Stories from Atlantic Yards Report

Fans wait outside Atlantic Ave.entrance for tickets for The KillersSo, here's how Barclays Center officials made a promise, and completely failed to honor it.In April, general admission patrons for the April Green Day concert formed queues going east of the Atlantic Avenue entrance, clogging a narrow sidewalk, wrapping around to Sixth Avenue, and blocking and endangering ordinary pedestrians...

Daily News photoIt's sure nice when you have a newspaper on your side.On Saturday, 5/18/13, the New York Daily News, the sponsor of the Barclays Center plaza, broke the news, complete with (at least online) four large photos of Brooklynettes cheerleaders in bikinis.The headline and subhed:Brooklyn Nets boutique to open in Coney Island on Thursday: The Nets Shop by Adidas will feature beach balls, flip-flops, visors and the usual Nets gear, but the black-and-white bikinis for the ladies may be the biggest draw...

The 5/14/13 New York Observer's article, PATH/Fail: The Story of the World's Most Expensive Train Station, addresses the endless cost overruns in the Lower Manhattan project and presents a purported counterpoint:In the private sector, these things often turn out differently. Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn is one example...

From the Anaheim Blog, 5/15/13,Honda Center Hiring 500 Employees for New Food and Beverage Co.; Julie Margolin Named Director of Food & Beverage Services:ANAHEIM, Calif. (May 14, 2013) - The Honda Center announced today its plan for hiring more than 500 workers to become part of an industry-leading sports and entertainment organization...

ESPNNewYork.com reported 5/15/13 Sources: Battle over Isles brewing:There's a potential battle brewing involving the New York Islanders and New York Rangers, and it isn't even on the ice.A major selling point of Bruce Ratner's pitch to win the renovation rights to Nassau Coliseum is the promise to bring the Islanders back to the arena for a six-game slate after they move to Brooklyn's Barclays Center...

As noted in The Brooklyn Game, Study Concludes Nets Have NBA's Worst Home Fans, Knicks Have Best. But is the NBA Fan Equity Study really solid?I don't think so. Sure, many observers have noted that Nets fans are not as passionate as Knicks fans, or other teams with more established fan bases...

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 9/25/06City Planning Commission hearing, which Icoveredthe next day...

EmblemHealth Dean EntranceThe crowd gathering at 8:30 this morning at the Barclays Center's Dean Street entrance--sorry, the EmblemHealth Dean entrance--for the Long Island University commencement ceremonies was never supposed to be there.(The graduates will arrive at the Dean Street entrance at the bottom of the arena, which is across the street from a residential cluster, while a larger group--their guests--arrive at the main plaza, at Atlantic and Flatbush avenues...

From Real Estate Weekly, 5/15/13, For Ratner, developing New York is a team sport:"I think in some ways [The Nets] are more important than the Dodgers," said Bruce Ratner, executive chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies, who brought the basketball team to Brooklyn from New Jersey last year...

From Real Estate Weekly, 5/15/13, For Ratner, developing New York is a team sport:"I think in some ways [The Nets] are more important than the Dodgers," said Bruce Ratner, executive chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies, who brought the basketball team to Brooklyn from New Jersey last year...

A week after Long Island University (LIU( is holding its commencement at the Barclays Center, so too is Polytechnic Institute of New York University, based at MetroTech with arena developer Forest City Ratner. Unlike LIU, NYU-Poly, as its known, is not giving an honorary degree to arena developer Bruce Ratner...

The latest two-week Atlantic Yards Construction Alert, issued yesterday by Empire State Development after preparation by developer Forest City Ratner, warns that on one (yet unspecified) day during this period, 40 trucks will be delivering concrete to the B2 modular tower site at the corner of Dean Street and Flatbush Avenue:The first mat slab, elevator and sump pit wall pour will be scheduled during this reporting period...

Last week, when discussing the sometimes fraught operation of the Barclays Center, which periodically has trucks lined up outside on Dean Street, arena Community Affairs Manager Terence Kelly suggested operators deserved some slack."As a start-up," he said at a periodic Atlantic Yards Quality of Life Committee meeting, "we're still seven months out...

Barclays Center backers are fortunate they have an accessible plaza open to arenagoers, rather than an office tower looming at the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues, offering an atrium, aka Urban Room, that would serve as more cramped entry for the arena.That plaza that was never supposed to exist, and would not have been approved as a permanent feature, given that the office tower, and jobs within, was crucial to the cost-benefit analyses for the overall Atlantic Yards project...

On its bid for the Sunset Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), Forest City Ratner is joining forces not just with the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty but the other heavyweight social services organization on the Lower East Side, the Henry Street Settlement.And that's not all. Taking a page from Two Trees Development's New Domino Plan in Williamsburg, Forest City is promising a hefty amount of newfangled office space, leased to startup and tech businesses...

On its bid for the Sunset Park Urban Renewal Area (SPURA), Forest City Ratner is joining forces not just with the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty but the other heavyweight social services organization on the Lower East Side, the Henry Street Settlement.And that's not all. Taking a page from Two Trees Development's New Domino Plan in Williamsburg, Forest City is promising a hefty amount of newfangled office space, leased to startup and tech businesses...

I speculated 4/5/13 whether the political corruption charges against Queens state Senator Malcolm Smith could eventually touch Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, given the close connection between Smith and former business partner, Darryl Greene, who works as a consultant for Forest City on minority contracting...

The New York Chapter of the Urban Land Institute--a major organization for real estate professionals--last week honored Atlantic Yards developer as an ULI Legend, citing professional achievement and distinguished service. I'll offer some comments in counterpoint to the tweets belowThe summary is headlined "You Can't Do What We Do Without Being an Optimist": Bruce Ratner Shares Insight with ULI New York:On May 8, ULI New York celebrated Bruce Ratner's legacy, accomplishments and invaluable commitment to the City of New York as we honored him as our 2013 Real Estate Legend...

Sam Page in Deadspin, The Nassau Coliseum Was Not A Dump: What The Isles Are Leaving Behind:For all that's wrong with the Coliseum, it still has perfect sightlines for hockey. Modern sports stadiums are increasingly built for people who don't go to sporting events to watch sports...

The annual Budget Options for NYC, from the Independent Budget Office, again suggests the possibility of having the state eliminate the property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden, which would bring the city $17.3 million in FY 2014.From the document:For three decades, the Garden has enjoyed a full exemption from its tax liability for the property it uses for sports, entertainment, expositions, conventions, and trade shows...