You guys are never going to believe this, but remember when Forrest City Ratner kept telling us that its Atlantic Yards Project would bring thousands of jobs and units of affordable housing to Brooklyn? They lied ! Not only are there fewer (prefab) buildings going up than initially promised , but the steadily rising stadium, now known as the Barclay’s center, has been a disappointment jobs-wise, too. [ more › ]
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Atlantic Yards Not Nearly As Brooklyn Job-Friendly As Claimed
Curbed NY has taken a thoroughly in-depth look at B2, one of three residential towers set to rise in the Atlantic Yards multi-use complex in Brooklyn. When complete (an expected 18 months after groundbreaking early next year), the 350-unit condo building, split between affordable and market-rate housing, will measure 32 stories high, making it the tallest prefab edifice in the world. Designed by SHoP architects with engineering by Arup, the structure will consist of “930 steel chassis modules around a lateral system of steel braced frames, with all the connections on the exterior of the modules, a method the developer [Forest City Ratner] describes as ‘process, not product innovation.’” So, why modular? The team found that in the case of this 340,000-square-foot structure, the pre-cast option will cost 15 to 20 percent less than traditional building and produce as much as 90 percent less waste. Curbed NY has more renderings. · Atlantic Yards’ Modular Tower Will Be the World’s Largest [Curbed NY]
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Rendering Reveals: Here’s a Glimpse at the World’s Tallest Prefab Condo Tower
Behold the future? The Forest City Ratner towers that will, in theory, finally start rising over the Atlantic Yards next year are in fact going to be modular . Also kind of hideous , as you can see in the above renderings. Bruce Ratner and co. unveiled the new design this morning, proudly proclaiming that the so-called B2 tower will, at 32-stories, be the “world’s tallest prefabricated streel structure.” Almost makes you miss Miss Brooklyn . [ more › ]
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Sorry, Brooklyn: This Is What Atlantic Yards Is Supposed To Look LIke
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force has rounded up the alleged accomplice to the alleged juvenile hijab-ripper on Staten Island. Krystal Callender, 13, was collared on Friday night and slapped with the same charges that 12-year-old Osman Daramy faces : felony assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime. The two are accused of shoving a female classmate to the ground, punching her, kicking her, and trying to pull off her hijab while asking, “Are you a Muslim?” (She is, but Daramy’s dad says his son is also Muslim, and therefore it can’t be a hate crime.) [ more › ]
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13-Year-Old Girl Arrested By NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force
CBS 880′s Tom Kaminski has obtained dramatic photographic evidence of construction at the controversial Atlantic Yards development/ parking lot . The big arena that may one day be the home of the Brooklyn New Yorkers (currently the New Jersey Nets) seems to be coming along, despite numerous lawsuits attempting to stop it. Today, in fact, opponents of the project will square off in court against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). A coalition of community groups wants a court order to halt all construction because the ESDC’s environmental impact statement analyzed Atlantic Yards as a 10-year construction project. Now it’s expected to take a quarter century, and critics want the environmental impact reconsidered. ESDC attorney Philip Karmel scoffs at the lawsuit: “Remarkably, the five-year legal battle over Atlantic Yards has thus come down to this: a dispute as to whether the 2009 Technical Memorandum should have assumed a 25-year build out instead of a 15-year build out in its analysis of the environmental impacts of a market-driven delay in the schedule for the Project’s development.” Norman Oder at Atlantic Yards Report scoffs at Karmel’s scoffing: “He seemed to be suggesting that ten years is an insignificant interval, even for an interim surface parking lot… It all depends on perspective, right? Consider some alternatives in which the difference between 15 and 25 is significant: Remarkably, it has come to this: whether we think the warranty on the boiler should last 15 years rather than 25. Remarkably, it has come to this: whether the pill should be 15 mg, not 25. Remarkably, it has come to this: whether he should have known that the female was 15 rather than, as she said, 25.” Get your popcorn: The case will be heard today at noon in Manhattan Supreme Court before state Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman, at 60 Centre Street, IAS MOTION Part 57, Room 335.
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Aerial Photos Show "Progress" At Atlantic Yards Project
Photograph by Tracy Collins on flickr In a possible counter-attack to the Nets’ plea for attention across the street from Madison Square Garden back during the LeBron showdown, the Knicks recently unveiled a huge billboard on Flatbush and Seventh Avenues in Brooklyn. Which is just up the street from the under-construction Atlantic Yards , where the Nets hope to play some day. Could this be the first step in a ploy to ” reignite the deeply passionate relationship ” between NYC and its Knicks? If so, it doesn’t seem to be working. The Brooklyn Paper caught up with local resident Chris Tucker, who says that installing the billboard so close to the Nets’ new arena is ” like putting a mosque near Ground Zero .” Nets CEO Brett Yormark, however, is just “glad to see [the Knicks] know where Brooklyn is. Clearly, they know what’s coming. According to The New York Times , no fewer than five ad agencies have been brought in recently to help “reconnect the team and the city” through ads like the one above as well as social networking. The Knicks have already spent over $230,000 on advertising in the first six months of this year (as compared to $18,200 in the same period last year), but if they think that 39,002 Twitter followers will help their team win games, they’ve got another thing coming.
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Knicks Invade Atlantic Yards with New Billboard
Delta is spending $1.2 billion project to build a new terminal at JFK, but the project hasn’t even broken ground yet, so in the meantime, the airline has to make do at Terminals 2 and 3, which are among the oldest at the airport. To spruce things up, Delta’s just announced a couple of flashy new dining options at the terminal, which will let travelers use iPads to order food and drinks to be delivered right to their departure gates. Odds are you’re going to be stuck there a while anyway , so it makes sense to settle in for the long haul. Crain’s reports that the eateries are expected to open as early as Friday, and have some big NYC names attached. Chef/restaurateur Andrew Carmellini of Locanda Verde is behind the French-themed Croque Madame restaurant, which is located in Terminal 2 near Gates 21 and 22. And Jason Denton , known for Lupa and ‘inoteca, has designed the Italian-themed Bar Brace, which is located in Terminal 3 at Gate 15. (La Guardia Airport is also expected to get the iPad-enabled dining stations in the coming weeks; both Carmellini and Denton are involved in a food partnership with Delta at that airport as well.) Delta has been busy installing 200 Apple iPads at the custom dining areas at the gates, and passengers can use them to order food, check flights and surf the web. These things could have come in handy placating the masses last year, when police were called to deal with a mob of irate holiday travelers stuck in the Delta terminal.
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Delta’s JFK Terminal Gets Upscale iPad Dining with Carmellini
Al Qaeda operative Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani has been trial in lower Manhattan since last month for allegedly bombing U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and killing over two hundred people. Last week, the jury deliberated for two days without a verdict and now one juror has asked the judge to dismiss her because she feels she’s being “attacked” because she’s a holdout. The Daily News reports that the juror wrote in a note, “At this point am secure and I have come to my conclusion but it doesn’t agree with the rest of the (panel). My conclusion (is) not going to change. I feel am (being) attacked for my conclusion. Therefore am asking if there is anyway I can be excused or exchanged for an alternate juror.” Judge Lewis Kaplan asked the jury to continue their deliberations. The Ghailani case has, the NY Times reports, “has been seen as a kind of test for the Obama administration’s goal of trying detainees like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks, and other suspected 9/11 plotters in civilian court,” but of course, maybe the KSM-NYC trial may not happen .
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Juror Wants Out Of Embassy Terror Deliberations
An Atlantic Yards protest outside Freddy’s last year. ( No Land Grab’s Flickr ) Beloved old Prospect Heights dive Freddy’s Bar & Backroom, the Prohibition-era bar that became an unofficial headquarters for the anti-Atlantic Yards protests , has found a new home. The previous owner of Freddy’s is out and Freddy’s staff members have taken over; last night they signed a lease for a space on 5th Avenue, between 17th and 18th Streets, in the location formerly known as Ellis Bar. This marks a happy ending to the David and Goliath story of the little bar that was forced out of its longtime home to make way for the Atlantic Yards Barclays Center project. But hurdles remain, according to the press release: “The opening of the doors is contingent on the speed and accuracy of both the State Liquor Authority and the Department of Buildings, as well as the embrace of Community Board 7. Freddy’s still has to pass through various city, state and community authorities for final approval, which will determine our opening date. Plus, before opening, there will be extensive remodeling to flavor the space ‘Freddy’s.’ We will still feature our popular videos, art exhibitions, live music and a few surprises. The ‘Chains of Justice’ will still grace our bar as a reminder of the power of the community bond.” Anyone wishing to be involved “in all the mighty work to come” is asked to contact new co-owner Donald O’Finn through the Freddy’s website . Get involved, people!
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Freddy’s Bar & Backroom Opening in South Slope
Possibly due to quizzical looks over yet another all-expenses-paid trip, or possibly because the city Conflicts of Interest Board just said no, Brooklyn BP Marty Markowitz will not be joining Bruce Ratner on a trip to China to lure investors to the Atlantic Yards project through the EB-5 visa program. A spokesman told the Post that Markowitz “supports the group’s mission, wishes it great success and is confident the project will excite even more investors as it moves forward. Markowitz is apparently so bummed out about it that he couldn’t even turn the situation into one of his signature puns. Yesterday’s zinger will just have to hold us over that much longer.
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Markowitz Backs Out Of China Trip