The New York Times, front page, this AM: Slow Economy Likely to Stall Atlantic Yards [1].
The slowing economy, weighed down by a widening credit crisis, is likely to delay the signature office tower and three residential buildings at the heart of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the developer said.[...]
The developer did say he was confident about starting construction on a $950 million basketball arena for the Nets by the end of the year. The arena was to be surrounded by the office tower, known as Miss Brooklyn, and three residential buildings in the first phase of the project.
But Mr. Ratner has yet to secure an anchor tenant for the Miss Brooklyn building, and now plans to phase in the residential buildings slowly.
When this bill of goods was sold to the public, it was as a shot in the arm for downtown Brooklyn's economy (which is why a lot of public money is being thrown into the hole). The displacement of residents was to be offset by new construction, including a (debatably defined) number of affordable units to maintain some cohesion between existing neighborhoods and new construction. That's now being delayed, but you'll still get that arena, grateful Brooklynites.
Let's forecast the future here. With construction targets - which underlie the use of eminent domain to acquire parts of the site - now being delayed, at the discretion of the developer, how long until other fundamental metrics, like, say, all those neighborhood benefits and all that affordable housing get tossed to the wayside under the weight of economic imperatives?
And lastly, one does have to wonder: public money is being spent on this. Did any public officials have a say in these new and more flexible timelines?
Haha, I know, silly question. Of course not.
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