April 3, 2011

Brooklyn pastor scores prime seats at Nets' new venue

New York Post
By Gary Buiso

Rev. Daughtry was for jobs, hoops and housing for the Atlantic Yards project. Who knows when the jobs and housing might show up. He's got hoops!

Want Nets tickets? You'll have to make a higher calling.

Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of a Boerum Hill church, will have the final say over the distribution of 54 free tickets and a luxury box for every event at the new Nets arena when it opens next year.

The deal is part of a "community benefits agreement" the clergyman -- who was a high-profile proponent of the arena's construction -- hammered out with developer Forest City Ratner on behalf of his nonprofit Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Association, which was formed with $50,000 in seed money from Forest City in 2005.

The deal includes four seats in the $1 billion Barclays Center's lower bowl, 50 ducats in the upper section, and a posh suite, according to Nets spokesman Barry Baum.

...

"This is [Daughtry's] little piece of the pie for having been a cheerleader to Ratner," said Candace Carponter, legal director of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, a group opposed to Atlantic Yards.

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Related coverage...

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, Who Needs Housing When You Have Free Tix?

So just when it looked like all the promised benefits of the Atlantic Yards project--loads of construction jobs, lots of affordable housing--were empty promises, Bruce Ratner has finally come through with the big payoff for the community. Well, not exactly for the community, but for long-time Ratner cheerleader Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who will get to distribute 54 free tickets and a luxury box for every event at the new Nets arena when it opens next year.

And those gratis ducats aren't chump change. Season tickets for the Nets went on sale last week, with an average price of $132 a seat, about double the prices that prevailed last season in New Jersey. Fans were not delighted, even with the lowest price point. According to one commenter on a Nets fan site:

In the end, I may actually be priced out of this place if I don’t want to be in the rafters. Think about the starting price of $99 for the All Access Pass ticket sections. That’s $99 per game, per seat so basically...you are signing a contract to pay $26,400 for 2 seats for the next 3 years without knowing what the product will be on the floor.

To me, that’s just too much at this point....

But displaced fans shouldn't look to Daughtry for his freebies. The Reverend told the New York Post that "he hopes to use some tickets as a carrot for kids to get better grades and perhaps offer the suite to sick patients at Fort Greene's Brooklyn Hospital Center."

Better yet: maybe that luxury box could be retrofited to be the affordable housing component of Atlantic Yards. Who says promises don't come true?

Atlantic Yards Report, Post focuses on the Rev. Daughtry's control of arena tickets; will he also control use of the arena ten times a year by community groups?

The New York Post discovers that the Reverend Herbert Daughtry and his created-for-the-Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance (DBNA) will be in charge of free tickets for the Barclays Center arena, as we've long known.

But the big news--if true--was slipped in as an aside: Daughtry's group also would control the ten-times-a-year use of the arena by community groups. That was never specified in the DCBA.

Daughtry's role

In Brooklyn pastor scores prime seats at Nets' new venue, the Post reports:

Want Nets tickets? You'll have to make a higher calling.

Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of a Boerum Hill church, will have the final say over the distribution of 54 free tickets and a luxury box for every event at the new Nets arena when it opens next year.

The deal is part of a "community benefits agreement" the clergyman -- who was a high-profile proponent of the arena's construction -- hammered out with developer Forest City Ratner on behalf of his nonprofit Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Association, which was formed with $50,000 in seed money from Forest City in 2005.

The deal includes four seats in the $1 billion Barclays Center's lower bowl, 50 ducats in the upper section, and a posh suite, according to Nets spokesman Barry Baum.

Note: I reported after the March 2010 groundbreaking that Daughtry had spoken of controlling access to 50 free tickets--valued at $33,000, a mere blip in the total of public subsidies and tax breaks the developer has received.

(I'm assuming such $15 tickets would all sell out. And while lower bowl seats and a a suite would have a higher face value, it shouldn't be assumed that any value should be assigned, since they wouldn't all sell out.)

Some background

The Post reports:

The 80-year-old activist, who was an adviser to the Rev. Jesse Jackson and slain rapper Tupac Shakur, found God after doing a four-year stint in state and federal prison in 1953 for attempted armed robbery.

Daughtry's group was among eight that signed the benefits agreement in 2005 and stand to gain as the project proceeds. One signatory, for example, the Mutual Housing Association of New York -- it replaced the defunct activist group ACORN and in 2008 received a $1.5 million loan from Forest City -- will be in charge of marketing the project's affordable-housing component.

It's worth mentioning that, while Daughtry claims to live in Brooklyn, he raised his kids in Teaneck, NJ.

As for ACORN, that was not a $1.5 million loan, but a $1.5 million grant/loan. The distinction isn't crucial; ACORN isn't paying Forest City Ratner, and the developer still got a good deal.

Posted by steve at April 3, 2011 11:00 PM | Permalink

The explosive growth of the EB-5 regional center program: from 23 to 125 in less than three years

Atlantic Yards Report

Don't think that only Forest City Ratner has figured that the federal government's EB-5 program is a good way to raise low-cost capital.

So have many, many others. Consider the explosion in the number of regional centers, federally authorized investment pools that market green cards in exchange for purportedly job-creating investments. (Click on graphics to enlarge.)

July 2008: 23

July 2009: 60

November 2009: 75

October 2010: 114

March 2011: 125

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Posted by steve at April 3, 2011 10:34 PM | Permalink

Sellout! Ratner hawks half of his malls to raise $ for A’Yards

The Brooklyn Paper
By Aaron Short

One reason that developer Bruce Ratner needs 25 years to build Atlantic Yards might be that he hasn't got enough money to build the project.

Cash-strapped developer Bruce Ratner is selling half his stake in two of the borough’s largest shopping centers as he struggles to begin his $4.9-billion Atlantic Yards project across the street.

Ratner sold 49-percent shares of Fort Greene’s Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal Mall and 13 other projects to an international real estate investor for $172 million last week.

A spokesman for the company said that the sale would have “no direct bearing” on the delayed mega-development, which is supposed to consist of 16 residential and office towers, plus a basketball arena, but currently only features the under-construction sports facility.

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Posted by steve at April 3, 2011 10:27 PM | Permalink

In St. Louis, a protest sign meets government arrogance

The Washington Post
By George Will

New York courts have refused to rein in eminent domain abuse. Now comes a story where the issue is not even allowed to be mentioned.

A dialectic of judicial deference and political arrogance is on display in St. Louis. When excessively deferential courts permit governmental arrogance, additional arrogance results as government explores the limits of judicial deference. As Jim Roos knows.

He formed a nonprofit housing and community development corporation that provides residences for people with low incomes. Several times its properties have been seized by the city government, using “blight” as an excuse for transferring property to developers who can pay more taxes to the seizing government.

The Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo decision legitimized this. It permits governments to cite “blight” — a notoriously elastic concept, sometimes denoting nothing more than chipped paint or cracked sidewalks — to justify seizing property for the “public use” of enriching those governments.

Roos responded by painting on the side of one of his buildings a large mural — a slash through a red circle containing the words “End Eminent Domain Abuse.” The government that had provoked him declared his sign “illegal” and demanded that he seek a permit for it. He did. Then the government denied the permit.

The St. Louis sign code puts the burden on the citizen to justify his or her speech rather than on the government to justify limiting speech. And the code exempts certain kinds of signs from requiring permits. These include works of art, flags of nations, states or cities, and symbols or crests of religious, fraternal or professional organizations. And, of course, the government exempted political signs. So the exempted categories are defined by the signs’ content.

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Posted by steve at April 3, 2011 10:11 PM | Permalink

April 2, 2011

News from Forest City conference call: AY office space forgotten; project will get built at company's pace; no mention of EB-5 or modular construction

Atlantic Yards Report

During a conference call with investment analysts yesterday held by Forest City Enterprises, there were no questions about Atlantic Yards, so apparently issues of modular construction or EB-5 fundraising have not reached the radar screens of those analysts.

But there were some clues in both remarks by FCE officials and documents released by the company.

For one thing, the Atlantic Yards office tower--a key component of expected tax revenues--seems to be off the table, suggesting it's not expected in the near term. Another involves the repeated claim that Atlantic Yards will develop at Forest City's pace.

Where's the office space?

An end-of-year Supplemental Package to the Securities and Exchange Commission, described Atlantic Yards as the first among "Projects Under Development""

Below is a summary of our active large scale development projects, which have yet to commence construction, often referred to as our "shadow pipeline" which are crucial to our long-term growth. While we cannot make any assurances on the timing or delivery of these projects, our track record speaks to our ability to bring large, complex, projects to fruition when there is demand and available construction financing.

1) Atlantic Yards - Brooklyn, NY Atlantic Yards is adjacent to the state-of-the art arena, the Barclays Center, which is designed by the award-winning firms Ellerbe Becket and SHoP Architects and is currently under construction. In addition, Atlantic Yards will feature more than 6,400 units of housing, including over 2,200 affordable units, approximately 250,000 square feet of retail space, and more than 8 acres of landscaped open space.

Missing was any mention of the office tower.

At Forest City's pace

In remarks recalling the November 2008 presentation in which Forest City included Atlantic Yards among projects where "we control the pace," CEO Chuck Ratner indicated that the developer still feels the same way.

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Posted by steve at April 2, 2011 11:12 PM | Permalink

April 1, 2011

Two more (Atlantic Yards-supporting) Carpenters Union officials step down, as they avoid signing declarations regarding organized crime

Atlantic Yards Report

Whaddaya know? Some more of Atlantic Yards best friends are finding themselves under a cloud. And unlike some of today's news, this is no joke.

In January, I reported that two Carpenters Union cheerleaders for the Atlantic Yards project have come into severe criticism and sanction for suspected and confirmed improprieties, according to a report by a court-appointed monitor.

Now there's more, as additional Atlantic Yards supporters have found themselves under a cloud as they've avoided statements about mafia ties, including Anthony Pugliese, left in photo, with Sal Zarzana, center.

(At right in the photo, from the 7/22/09 informational meeting organized by the Empire State Development Corporation, is Atlantic Yards opponent Robert Puca. Photo by Adrian Kinloch.)

The earlier report

The January report by Dennis M. Walsh was filed in federal court, and noted more than "$30,000 of inappropriate expenditures made by Salvester Zarzana, the business manager of Local 926 [in Brooklyn]."

Also, Walsh concluded that Local 926 business representative John Holt knowingly violated Job Referral Rules, obstructed an investigation, and gave false answers to an investigator. Walsh thus vetoed Holt's employment as a business representative.

The latest: mob influence?

Local 157's John Musumeci, whose blog offers a forum for regular union members to learn what's going on and to push for reforms, reported 3/16/11:

Local 157 Vice President/Representative Anthony Pugliese was pushed into retirement because he refused to cooperate and sign a declaration under penalty of perjury pertaining to mob influence over the affairs of the District Council, an informed source said.

Pugliese 57, a 35-year UBC member, and for the past 12 years, a Council Representative reportedly making $158,069 and collecting a tools pension, before he unexpectedly retired last week amid a zealous investigation by Review Officer Dennis Walsh, pertaining to organized crime influence over the affairs of the District Council, its affiliated local unions and members.

As Musumeci reports, District Council employees are supposed to sign a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that they they have no information beyond that already publicized regarding mob ties:

Pugliese invoked his privilege against self-incrimination and decided to retire instead of sign the declaration an informed source said.

Note that these are anonymous sources, but no one has posted a response accusing Musumeci of inaccurate information.

He also wrote 8/24/10 that, on the night before the leader of the New York City District Council of Carpenters pleaded guilty to taking bribes from contractors, Pugliese declared that the leader, Michael Forde, was innocent.

Brugueras also resigns

Another Local Union 926 official, Ray Brugueras, "also suddenly resigned last week," Musumeci reported 3/12/11, again using anonymous sources.

Brugueras testified several times in favor of Atlantic Yards.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 12:40 PM | Permalink

Press Release: Prokhorov's Nets to Utilize Obscure BS-5 Green Card Program to Lure New Talent

via Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

Nets to Use Federal BS-5 Hope For Hoops Program

Mikhail Prokorov's Nets to Utilize Obscure Federal Immigration Program in Desperate Effort to Find New Hoops Talent, Fund New Concessions, and Pay Off Prokhorov Debts

April 1, 2011

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - Newark Nets President Brett Yormark announced today that the 23-51 Nets, coming off another devastating season on and off the court, plan to utilize an obscure federal green card program for which NBA commissioner David Stern had long lobbied Congress in the hopes of injecting new, unknown talent and funds into the basketball league.

The program, officially called the BS-5 Hope for Hoops Program but called BS-5 for short, allows NBA teams with at least four losing seasons in a row to offer green cards and a spot on their roster to any foreign investors willing to lend a minimum of $20 million to the team. The team is also required to start the foreign investor in at least five games during the season, and give the player a minimum of 5 minutes per game. If the team improves upon the past four season's records, the investor gets his/her money returned in full with interest (at a rate of .05 percent).

The BS-5 program also allows the franchise to expand its active roster by a maximum of ten players, all of whom must be BS-5 players. All BS-5 investors must be at least 5' 11".

According to the legislation enacting the BS-5 program, the funds from these foreign investors are to be used solely to improve the quality of the basketball team on the floor and the team's win-loss record through player development, the free agency market and trades.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 12:22 PM | Permalink

Highway Removery: Bloomberg Says “My Way Is the Highway,”- Private-Public Partnership Finally Bridging a Gulf

Noticing New York

News about the decades-old effort to remake the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway ties, naturally, to Atlantic Yards.

The Bloomberg administration just announced intentions to accelerate materialization of an intriguing part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030, (which plan was announced during his second term) in order to bring about, before the completion of Bloomberg’s third term, the platforming and building over the Brooklyn Queens Expressway that separates Brooklyn’s Red Hook and Carroll Gardens. Nine new blocks of residential housing will be created. Perhaps even bigger news is that the Bloomberg administration has, with some hoopla, unveiled its intentions to implement the construction via an ambitious new form of private-public partnership, supported by charitable dollars, that it says will create a windfall for the public.
...

Jumping with sharp-eyed alacrity into the unfolding events, State Senator Daniel Squadron has co-authored a proposal with Assemblywoman Joan Millman: They are urging that the envisioned windfall increase in values be captured with tax increment-financing to divert the resulting increased property taxes to pay expenses for the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Noting that the building over the BQE will be taking place just blocks away from the park, Squadron observed that the new structures being erected will greatly expand the population accessing and benefitting from the park every day. Squadron pointed out that, in all probability, the reason the Bloomberg administration now found it attractive to accelerate this proposed development was because of the world-class contributions the park would be making to neighborhood aesthetics and amenities.

For many, the platforming over the BQE is considered long overdue. Although it was included as an element of the mayor’s 2030 plan, the idea had been urged long before that, including some serious discussion in 1980. Above is an image from architect Susannah Drake from her DLANDSTUDIO, whose proposals preceded the mayor’s adoption of them into his plan (the above envisioning is only a park- no buildings).
...

Bloomberg L.P. was not always the first choice to be the private developer side of the private-public partnership. The city originally leaned toward selection of Forest City Ratner. Seth Pinsky, President of the mayor’s New York City Economic Development Corporation said that a lot of people viewed the Ratner organization merely as a professional subsidy collection organization. “That underestimates Ratner,” said Mr. Pinsky, “by the time Ratner has completed the Atlantic Yards project it will have learned a lot about platform construction. The superior expertise garnered at taxpayer expense should not be discounted or wasted.” Nevertheless, Mr. Pinsky said the city had problems with the Ratner organization leading to the decision to switch to the expertise available if things are managed under Doctoroff and his people.

“First,” said Pinsky, “there are the Ridge Hill and Kruger indictment tapes concerning Forest City Ratner’s participation in bribing government officials. We are not sure all the tapes made have surfaced yet.” Secondly, said Pinsky, there is a question of good government: “When you are NOT taking bids it looks bad to keep handing out swaths of the city to the same real estate development firms. It looks like the mayor is playing favorites. It is better to take turns and hand out deals on a rotating basis.”
...

Bloomberg expects to reduce the overall cost of the project (and boost returns to investors on the equity side of the transaction) by directing into it charity funds that are under his control. To that end, funds Bloomberg collected through the Mayor's Fund to Advance the City for the victims of the recent Japanese disasters may be temporarily rerouted or “reutilized.” “In the end the Japanese will get these monies with interest,” said Bloomberg, “we will be setting the whole thing up with long-term zero-coupon capital appreciation bonds....

"At least, whatever we do, we’re paying an internal rate of interest at a LIBOR rate set by Barclays.”

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 11:55 AM | Permalink

Forest City Ratner News Release: "The Arena Can Wait. Affordable Housing Now!"

via Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

This shocking news release from Forest City Enterprises just landed in our mailbox.

FOREST CITY ENTERPRISES

NEWS RELEASE

The Arena Can Wait. Affordable Housing Now.

Forest City Ratner Prioritizes Affordable Housing Over Barclays Center Arena In Brooklyn Atlantic Yards Project

CLEVELAND, Ohio and BROOKLYN, New York - April 1, 2011 - Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: FCE.A and FCE.B) today announced that the Barclays Center Arena for which it broke ground just over one year ago, is going on the backburner so the development firm can break ground on the affordable housing units it has long promised to construct for Brooklyn.

Bruce Ratner, chairman and chief executive officer of Forest City Ratner Companies, the company's New York-based subsidiary, and other Forest City executives, were joined by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Barclays PLC President Robert E. Diamond, Jr., NETS investor and cultural icon Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter, and many other community leaders to happily announce that they realized the depravity of constructing a money-losing, billion dollar arena in the middle of housing crisis and will immediately commence construction of affordable housing towers.

Click through for the rest of the release.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 11:48 AM | Permalink

First Tickets On Sale For Nets Games in Brooklyn

Season ticket holders get first dibs on the "All Access" tickets at the 18,000-seat Barclays Center

Park Slope Patch
by Stephen Brown

There are 100 suites in the $1 billion arena, including 16 “brownstone suites” that cost around $450,000. The least expensive of the bunch will be the “loft suites,” which cost between $215,000 and $300,000.

Nets spokesman Barry Baum added that only one brownstone suite was still available, and that 10 suites designed by Jay-Z — who holds a small stake in the team — will go on the market in the fall.

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NoLandGrab: We suggest renaming the "brownstone" and "loft" suites "Pre-Fab" and "Modular," respectively.

Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 11:38 AM | Permalink

Former hospital executive David Rosen indicted in Kruger corruption case

NY Daily News
by Robert Gearty

When you're bribing crooked politicians, it's apparently a really bad idea to cut out the middle man.

A former hospital executive on Thursday became the first defendant in the corruption case against Brooklyn Sen. Carl Kruger to be indicted.

David Rosen, the former head of Jamaica Hospital, is charged in a bribery scheme involving Kruger and Assemblyman William Boyland, both Democrats.

A federal grand jury in Manhattan accused Rosen of bribing Kruger, Boyland Jr. and the late Queens Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio to get them to support the hospital's requests in Albany.

Rosen was ousted as CEO after being arrested last month.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 11:28 AM | Permalink

Mixed Reviews: Prokhorov Makes Waves But Doesn’t Get Results in Season One

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by John Torenli

The best thing an audience can say about an upstart reality television series or hot new dramatic cable saga is that they can’t wait to see what happens next season.

Based on that scenario, Mikhail Prokhorov’s first full campaign as principal owner of the New Jersey (soon-to-be-Brooklyn) Nets has been a smashing success.

Since the 45-year-old metal tycoon has taken charge, the Nets have been more newsworthy than usual, gaining arguably their most attention since Jason Kidd led them to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003.

A check of the franchise-in-transition’s record, both on and off the court, however, indicates that the positive results have been based much more on style than substance.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 11:13 AM | Permalink

Cash-Strapped Forest City Ratner Sells 49% Stake in Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal Malls

The L Magazine
by Mark Asch

Bruce Ratner's company has sold a 49% interest in 15 NYC shopping centers, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. This includes the Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal malls, those two monstrosities across Flatbush from the project which has put Ratner into such dire financial straits.

As if the implications of the sale—the largest possible non-controlling stake in privately owned, healthy income-generating retail developments—weren't clear enough, graf 2 of the WSJ article notes, with killing objectivity, "The sale... comes as Forest City has been hobbled by major development projects that were started at the market's peak, when prices and expectations were far higher than they are today." (One thing they don't mention: this isn't the first time Ratner's sold off assets to keep Atlantic Yards moving. Remember that time he sold his basketball team to the richest man in Russia?)
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Ratner, you may recall, had several blocks of Prospect Heights declared "blighted" so that the state could claim eminent domain to hand them over to him. Ratner and the state's urban renewal project apparently consists of letting huge swaths of the neighborhood remain vacant and undeveloped indefinitely, or at least until he can find a few million more pennies under the couch.

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Related coverage...

Park Slope Patch, Ratner Sells Big Stake in Atlantic Terminal Mall

Madison International, a real estate private equity firm, will pay the developer’s company, Forest City Ratner, $172 million for properties that include both Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal. Madison will also take on $499.9 million of debt.

Ratner will retain the majority share and continue to manage the properties, including the Atlantic Terminal Mall.

Ratner’s plans for 16-tower mini-city and basketball arena at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues was on the brink of financial ruin in 2008 when the economy tanked. Since then, the original architect of the project, Frank Gehry, has been fired, and the developer has said the project could be completed in 25 years, rather than the original 10 years.

Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 11:01 AM | Permalink

Brooklyn Kids With Cancer: Apply for Free Family Camp in Maine

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn families with a child who has been diagnosed with cancer can attend Camp Sunshine, a one-of-a-kind national retreat for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families in Maine, thanks to the generosity of the Barclays/Nets Community Alliance. The Alliance is a philanthropic partnership among Barclays, the Nets and Forest City Ratner Companies.

Camp Sunshine offers families a place to relax together and take a break from the extraordinary demands placed upon them on a daily basis. The year-round program is free of charge and staffed almost entirely by volunteers. It is the only program in the nation whose mission is to address the impact of a life-threatening illness on every member of the immediate family.

The weekend of April 15 through 18 marks the second consecutive year of the Brooklyn program. It is hoped that up to 40 families from the city will participate in the year’s session at no cost. The program is intended to provide an opportunity for families living in Brooklyn to meet others fighting similar battles, share their experiences and allow their children to just have fun. Families interested in filling the remaining slots can visit the Camp Sunshine website at www.campsunshine.org.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 10:55 AM | Permalink

Brooklyn Arena On Track For 2012 Opening

NY1
by Jeanine Ramirez

Nets CEO Brett Yormark gave NY1 a tour of the site. He says the construction is right on track for a 2012 opening when the Nets, for the first time, will play in Brooklyn.

"They've been underserved in the area of sports and entertainment for years. Since the dodgers left in 1957. We're the home team. We're coming back. And we're giving them something to root for," said Nets CEO Brett Yormark.

Thank goodness. We've been bored out of our wits for the last 54 years.

"We're bringing the circus here and Disney on Ice. We have a college franchise we're developing with IMG College for lots of great college sports with basketball and hockey," Yormark said.

If it's not Yormark's usual hyperbole, that may be some news. There's been some question as to the arena's suitability for ice hockey.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 10:45 AM | Permalink

CAN YOU INVEST STOCK IN THE NEW JERSEY NETS?

Sports Choice

Question by Matt D: Can you invest stock in the New Jersey Nets?

Can you invest stock in individual NBA teams?

Best answer:

Answer by jken2030
um, No.

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Posted by eric at April 1, 2011 10:40 AM | Permalink

March 31, 2011

NBA probing Jay-Z’s visit to Kentucky locker room

AP via Yahoo! Sports

An NBA spokesman confirms that the league is investigating Jay-Z’s presence in Kentucky’s locker room after the Wildcats clinched a Final Four berth.

The rapper visited the players after their victory over North Carolina on Sunday at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J, home of the Nets. Jay-Z is a part-owner of the team and attended the Nets’ 120-116 loss at New York on Wednesday.

NBA rules prohibit team personnel from having contact with players who are not yet draft eligible, and spokesman Tim Frank told the Associated Press the league is looking into it.

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Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 3:01 PM | Permalink

Forest City reports increased earnings, savings on Nets, small uptick on contracted arena revenue--and departure of Minieri

Atlantic Yards Report

In a press release headlined Forest City Reports Fiscal 2010 Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter Results, Forest City Enterprises yesterday reported record earnings, though those earnings on a per share basis are down.

The parent of Forest City Ratner noted that the sale of the Nets was paying off, and that there was a modest increase in contractually obligated arena income.

The Real Deal also reported yesterday that Forest City Ratner president and Chief Operating Officer Joanne Minieri, with the company since 1995, had left for her own consulting venture. She also will continue to advise FCR.

Was Minieri nudged out in an effort to save a big salary--no replacement was announced--or was she simply itching to leave? It's tough to know, from the outside, but the developer has been trying to save on relatively small expenditures, such as $100,000 for an Independent Compliance Monitor.

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Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 11:41 AM | Permalink

FCE PRESS RELEASE: Forest City Reports Fiscal 2010 Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter Results

Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) today announced EBDT, net earnings and revenues for the fourth quarter and full year ended January31, 2011.

EBDT

EBDT (Earnings Before Depreciation, Amortization and Deferred Taxes) for the full year ended January 31, 2011, was $309.9 million, a new record for the company and a 2.9 percent increase compared with last year's $301.1 million. EBDT for the fourth quarter was $43.1 million, a 45 percent decrease compared with last year's fourth-quarter EBDT of $78.4 million.

EBDT for the fourth quarter and full year 2010 were impacted by a loss on early extinguishment of debt of $31.7 million ($0.16 on a fully diluted, per-share basis), related to inducement payments for the early exchange of a portion of the company's 2016 Senior Notes for Class A common stock, which occurred in the final week of the fiscal year.

On a fully diluted, per-share basis, full-year 2010 EBDT was $1.59, a 20.5 percent decrease from the prior year's $2.00 per share. Per-share EBDT for the fourth quarter of 2010 was $0.23, compared with $0.43 per share in the fourth quarter of 2009. Per-share data reflects new Class A common shares and the "if-converted" effect of convertible debt and convertible preferred stock issued in 2009 and 2010.
...

Net Earnings/Loss

For the full year, net earnings attributable to Forest City Enterprises, Inc., were $58.7 million, or $0.34 per share, compared with a net loss of $30.7 million, or $0.22 per share, in 2009. For the fourth quarter of 2010, net loss attributable to Forest City Enterprises, Inc. was $1.8 million, or $0.01 per share, compared with net earnings of $6.2 million, or $0.04 per share in the fourth quarter of 2009.
...

Work continues at the Barclays Center arena at Atlantic Yards, with steel now rising several stories above ground level at the site. With the building taking shape, the reality of major league sports returning to Brooklyn has helped generate additional momentum and enthusiasm for the project. Approximately 55 percent of forecasted contractually obligated revenues are currently under contract for the arena, which is expected to open in late summer 2012.

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Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 11:32 AM | Permalink

In Shadow of Yankee Stadium, 3 Unfinished Ball Fields

The New York Times
by Corey Kilgannon

Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino called the Yankees the "evil empire" a few years back. Which makes their enablers in New York City government Darth Vader.

On Thursday, the New York Yankees begin their regular season at Yankee Stadium, a gleaming $1.5 billion behemoth that opened in the Bronx in 2009 as the new home of one of the richest franchises in sports.

But next to the stadium is a lingering eyesore – a protracted construction project that was supposed to have been transformed into three public ball fields months ahead of opening day. Instead, some coaches and neighborhood residents say, it remains a joyless Mudville.

Just as the new stadium was enveloped in controversy, from its financing to its ticket prices, the construction of the three fields has also prompted debate.

The city promised to build the fields, which are starting to take shape directly across 161st Street to the south of the stadium, to replace others that were bulldozed in 2006 to make way for the stadium.

The razed fields, in Macombs Dam Park, were the only regulation baseball diamonds nearby, and were home to neighborhood pickup games and youth leagues, and to teams from schools like All Hallows High School, a parochial institution several blocks away.

“We’ve gone five years now with no ball fields here,” said Sean Sullivan, 55, the principal of All Hallows and a coach of its baseball team, which has spent five years scouring the city for home fields. “They took the parks away from my kids, and now our team is a bunch of gypsies.”

The team, which played part of its 2009 season in Staten Island, is still searching for a site for its league opener on April 7.

The fields were originally to be completed late last year, as the centerpiece of Heritage Field, a 10-acre park where the former Yankee Stadium stood. But the groundbreaking was delayed until last June, and city officials now say the fields will not open until fall 2011.

“They built the new stadium in record time, but building replacement parkland for the community is literally dragging,” said Helen Foster, who represents the neighborhood on the City Council.
...

Ms. Foster accused the Yankees of doing little to help local residents in one of the poorest parts of the country. “There’s this perception in this area that the Yankees’ needs come before everyone else’s,” she said.

article

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 11:14 AM | Permalink

Brooklyn hoopla

It's official: Net tickets go on sale

NY Post
by Rich Calder

Tickets went on sale yesterday for NBA basketball — in Brooklyn!

As the New Jersey Nets’ future home at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues starts to take shape after years of delays, the team began offering current season ticket holders the first crack at locking in luxury accommodations in the new digs.

The 4,000 "All-Access" premium seats being offered at the rapidly rising, 18,000-seat Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, will run from $99 a game for lower level to $1,500 for courtside — or $4,356 to $66,000 for a full season.
...

But to get the premium "All Access" benefits, fans will have to commit to buying them for the first three years — with the prices locked in.
...

Yormark said the average Nets ticket at Barclays Center would run $132 — more than double the $60 average for tickets to see the woeful Nets at Newark’s Prudential Center... The new Nets prices are expected to be among the NBA’s highest in their inaugural season in Brooklyn and comparable to what the Knicks will charge at Madison Square Garden.

article

NoLandGrab: Now there's a bargain.

Related coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, Nets start selling tickets for Brooklyn 2012; prices up; no PSLs (personal seat licenses), despite 2006 prediction; "Grand Opening Weekend" planned

Notably, the Nets no longer plan Personal Seat Licenses (PSLs), which in both internal Forest City Ratner documents and a KPMG report from 2006 were supposed to bring $20 million in over two years in revenue from 4500 PSLs ($4444 each over two years).

That's likely a reflection of the recession, the drop-off in luxury spending, and the uncertainty of the product on the court.

Instead of PSL, three-year deal?

One commenter on NetsDaily observed:

Three year commitment = way out of PSL

I had my meeting on Monday at the Barclay’s Showroom and it was a great experience. Top notch, first class.

But the pricing is through the roof for the seats I’m in now. Like $300 more per game, per seat. Of course I’m sitting center court, 7th row, so I guess that will be expected.

In the end, I may actually be priced out of this place if I don’t want to be in the rafters. Think about the starting price of $99 for the All Access Pass ticket sections. That’s $99 per game, per seat so basically $200 per game x 44 games (3 preseason) = $8,800 × 3 year commitment = $26,400.

You are signing a contract to pay $26,400 for 2 seats for the next 3 years without knowing what the product will be on the floor.

To me, that’s just too much at this point. Maybe something will change, or I’ll have to get comfy with sitting upstairs.

The New York Times, Nets Begin Selling Tickets for New Arena

The Nets’ chief executive, Brett Yormark, said the team started sales to gauge how many season-ticket holders would re-up for the move to Brooklyn. The passes will be offered in June to fans who do not hold season tickets, and the rest of the tickets will be available in the fall.

CBS New York, Nets Begin Selling Tickets For 2012-13 Season In Brooklyn

“Our number one priority in pricing our tickets was to ensure that Nets games are accessible to everyone,” Yormark said.

The Brooklyn Paper, Nets are selling tickets — to Brooklyn games

“We kept fans in mind, but obviously, we have a business to run,” Yormark said.

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 10:54 AM | Permalink

Why the Census Bureau might be right on NYC

Crain's NY Business
by Greg David

The topic of whether New York City has been shortchanged by the 2010 census is certainly a hot button issue. The mayor continues to insist the census takers missed as many as 200,000 residents because they could neither count people in apartment buildings nor find immigrants who had no interest in being enumerated.
...

Now comes a very provocative piece by Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, an expert on cities, which suggests the Bureau of the Census might be right.
...

He finds lots of evidence to support the idea that growth is in line with housing creation, which means the less-than-expected 2.1% increase is on the mark.

If true, the Bloomberg administration should start doing some hard thinking. In part, the housing shortfall is the result of the financial crisis that delayed major development initiatives at Atlantic Yards, Hudson Yards, Coney Island and Willets Point, to name only a few. The administration is not responsible for that.

Other administrations, however, would be considering measures to spur more construction, as Ed Koch did in the early 1980s. So far, the administration isn't interested in that approach; maybe it is time for a change in plan.

article

NoLandGrab: The real question is, does housing creation spur population growth, or does population growth drive housing creation? If it's the latter, and New York City's growth is stagnating, who's going to pay to live in all of Bruce Ratner's planned luxury condos?

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 10:43 AM | Permalink

Knicks and Nets: Two Teams That Need an Introduction

The New York Times
by George Vecsey

Both the Knicks and the Nets are mutants — teams that keep evolving, on their way to someplace else. Eventually the dust and disorder at the Garden will be replaced by a vastly more expensive new version of the arena, while the Nets continue their loopy hegira from the Meadowlands to Newark and onward to Brooklyn, three-card monte with players. Now you see them, now you don’t.
...

The Nets have an owner who speaks (Russian and English), the charismatic Mikhail D. Prokhorov, and they plan to move to the Atlantic Yards section of Brooklyn, with all the urban disruption and mixed blessings that entails. They are a work in progress, sharing the old slogan with the Knicks: Dig We Must.

article

NoLandGrab: "Atlantic Yards section of Brooklyn?" That must be the section also known as Prospect Heights.

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 10:35 AM | Permalink

There’s a ‘middle way’ in architecture

The Providence Journal
by David Brussat

Some will say my column of two weeks ago, “A modernist building I actually like,” should have run tomorrow.

Applause for a building designed by Frank Gehry ought to fall on April Fool’s Day. I will probably find some way to regret my kind words for his new Beekman Tower, a 76-story residential skyscraper that developer Bruce Ratner renamed “New York by Frank Gehry at 8 Spruce St.” By putting the architect’s name in the title of the building, Ratner revealed his doubts that it looked enough like a Gehry to lure edgy renters into its pricey units.

That’s why it appealed to me. It almost looks like a traditional New York skyscraper. Very not-Gehry. But a colleague who’d just visited New York and saw the building said it was awful. And my editor urged me to write about the difference between seeing a building in photos and seeing it in person. I think he was suggesting that I might have to revise and extend my remarks, as they say in Congress.

Well, since I still haven’t seen the building in person, I’m not yet prepared to revise my remarks. But I sure can extend them.

article

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 10:28 AM | Permalink

Forest City Ratner Unloads Share in Both Atlantic Center, Terminal

Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by Linda Collins

Forest City Ratner Companies is selling a 49-percent stake in 15 of its shopping centers, including the Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues at the edge of Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene.
...

The [Wall Street] Journal notes that the sale comes as Ratner is experiencing increased costs in its development of three major projects, including the Barclays Arena and housing complex at Atlantic Yards.

“The company is having difficulty starting the [Atlantic Yards] housing component,” the Journal wrote.

link

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 10:22 AM | Permalink

Markowitz: NYC Needs More Affordable MF

GlobeSt.com
by Paul Bubny

Markowitz recalled a visit to Istanbul in which that city’s mayor showed him the startling before-and-after contrast brought about by the redevelopment of one part of town. The transformation was accomplished in just six months, he said, a time frame unheard of here. “They don’t have ULURPs, community boards and everything else you have to go through to get things done here,” he said.

article

NoLandGrab: Wait a second. Marty constantly goes on about how "New York isn't Amsterdam" when he's railing against the Prospect Park West bike path, but now he thinks New York should be Turkey, where they "get things done," whatever the cost?

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 10:11 AM | Permalink

Freddy's will Outlive us All

The L Magazine
by Cara Cannella

Freddy's Bar

627 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope
Rating: 4 out of 5 L's

In the epic 21st-century tale of greed and corruption that is the Atlantic Yards, Freddy's Bar is the displaced underdog protagonist with a heart of gold; Bruce Ratner, the power-mongering authority figure; Borough President Marty Markowitz, his bumbling sidekick; and Freddy's bathroom graffiti, the Greek chorus—a collective voice commenting on the drama.
...

The iconic Prohibition-era establishment Freddy's Bar and Backroom—hub for artists, thinkers, performers, and generations of cops from a neighboring precinct and voted among Esquire's "Best Bars in America"—closed last April to loud protest from its intensely protective and devoted following. Boxed out of its longtime Prospect Heights home at Sixth Avenue and Dean Street by the Ratner-driven development project centered around an arena for the New Jersey Nets—the "Death Star we know as Atlantic Yards," according to a blog post by Freddy's bartender-turned-co-owner Donald O'Finn—the original bar was a symbol of all that the "Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn" movement holds dear.

After a nightmarish real estate hunt and relocation process, the bar finally has a new home on a somewhat ragged stretch of Fifth Avenue in South Slope. From the look of things, the three new co-owners—O'Finn and fellow Freddy's bartenders Matt Kuhn and Matt Kimmet—have no plans to leave anytime soon. They brought with them the old wooden booths and tables and original red mahogany bar, enveloped by a string of metal links known as the "Chains of Justice." At old Freddy's, patrons hand-cuffed themselves to the bar to protest eminent domain abuse; at new Freddy's, the chains serve as a reminder of their fight.

Despite all of these growing pains and heavy talk, Freddy's is still just a bar, and a great place to get drunk and knit (as part of their knitting circle) or check out live music and performances including Diva Night (where opera amateurs belt their hearts out to a heckling audience) and the stand-up hour "Ed Sullivan on Acid" with guests including Angry Bob from HBO's Bored to Death.

article

Posted by eric at March 31, 2011 10:03 AM | Permalink

March 30, 2011

New Jersey Nets start selling tickets for games — in Brooklyn

The Brooklyn Paper

Don't everyone burn up those phone lines at once. The Nets, according to the press release reprinted by The Brooklyn Paper, are beginning to sell "Brooklyn" Nets tickets for the 2012-2013 season.

From the press release:

The first-of-its-kind All Access season tickets for NETS Basketball at the Barclays Center of Brooklyn are going on sale today for current season ticket holders. The team is distributing by mail premium-designed, five-panel ticket packages that showcases the NETS and the Barclays Center in preparation for the team’s relocation to Brooklyn for the 2012-13 NBA season.

Season tickets for these premium locations will feature the unprecedented NETS All Access Pass. This Pass will offer fans several distinctive elements, including the opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public to non-NETS events that will be staged at the Barclays Center. The All Access Pass can also be used for unlimited food, prepared by award-winning Levy Restaurants, at designated clubs and all fixed concession stands during NETS games; a first-time offering for a major New York metropolitan area sports team.

Additional All Access Pass benefits will include: a private entrance, dedicated VIP speed lines at all entrances, concierge service, early access into the Barclays Center, membership to the Barclays Center Business Alliance - a corporate networking program exclusive to sponsors and season ticketholders - and much more.

While All Access Passes are the first ticket offerings being made available, non-premium NETS season tickets for the Barclays Center will be implemented in different phases in 2011.

When all price points are unveiled, the NETS ticket prices will be available for everyone’s budget. Two thousand tickets will be priced at $15 and under for each game, and an allotment of tickets for all events at the Barclays Center will be made available to the community, which was committed to in the Community Benefits Agreement of 2005.

Fifty percent of all season tickets will be priced at $55 or less per game, and lower level season tickets start at $65.

There will be no Personal Seat License for NETS tickets.

link

NoLandGrab: No PSLs? Why thank you, Nets — as if that was remotely a possibility.

Related coverage...

NY1, Nets' New Home To Feature All-Access Pass

A deluxe package will soon pamper some lucky Nets fans when the team moves to Brooklyn.

Current Nets season tickets holders are getting first dibs on the All-Access pass for the 2012-2013 season.

It'll give fans premium treatment at the Nets' new home at the Barclays Center.

The pass starts at $99 a game and includes unlimited food, a private entrance, concierge service, and access to a business center.

But non-season ticket holders have to hold on a bit longer for their chance to buy tickets.

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 7:57 PM | Permalink

President of Forest City Ratner steps down to start her own firm

The Real Deal

Joanne Minieri stepped down as president of the New York subsidiary of Forest City Enterprises today, the same day the firm sold 49 percent of its stake in 15 New York City properties. Minieri will continue to advise the New York arm, Forest City Ratner, on major projects, but will launch her own venture geared towards consulting real estate developers and financial services companies. Minieri joined Forest City Enterprises in 1995 and was promoted to president and COO in 2007. As president she has been closely involved in Forest City's Atlantic Yards project including breaking ground on the Barclays Center that will be home to the Nets. Bruce Ratner, CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, called Minieri's accomplishments with the company "extraordinary," and Forest City Enterprises CEO Charles Ratner praised the team she assembled. "I am pleased to be leaving at a time with many challenges behind us, and so many signature projects successfully completed," Minieri said.

link

NoLandGrab: Successfully completed? Like the Carlton Avenue bridge?

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 7:49 PM | Permalink

Federal agency stonewalls Freedom of Information Act requests on Forest City's EB-5 green card scheme, waits four-plus months to send denial letters

Atlantic Yards Report

Are the Feds in on this crooked deal, too?

Will we ever find out how exactly federal authorities gave preliminary approval--and more--to the astounding efforts to get Chinese millionaires to invest in Atlantic Yards in exchange for green cards?

Not that likely.

During a crucial four-month period when developer Forest City Ratner and the New York City Regional Center successfully recruited immigrant investors in China and South Korea, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) stonewalled my Freedom of Information Act requests in a very odd fashion.

The USCIS responded to me in letters dated 10/22/10 and 11/2/10, as well as two undated letters.

However, it did not mail those letters until early March, some four months later, and gave no explanation for the delay.

Moreover, the explanation given for three denials of my FOIA requests--that they were not of journalistic and public interest--seems belied by another letter that granted a request for expedited treatment, apparently because my request was of journalistic and public interest.

While that request was granted, I have not received the records at issue.

Read on for more of Norman Oder's back and forth with the USCIS. No word as to when, or if, he's going to start meeting shadowy Hal Holbrook-looking dudes in the bowels of parking garages. All we know is, follow the money.

article

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 12:53 PM | Permalink

Annabi lawyer wants Mangone plea deal unsealed in Yonkers corruption case

LoHud.com
by Timothy O'Connor

The lawyer for indicted former Yonkers Councilmember Sandy Annabi wants a federal judge to unseal attorney Anthony Mangone's plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Mangone pleaded guilty to corruption and tax charges in the case, which began four years ago when the FBI and federal prosecutors investigated Yonkers City Council's handling of the controversial $600 million Ridge Hill development project.

He signed a plea agreement prior to his Nov. 29 guilty plea. His lawyer, James DeVita, asked a federal magistrate judge to seal the plea deal until sentencing, leading to speculation that Mangone had agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in the long-running probe. Federal prosecutors did not object to the sealing of the agreement.
...

Annabi's lawyer, William Aronwald, said he thinks Mangone is working with federal authorities.

"I have no doubt he's a cooperator," Aronwald said Tuesday.

article

NoLandGrab: The big questions are what does Mangone know, and what is he telling prosecutors?

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 12:43 PM | Permalink

Reconsidering Jane Jacobs: a program tomorrow at the Museum of the City of New York

Atlantic Yards Report

No direct Atlantic Yards angle here, but a nice discount for readers of Atlantic Yards Report for what sounds like an interesting event.

Tomorrow, Thursday, March 31 at 6:30 pm, the Museum of the City of New York will host a panel titled Reconsidering Jane Jacobs.
...

Reservations required: 917-492-3395 or e-mail programs@mcny.org
$6 museum members; $8 seniors and students; $12 non-members
$6 when you mention Atlantic Yards Report

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street

link

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 12:29 PM | Permalink

Ratner Sells Shopping-Center Stake

The Wall Street Journal
by Eliot Brown

Since more traditional means of raising money didn't work out, Forest City Ratner has turned to an asset sale.

Forest City Ratner, one of New York's largest developers, has sold a 49% stake in 15 shopping centers scattered throughout the metropolitan area in a deal that values the retail portfolio at $852 million, the company said Tuesday.

The sale to Madison International Realty comes as Forest City has been hobbled by major development projects that were started at the market's peak, when prices and expectations were far higher than they are today.

Madison, a firm that owns noncontrolling equity stakes in properties, is paying $172 million to Forest City, which holds the remaining equity and will still manage the properties. The portfolio has $500 million in debt connected with it.

The malls tend to be well-trafficked properties, with a list that includes the Atlantic Center at the edge of Fort Greene in Brooklyn, a property in the Times Square area and a mall on 125th Street in Harlem.

"This is probably the largest portfolio of retail properties owned by a single landlord in the New York area," Ronald Dickerman, Madison's president, said in an interview Tuesday.
...

The Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner subsidiary, led by Bruce Ratner, is in the process of developing three major projects, including a new Nets basketball arena and housing complex in Brooklyn, a 76-story apartment tower in Lower Manhattan and a large mall in Yonkers.

The Brooklyn arena has seen costs rise by hundreds of millions of dollars since it was initially planned, and the company is having difficulty starting the housing component. The mall in Yonkers envisioned a high-end retail tenant base that has proved difficult to attract because of the economic downturn.

article

NoLandGrab: No word as to whether the "colorful characters" (aka shoplifters, pickpockets and purse-snatchers) who frequent the Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal malls were included in the deal.

Related coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, Seeking cash, Forest City Ratner sells 49 percent of Atlantic Terminal/Center malls, other retail and entertainment properties

In an effort to "create liquidity" (aka raise cash), Forest City Ratner has sold a a 49% stake in "15 mature retail and entertainment properties" in the New York City area, including the Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Center malls in Brooklyn.

The buyer, Madison International Realty, will invest $172.3 million in cash. The properties are valued by this transaction at $851.5 million, including $499.9 million of debt. Forest City will continue to own a majority 51% stake, and manage the properties.

Is that a good deal for Forest City? Did Madison get a bargain? The only context I see is from the Wall Street Journal, in a short article today headlined Ratner Sells Shopping-Center Stake:

The sale to Madison International Realty comes as Forest City has been hobbled by major development projects that were started at the market's peak, when prices and expectations were far higher than they are today.

Those "major" projects include Atlantic Yards, the Ridge Hill project in Yonkers, and the Beekman Tower in Lower Manhattan.

Forest City Enterprises Press Release, Forest City Announces Joint Ventures with Madison International Realty for 15 New York City Area Retail Centers

The properties included in the transaction are: the 42nd Street Retail and Entertainment Complex and Harlem Center (retail component) in Manhattan; Atlantic Center, Atlantic Terminal (retail component) and The Heights in Brooklyn; Queens Place, Steinway Street Theatres and Shops at Northern Boulevard in Queens; Shops at Bruckner Boulevard, Castle Center and Shops at Gun Hill Road in the Bronx; Shops at Richmond Avenue and Forest Avenue Cinemas on Staten Island; and Columbia Park in North Bergen, New Jersey.

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 12:09 PM | Permalink

Park Slope Restaurant Met With Resistance

NY1
by Jeanine Ramirez

Prime 6 restaurant is opening at the corner of 6th and Flatbush Avenues, the site of a former video store. It can hold 230 people on the ground floor, the basement and the backyard. But many who live nearby say the restaurant's size and outdoor space will ruin their quality of life.
...

Along the corridor is the Atlantic Yards project which Ofshtein hopes will bring in business when the basketball arena opens. However, some residents worry about the growing congestion.

"We are concerned about saturation. And woe unto the next restaurant, bar that wants to open up on our corner," [nearby homeowner Harry] Lipman said.

article

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 12:03 PM | Permalink

Out of the City's Domain

Willets Point United

As we commented yesterday, Judge Joan Madden has thrown the city a curve ball by issuing her order to show cause against that effort to segment the Willets Point project and avoid proper review of the Van Wyck ramps. In doing so, Madden explicitly rejected the city's argument that this entire dispute could be rolled into the eminent domain challenge.

We anticipate that EDC will try to make this case when they submit papers to the judge in response to her order. We know exactly why the city is trying to use the ED gambit-they are on stronger legal ground-given how the NY State courts have ruled on condemnation challenges-in this arena then in the environmental arena where its case is much weaker.

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Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 11:59 AM | Permalink

Atlantic Yards Causes Bike-SUV Collision

The L Magazine
by Benjamin Sutton

Park Slope Patch reports that shortly after 10pm an SUV hit a cyclist at the intersection of Dean Street and Sixth Avenue after the driver's view of the oncoming rider was blocked by big blue Atlantic Yards construction walls.

The SUV driver, whose windshield was smashed when the cyclist was thrown over the hood in the collision, remained at the scene while the deliveryman was taken to the emergency room by ambulance. The driver told local resident Wayne Bailey when he arrived at the scene that the cyclist ran through a red light. Bailey told the Patch: "He said he didn’t even see the cyclist because of the blue wall where the arena is being built. He said it blocked his view and the bike came out of nowhere."

A police source asserts that "The cyclist was at fault," although, clearly, Bruce Ratner was at fault.

link

NoLandGrab: In fairness to Forest City Ratner, the construction shed at the corner in question actually has plexiglass panels that allow some visibility, more so than most construction sites we've seen.

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 11:49 AM | Permalink

Where Wal-Mart Failed, Aldi Succeeds

The New York Times
by Stephanie Clifford

While Wal-Mart revives its plans to get into New York City, a giant German retailer has slipped in relatively unnoticed.

In February, with virtually no opposition — a Queens politician even showed up at the grand opening in Rego Park, Queens — a discount retailer called Aldi opened its first store in the city, and plans to open a second one, in the Bronx, later this year.
...

Even though Aldi, like Wal-Mart, is nonunion, it has faced little resistance, compared with the heated opposition often headed by unions and politicians that Wal-Marts have encountered in larger markets.

Why so little push back? Here's why.

“There’s no reason to oppose an Aldi — it’s a small format, and they usually get space from an existing landowner or landlord, a small guy who’s plugged into the community, not a big guy like a Forest City Ratner,” Mr. Johnson said.

article

Posted by eric at March 30, 2011 11:34 AM | Permalink

March 29, 2011

City's Willets Point plans hit legal pothole

Judge asks authorities why she shouldn't reverse her earlier dismissal of lawsuit to block the redevelopment after city skirts restrictions.

Crain's NY Business
by Erik Engquist

Joan Madden didn't do Atlantic Yards opponents any favors, but she's at least threatening to toss a wrench in the city's Willets Point land grab.

The city's bid to redevelop Willets Point, Queens, hit a pothole Tuesday when a judge ordered the Bloomberg administration to show why she shouldn't revoke the go-ahead she granted last summer.

State Supreme Court Judge Joan Madden had ruled that the project could proceed because the city promised not to condemn any land until it had approval for new Van Wyck Expressway ramps, which it had deemed essential to the project. But when state and federal approval of the ramps proved elusive, the city split the project into two phases and moved ahead with condemnations, arguing that the ramps were not required for Phase I.

But the administration failed to make that argument to the judge.

According to Michael Gerrard, the attorney for Willets Point property owners who object to the city's plan, the judge signed an order directing the city to explain why her order dismissing his lawsuit should not be vacated.

City lawyers will prepare a brief, the property owners will write a response, and the judge will hear oral argument in open court July 20.

article

Related coverage...

City Hall, Imminent Domain: Willets Point opponents looking to avoid fate of the Atlantic Yards, Columbia University expansion

An interesting look at the legal strategy of Willets Point property owners.

By next summer, the dilapidated jumble of auto shops in Willets Point should be starting to transform into a slick new development featuring mixed-income housing, a hotel and a convention center.

But first the city must take on a small band of business owners trying to hold onto their property in the Queens neighborhood, and while recent experience shows that the city has the upper hand in securing the land for the project, the group is eager to learn from recent economic development fights.

Two other redevelopment projects in the city, Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn and Columbia University's expansion in Manhattan, recently reaffirmed the right of government to take private property in New York and turn it over to private developers.

As the city takes its first step toward using eminent domain in Willets Point, opponents are looking carefully at the legal battles over those two projects, as a guide for which strategies to follow and which to avoid.

One major problem:

Yet in the end, what will shape the outcome is not broad support but the courts. And in New York, where the laws are notoriously permissive, the courts broadly support eminent domain.

NoLandGrab: Especially for other people's houses.

Posted by eric at March 29, 2011 11:32 PM | Permalink