The New York Times reports on East River Plaza, a six-acre project in East Harlem that will soon open as a big-box vertical mall:
Even with FCR's capacity to move projects, surely a 22-acre project like AY that would affect Brooklyn neighborhoods with engaged activists might take a while. Or is the state's decade-long timetable plausible?
Looking back on his experience at East River Plaza, [developer David] Blumenfeld said that developers of complex projects needed a lot of patience. “Ten to 15 years is probably the right time horizon,” he said. “I don’t know if a lot of people have the stomach for that.”The site was purchased 15 years ago. Partner Forest City Ratner came on board five years ago and helped speed things up.
Even with FCR's capacity to move projects, surely a 22-acre project like AY that would affect Brooklyn neighborhoods with engaged activists might take a while. Or is the state's decade-long timetable plausible?
East River Plaza is here on the East Side, and I know it well. One reason the project took so long is, surprise, that the developers kept pressuring the government for more money--here, to build a monumental stack of structured parking. As for getting the project approved in the first place under ULURP, the story of Blumenthal's quasi-promises to the local community board would make you--no, people less hardened to such stories than you--weep.
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