Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Crain's New York Business (via Matt Chaban, who's now with the NY Daily News) offers an illuminating article headlined Developers press plans before mayor departs . It begins: A derelict sugar refinery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the world's largest indoor ice-skating complex in the Bronx and a 63-story Ferris wheel on Staten Island are among a crush of projects that developers are trying to get through the Department of City Planning before the pro-development Bloomberg administration comes to a close on Dec. 31, and its powerful chairwoman, Amanda Burden, steps down. Adding to the pressure on the department, the mayor himself is looking to win approval on a number of his own legacy projects, including a massive rezoning of midtown east. The reason for the frenzy is simple: The planning commission, along with the City Council, has the final say on the shape of all land-use projects. Without City Planning's approval now, dozens of projects will need to start from squa...

For those following the mayoral race, there have been numerous debates and forums , with much discussion of issues like stop-and-frisk, education policy, and even a highly controversial Jewish circumcision practice . But there hasn't been much discussion--on a more granular level--of development, which is a crucial issue for a major interest group, the real estate industry, and its allies, and for the city at large. After all, as the Times reported last month, a new political action committee, Jobs for New York, was formed by a "group of real estate executives and corporate leaders, bracing for the departure of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg... to spend up to $10 million to make sure the City Council elected this fall is friendly to business." Amanda Burden: big shoes to fill? So one of the big questions, which Crain's New York Business put on the agenda 5/17/13, is  Who will fill Amanda Burden's shoes? New York's real estate community is already handic...

Yesterday's post showing the arena as approved in the November 2006 Final Environmental Impact Statement includes a curious mention that has likely been forgotten by most arena-watchers: a "B market" along Atlantic Avenue at the north-center of the arena block. See emphasis on graphic. What's a "B market" (or, as I've described it, a "b-market")? It came up once, as far as I know, in a 9/25/06 City Planning Commission hearing, which I  covered  the next day. Reflecting commission Chair Amanda Burden’s micromanaging concern that there be storefronts along Atlantic Avenue near the planned arena, the Department of City Planning's Regina Myer described a “b-market,” a narrow strip of retail to accommodate smaller shops. The New York Observer had reported 11/22/05: “City Planning is really on this one,” [then-arena architect Frank] Gehry said. “Amanda Burden is really working us and we believe in what they want but the idea of cre...

City Planning Commissioner Chairwoman Amanda Burden a mostly laudatory profile in today's New York Times Metropolitan section, Amanda Burden Wants to Remake New York. She Has 19 Months Left. , which lets the protagonist claim, “I like to say that our ambitions are as broad and far-reaching as those of Robert Moses, but we judge ourselves by Jane Jacobs’s standards." The writer, real estate reporter Julie Satow, gives a nod to a few critics of Burden, but not author Roberta Brandes Gratz, who demolished that supposed Jacobs/Moses duality in her book The Battle for Gotham , or others who've blanched at Burden's arrogance. Nor is there any sober criticism from a mainstream figure like Alex Garvin--who, the article reveals, was Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff's choice for the post Burden got--who has consistently warned that the city has failed to support "the public realm," parks and transportation improvements that would more organically support and drive...

City Planning Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden gets a lot of good press , some of it deserved, some of it determinedly amnesiac regarding her acquiescence with the city's willingness to let the state oversee Atlantic Yards. In the new documentary film "Urbanized," as Michael D. D. White explains in Noticing New York,  Burden's reputation gets buffed again, but it's not fully deserved: Not mentioned is that, in the case of the Atlantic Yards mega-project which she helped enable, all these “basic parameters” of zoning that had been set were overridden so the developer could do whatever he wanted to maximize his own best possibilities over those of the community, including his choice to eliminate and absorb into his private ownership formerly public streets, sidewalks and avenues. For more, go to Noticing New York .

Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards point person, as well as some key supporters, make Crain's New York Business's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York 2011. 35. MaryAnne Gilmartin Executive vice president Forest City Ratner Cos. A fellowship at a city economic development agency provided the springboard for Ms. Gilmartin’s career, which has changed the texture and skyline of New York City. The 47-year-old Queens native has worked at Forest City for nearly 17 years and developed properties totaling more than 5 million square feet, including The New York Times’ headquarters and the new Frank Gehry-designed residential tower downtown. Her toughest assignment has been overseeing the controversial $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project. In a testament to her savvy negotiating skills, Forest City officially broke ground on the project last year, and its focal point, the Barclays Center, will open in fall 2012. NEW TO THE LIST THIS YEAR No Land Grab's Eric M...

In a 6/23/11 article headlined Champion of Cities: With New York's High Line park expansion, Amanda Burden's urban revitalization efforts set a model for the world , the Wall Street Journal reports: This elegant blonde with a mellifluous voice is steelier than one might expect, a useful trait for someone who is spearheading Mayor Michael Bloomberg's far-reaching effort to rezone nearly a quarter of New York City and reclaim the city's waterfront. Her populist achievements span all five boroughs and include zoning for new affordable housing in East Harlem, Brookyln and the South Bronx, as well as the massively popular High Line, an abandoned railroad track that has been transformed into a popular tourist destination in the once-gritty meatpacking neighborhood, which has seen commerce move in and property values soar in the past decade. Chairing the City Planning Commission since 2002, Burden, age 67, has revolutionized its role in the city, transforming a once-sleepy ...

The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a developer-led organization, this year gave its first Amanda Burden Urban Open Space Award , named for and supported by the Chairperson of New York City's Department of City Planning. (The brochure is embedded below.) The winner: Campus Martius Park in Detroit, described as "heart of downtown Detroit’s development story and its signature public space. Surrounded by offices, residential space, and restaurants, it is a magnet for everyday visitors and high-profile events." Would the Atlantic Yards plaza serve similarly? I doubt it. A New York finalist One of the finalists, by the way, was from New York: Herald and Greeley Square Parks, two triangular open spaces that form a “bowtie” at Broadway and Sixth Avenue at 34th Street. The citation states: Upon their reopening in summer 1999, Herald and Greeley Square parks had a dramatic effect: each was immediately regarded as an urban jewel, widely used and cherished by the neighborhood’s office ...

Two profiles in the past week of City Planning Commission (CPC) Chairwoman Amanda Burden take the same tack: she's led rezonings and, to her credit and (anonymously-sourced) discredit, has become a micromanager on design issues. Meanwhile, Mayor Mike Bloomberg has left her significant latitude. Those themes can't be disputed, but both articles miss a larger issue and a smaller one. They fail to note how the CPC has become diminished, unable to truly plan, and they fail to explain how Burden has been (mostly) a loyal foot soldier for Mayor Mike Bloomberg's Atlantic Yards plan. The New York Observer called Burden Proprietress of the Skyline . Crain's New York Business headlined its article Look who remade New York: Planning commish Amanda Burden has rezoned a fifth of the city, championed good design and driven developers nuts. Developers' award The profiles seem keyed both to CPC's milestone 100th rezoning under her auspices, as well as Burden's being named t...

Though the sale of a majority interest in the Nets to Russian mogul Mikhail Prokhorov has significantly buoyed those behind Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards project, the project still faces a tight timetable and a challenge in court. And, at least before the deal, at least one representative of the developer pronounced herself "freaked-out" by the need to get the arena started by the end of the year. Consider correspondence on April 28 between FCR Senior VP Jane Marshall and the Department of City Planning's Winston Von Engel. (Click to enlarge) Playful exchange The email, obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, shows Marshall asking Von Engel for a discussion and playfully expressing curiosity about his recent activities. Von Engel, in a similar tone, responded that he had been a "planning nerd" at the American Planning Association "nerd convention," which means he "might hiccup" such planning terms as "sustainabil...

From Crain's Insider, under the headline Fixing Atlantic Yards : Forest City Ratner is hoping changes to its Brooklyn basketball arena will stop people from likening it to an airplane hangar. Renderings were leaked—by Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, sources say—prompting ridicule. But the leak was early enough to allow time to amend the design. Forest City needs to break ground this year. The leak was early enough? That sounds like Joe DePlasco -esque spin. The leak was not early enough to allow time to get a new design in the revised documents issued this week by the Empire State Development Corporation. But yes, there's always time to tweak. As for the leak, yes, I'd heard the same rumor. But sometimes I'm more reticent about rumors than the MSM. James loses labor endorsement Crain's also reports: The Central Labor Council, a politically influential coalition of labor unions, left 10 Democratic City Council members off its list of endorsements th...

Let's flash back to Alexandra Lange's 4/26/04 article in New York Magazine, headlined New Improved Brooklyn , subtitled "A glittering skyline, waterfront condos, new jobs, Frank Gehry buildings galore: Brooklyn is on the verge of a makeover even more extreme than you thought, re-creating itself in Manhattan’s image. What’s wrong with this picture?" It's a fascinating look back, given the promises unfulfilled, and it even contains a hint that Forest City Ratner, despite public orders to the contrary, once planned to have Hugh Hardy, the architect of the developer's Atlantic Terminal mall and Court Street cinema complex, collaborate with Frank Gehry on Atlantic Yards. The big rezonings Lange wrote about Department of City Planning director Amanda Burden's plans to rezone Downtown Brooklyn and the Williamburg-Greenpoint waterfront: Burden’s plans, enabled by two lengthy rezoning proposals, could add more than fifteen new towers, 4.5 million square feet of off...

Noticing New York's Should a Teardrop be Shed- Considering the Burden? clocks in at 6663 words, which makes AYR, by comparison, seem concise. Michael D.D. White's analysis of City Planning Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden is worth a read, but if you don't have the time, consider that the microblogging service Twitter limits posts (aka Tweets) to 140 characters. A. Burden. Worked on BPC. Worried about BPC teardrop park, based on superblock. Park

The New York City Planning Commission (CPC) does more rezoning than planning; those rezonings vastly increase the value of land and thus shape development, a fact that deserves scrutiny. Witness CPC Chairperson Amanda Burden's stunning statement explaining how she concluded Harlem needed redevelopment: a friend couldn't find a restaurant there. For a sense of Burden's perspective, consider the CUNY-TV show City Talk taped 03/14/2006, hosted by Doug Muzzio. Her evocation of balanced growth and the importance of community consultation sounded impressive. Surely Burden's department has done some good work. However, the reality of Downtown Brooklyn, given the unanticipated housing boom, is quite different than city planners hoped. Moreover, the Atlantic Yards example stands in contrast to Burden's stated ideals, given that there was no city oversight and thus limited community consultation. A curious locution At about 4:20 in the program, even as Burden invoked the mi...

City Planning Commission Chairperson Amanda Burden , speaking yesterday before a development-friendly audience at a Crain’s New York Business breakfast, declared that “Atlantic Yards was a gaping hole in the heart of Brooklyn,” a statement either deceptive or naïve. The "hole" is a working railyard, the 8.5-acre Vanderbilt Yard, while Atlantic Yards is the name of a 22-acre project. In casual discussion and press accounts, the two are often conflated, but a public official like Burden should know better , right? I caught up with Burden (right) after her presentation and said, “You’re calling the project, the whole thing, a gaping hole.” “The yards are a gaping hole,” she responded, unwilling to acknowledge that she had bought into the developer’s branding. Burden talks about being sensitive to community input and indeed emphasized the importance of “smart growth,” but she remained a good soldier for the agenda of Mayor Mike Bloomberg. She claimed there was “deep and wide supp...