If Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards project ever goes forward, it's safe to say these will not be looked upon as "the good old days" by the developer. Another lawsuit was filed against the project yesterday by tenants who say the drawn out schedule the state would allow is illegal. It gives Forest City Ratner 12 years to finish the first phase of the project. They say it violates the state's eminent domain law, which requires that a property be "materially improved" within ten years. Also, the suit argues that given that the stall--cancellation of some aspects of the project and delays--changes the public benefits that the Empire State Development Corp. has to hold another hearing. The suit was filed on behalf of 13 tenants in two buildings on Pacific Street and on Dean Street. In the meantime, there's a serious effort underway in Newark to possibly buy the Nets and move them to that city's Prudential Center. Heady times for the Atlantic Yards crew. Add the developments to the Timeline of Despair.
· Delays in $4 Billion Brooklyn Development Are Challenged in Tenants’ Lawsuit [NYT]
· ESDC’s long leash on Phase 1 provokes lawsuit from tenants [AYR]
The fight to stop the city's big $3 billion redevelopment of Willets Point is going legal. Right now, property owners and opponents of the plan are having a press conference at City Hall to announced they're filling suit against the city over its "negligent, reckless and willful refusal to provide" basic services including streets, gutters, storm sewers, fire hydrants, snow removal, trash and sanitary sewers. They say the lack of services, in turn, will be used by the city to condemn property, evict businesses and turn the parcel over to developers. The suit asks the city to provide basic infrastructure and asks for damages for "past neglect." The city plans a huge housing, retail, hotel and convention complex on the site, which is next to Citi Field. Yesterday, opponents protested outside Shea Stadium on opening day. The Willets Point Industry and Realty Association and 10 of the biggest landowners have hired a major environmental lawyer to pursue the suit. Per a release from the group: "WPIRA maintains that the City of New York has planned to rezone and redevelop for many years and has been waging a campaign of intentional neglect to create and perpetuate an eyesore for the eventual justification of the use of Eminent Domain."
· Willets Point Plan Rendered, Local Love Included [Curbed]
That big city plan to tear down all the auto shops and other businesses in Willets Point and replace it with housing, hotel rooms, shopping and a convention center is still generating a lot protest. So much so that opponents plan to demonstrate at opening day at Shea Stadium tomorrow and organizers are predicting 1,000 people could show up to give Mets' fans something extra to watch. In the meantime, the city recently floated out some renderings, a photo gallery of which appears above. The rezoning the city is considering would allow up to 5,000 units of housing and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space in a 13-block area. A lot of the property would have to be seized by eminent domain, however, and up to 3,000 workers could lose their jobs. Opponents also say the plan doesn't include enough affordable housing. In the meantime, there's a letter writing campaign to city officials from members of the Willets Point Industry and Realty Association. One says, "We object to you taking our land and selling it to a private developer while profiting from our blood, sweat and tears." Another calls the plan "a disgrace." The plan could be headed into the land review process within a month and hopes to break ground in 2010.
· Willets Point Redevelopment [NYCEDC]
· Willets Point land owner rip land grab [NYDN]
· Willets Point Plan Hits More Bumps on Road to Hotels, Etc. [Curbed]
The rezoning of 125th Street in Harlem can't have all the fun, not when the little matter of Columbia University's $7 billion mega-expansion is still in play. One landowner has filed suit because he says there wasn't a proper environmental review of the two million square foot bathtub under the planned campus. Now, an owner of a different building in the campus footprint wants the university to move her building four blocks to the south instead of selling it to them. The owner sent out a press release yesterday in which she is quoted as saying, "Moving the building would let Columbia have the land and would let me keep on using the architecturally beautiful and historic building which I love." (The release came from the Manhattanville Preservation Alliance, Former Sheffield Farms Stable in "Old West Harlem.") The building houses a moving and storage business and used to be part of thriving dairy empire. Today's amNY picks up the narrative, which started with an effort to save the beaux-arts façade and progressed to preserving the building, albeit by relocating it. There's no price tag, but a Columbia official labels the idea "dream land stuff," which sounds like a "no."
· Harlem biz owner wants building relocated [amNY]
· Harlem Landowner Sues Over Columbia Expansion [Sun]
As if the troubled Atlantic Yards project doesn't have enough problems, the property owners and tenants fighting the use of eminent domain on the project have filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The petition asks the Court to hear the appeal of the eminent domain case, which was dismissed on February 1. Goldstein v. Pataki was originally filed in October 2006. The Atlantic Yards opponents argue that hearing the case "provides the Court with an important opportunity to address the appropriate constitutional limits on the government's power to seize private homes for the benefit of powerful real estate developers like Bruce Ratner. The group's legal argument is that there is only a "pretext of a public purpose" for taking land for Atlantic Yards via eminent domain where the "actual purpose" is "to bestow a private benefit." Fans of legal documents can find the full petition and other paperwork here. The Court only accepts a handful of cases each year, but the appeal lengthens the time line for the developer.
· Supreme Court Asked to Hear Eminent Domain Case [DDDB]
· Atlantic Yards Stall: Timeline of Despair [Curbed]
Let's just say the fight for control of the land currently occupied by Pfizer in Williamsburg is not going to pretty to watch. The pharmaceutical giant, which is shutting down the plant, wants to find someone to develop the 15 acres of land as "a mixed-use, mixed-income complex." Meanwhile, State Assemblyman Vito Lopez has introduced a bill to get the land for affordable housing via eminent domain with part of the rationale being that Pfizer has "almost always donated their land back to the community in a good faith effort to contribute to areas" where its plants were located. Pfizer isn't having it. They emailed The Real Estate to say "Not only is the concept of state-sponsored eminent domain extremely premature at this point and potentially chilling for development statewide." Interestingly, it's not the only eminent domain threat being used in the Burg. State Sen. Joe Lentol is pushing an idea to seize the property held by TransGas, which saw its Williamsburg waterfront power plant turned down last week, for use as part of the Bushwick Inlet Park. Brooklyn's other big eminent domain hot spot is Atlantic Yards.
· Vito Lopez Moves to Take Pfizer's Brooklyn Site by Eminent Domain [TRE]
· Will Pfizer Need Anti-Depressants Over Brooklyn Property? [Curbed]
Who knew that something as sordid as that Client 9 thing would have implications for something as dry and legalistic as eminent domain? But it does. This morning's Sun considers the possible implications of Gov. David Paterson--who has been an opponent of eminent domain--on a number of projects including Atlantic Yards, the big Columbia Expansion and the city's plan to take Willets Point and redevelop it with a huge convention, hotel, retail and residential complex. Opponents of Atlantic Yards aren't wasting any time. The postcard here to "Dear Gov. Paterson," which isn't specifically about eminent domain, is already in circulation.The Sun notes that the incoming governor was part of a 2005 rally on the steps of City Hall "during which he called for a statewide moratorium on the use of eminent domain." The issue--along with a Brooklyn Museum Gala honoring developer Bruce Ratner--were major topics of conversation at a meeting on Atlantic Yards last night. The Atlantic Yards postcards are already in the mail, with anti-Columbia Expansion and Willets Point likely to follow.
· Paterson Could Derail Development: Opposes Eminent Domain [Sun]
· At DDDB update, Brooklyn Museum honor for Ratner raises ire [AYR]
There are two words most likely to ignite any discussion about big developments in New York City: eminent domain. Today's City Council hearing about Columbia's big Manhattanville expansion plan is likely to feature some significant back-and-forth about the unspoken issue hovering over it. The City Planning Commission ducked eminent domain in voting for the expansion a couple of weeks ago. But the odds are in favor of eminent domain fireworks in this next phase of Manhattanville plan discussions. Today's Sun notes that eminent domain "may hinder" the 17-acre, $6 billion expansion and "will be at the heart" of City Council hearings. Other big eminent domain fights include the big Willets Point redo plan and the Mother of All New York City Eminent Domain Battles, Atlantic Yards.
· Issue of Eminent Domain May Hinder Columbia in Harlem [Sun]
· Columbia Manhattanville Expansion Morning After [Curbed]
· City 'Punting' on Columbia Expansion Eminent Domain? [Curbed]
It looks like at least one of the Underground Railroad Homes on Duffield Street in downtown Brooklyn has been saved from the wrecking ball. A press release just went out announcing that the the city "has pledged that it will not use eminent domain to condemn" a building at 227 Duffield Street that it was planning to seize via eminent domain. Supporters say the building was a stop on the Underground Railroad." The city had been planning some sort of commemoration of the Underground Railroad on the site, which is part of a park called Willoughby Square and atop a big underground garage, but the announcement from the owner Joy Chatel says that the city "has agreed to re-draw its plans for Downtown Brooklyn so that the condemnation of 227 Duffield Street will not be necessary." There will be a press conference on Monday.
· Historic Duffield St. Home Saved from Eminent Domain [DDDB]
· Will Brooklyn Parking Trump Underground Railroad Houses? [Curbed]
· Downtown Brooklyn Eminent Domain Hearing Held Again [Curbed]
It looks like the city is going to build a museum in downtown Brooklyn to commemorate the Underground Railroad movement and the buildings it is going to tear down to build a build an underground garage and a park on Duffield Street. Yesterday, the city asked for RFPs for a "Brooklyn Abolitionism Commemoration" that could include a museum. There's been a long fight about buildings said to have been part of the Underground Railroad and the city is in the process of taking them via eminent domain. The site will become a 1.25 acre park atop a 700-car parking garage near some of the big hotels going up downtown.
· Victory (???): RFP for Abolitionist Commemoration [Duffield St. Underground]
· Brooklyn Abolitionism Commemoration [NYEDC]
· Brooklyn Downtown Eminent Domain Hearing Held Again [Curbed]
If this seems familiar, it's because it is: the city held eminent domain hearings for downtown Brooklyn for a second time yesterday. The first time was in May, but the proceeding was tossed out because of some paperwork boo boos. (Opponents say the city deliberately forgot to produce a key report.) At issue is the fate of the "Underground Railroad homes" on Duffield Street, rent-stabilized apartments with 40 tenants, a business with 100 employees, an arts venue and a parking lot. In all, there are 21 properties that would be seized on three different blocks in the downtown area. The center of the controversy, though, is the Underground Railroad houses. The city wants to seize them and tear them down so it can build a 700-car underground garage and a park called Willoughby Plaza above it. Several major hotels will be located nearby as well as the big Albee Square development.
· Brooklyn redevelopment faces Underground Railroad conflict [amNY]
· The Duffield Eminent Domain Battle Continues [Brownstoner]
· City Gives Downtown Brooklyn Eminent Domain Hearing Another Try [BDE]
While eminent domain cases are nothing new in Atlantic Yardsville, the Brooklyn Paper today spotlights a Fort Greene case that's particularly foot-in-the-balls. In the tentacles of the so-called BAM Cultural District, three friends took over the lease on an old liquor store on Fulton Street and Ashland Place, with the aim of turning it into a non-profit arts venue called Amber Art & Music Space. What they were never told was that the city wants to seize the building for—wait for it—an arts space. The Manhattan-based Dancespace Project is slated to get the spot, even though the Amber Art peeps have sunk $200,000 in rent into the space already. Oof. What makes this even more sad is the Amber Art & Music Space website, which comes complete with videos of the three owners painstakingly detailing the ongoing construction and talking about how awesome a time everyone is going to have there. That's gotta hurt!
· Art attack: City to evict art space for … art space! [Brooklyn Paper]
· Amber Art & Music Space [ambernyc.com]
Comments
The rezoning of 125th Street in Harlem can't have 
It looks like at least one of the 
It looks like the city is going to build a museum in downtown Brooklyn to commemorate the Underground Railroad movement and the buildings it is going to tear down to build a build an underground garage and a park on Duffield Street. Yesterday, the city asked for RFPs for a "Brooklyn Abolitionism Commemoration" that could include a museum. There's been a long fight about buildings said to have been part of the Underground Railroad and the city is in the process of
If this seems familiar, it's because it is: the city held eminent domain hearings for downtown Brooklyn for a second time yesterday. The 
