Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Unofficial mockup of planned building at Site 5 I've previously written skeptically about two of the three justifications for shifting the bulk of the tower planned over the arena plaza and creating what I've dubbed the " Brooklyn Behemoth," a giant tower of 1.55 million square feet at Site 5, now occupied by Modell's and P.C. Richard. The notion of "activating" the Atlantic Avenue corridor is pretty thin , and the idea of keeping the arena plaza as permanent open space positions it as a public amenity, rather than a branded business deal . But what about the the third notion, "delivering jobs," to quote Forest City Ratner spokeswoman Ashley Cotton, representing the developer, Greenland Forest City Partners? Building an office tower delivers space for jobs, and the jobs come if there's a market for it. And the market depends on, among other things, the cost of construction. And building the tower at the site originally approved, n...

Yes, Atlantic Yards popped up yesterday as a small factor in the 8th Congressional District race to succeed Rep. Ed Towns, who has endorsed (despite their differences ) relative underdog and radical Council Member Charles Barron against the better-funded, more widely endorsed, and more mainstream fellow Democrat, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries. From NY 1 : In the debate that was moderated by NY1 Political Anchor Errol Louis, Barron accused Jeffries of changing his position on several key issues in the community, including the Atlantic Yards development. Barron: “Why should we trust you? You flip-flop on Atlantic Yards. You flip-flop on charter schools so you can get money from the hedge funds. So…why should we trust, if you do all this flip-flopping…why should we trust you when you go to Congress?” Jeffries: “You have no evidence that I’ve flip-flopped on any of those issues. In fact, this is just another example of the reckless type of charges that you have been making for the las...