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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

The office market continues to tank, casting further doubt on AY revenue projections

As DDDB points out, a front-page article in yesterday's New York Times cites enormous vacancies in Manhattan commercial office space, casting further doubt on plans for a flagship office tower at the Atlantic Yards project.

A turnaround isn't predicted until 2014, which means an office tower wouldn't come until later, but the Empire State Development Corporation already anticipated the possibility of a delayed project buildout. The question--in yet-unveiled master closing documents--is what penalties and incentives there might be.

And, as I wrote November 9, Bruce Ratner's acknowledgment that the office tower was indefinitely stalled undermined the ESDC's rosy claims of new tax revenue.

As I pointed out, those tax revenues aren't offset by costs--an irresponsible and thus inaccurate practice. Also, they depend crucially on an office tower that doesn't appear in any renderings and thus hasn't even graduated to "vaportecture."

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