (More on that soon, we hope.)

As with all these things, there was a Power Point presentation, and as with all Power Point presentations, the whole thing took some time to boot up. In the interim, Benguiat decided to tell the story of how he became Marty’s planning direct, during which he let some shocking news about the Atlantic Yards, or at least the fate of the Brooklyn Nets, slide. (more…)