Empire State Development President Kenneth Adams and Atlantic Yards
Rather than attempt to work out environmental concerns at the Atlantic Yards with the surrounding community, Empire State Development is hoping a third round of litigation proves to be the charm. Crain’s reported that the state agency filed a request to appeal a pair of rulings that it illegally approved changes to Forest City Ratner’s plans for the site without a sufficient environmental review. [more]
Andrew Cuomo and 633 Third Avenue
Time Equities has put Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office space on the market for twice what it paid five years ago, the New York World reported, which lends further speculation to the Empire State Development Corp’s decision to sell the space back in November 2006. [more]
Pratt Area Community Council Executive Director Deb Howard and construction at Atlantic Yards
Sick of the constant litigation surrounding Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn activists are appealing to a higher power: Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Patch reported the Pratt Area Community Council wants Cuomo to step in “and get this project to deliver on its promises” of bringing affordable housing and jobs to the neighborhood, quoting Deb Howard, the council’s executive director. [more]
Silverstein Properties will sell $900 million of fixed-rate municipal bonds next week to refinance the debt issued for its planned 63-story World Trade Center Tower 4, according to Bloomberg News. Silverstein had been delaying the scheduled sale since December because of an erratic bond market, but yields on top-rated 30-year municipal bonds have declined since the start of the year, hitting 5.11 percent April 4, down from 5.28 percent Jan. 14, Municipal Market Advisors reported. The tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, originally part of a U.S. program to aid New York City’s recovery from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, will be sold through a subsidiary of the state’s Empire State Development Corp. and marketed by a group of investment banks led by Goldman Sachs. [more]
The New York Court of Appeals has upheld the state’s use of eminent domain to seize land for Columbia University’s proposed $6.3 billion, 17-acre West Harlem expansion plan, the Associated Press reported. The Empire State Development Corp. had argued that the seizures were justified because the area was blighted. The Columbia project, the agency said, would improve the neighborhood with new housing, laboratories and two acres of public open space. In December, that argument was rejected by a state appellate court, which said the general public would not benefit from the expansion of a private university. Columbia already owns all but 9 percent of the land it intends to build upon but wants the new Manhattanville campus to run uninterrupted with an interconnected underground facility beneath it. [AP]
The New York Court of Appeals has upheld the state’s use of eminent domain to seize land for Columbia University’s proposed $6.3 billion, 17-acre West Harlem expansion plan, the Associated Press reported. The Empire State Development Corp. had argued that the seizures were justified because the area was blighted. The Columbia project, the agency said, would improve the neighborhood with new housing, laboratories and two acres of public open space. In December, that argument was rejected by a state appellate court, which said the general public would not benefit from the expansion of a private university. Columbia already owns all but 9 percent of the land it intends to build upon but wants the new Manhattanville campus to run uninterrupted with an interconnected underground facility beneath it. [AP]
The latest chapter in the Atlantic Yards saga is set to open this week in Albany. The New York Court of Appeals is prepared to hear oral arguments this Wednesday over whether the state bears the right to condemn property and sell it for development. Many business owners and residents in the Atlantic Yards’ neighborhood have been vocal in their opposition of the project, saying that the Empire State Development Corp. has overstepped its bounds and that it doesn’t have the right to force them out.
The Empire State
Development Corp. voted to amend the Atlantic Yards project’s plan so
that the site can be acquired and paid for in stages. Although the entire
modified plan hasn’t been publicly disclosed, the ESDC
said it allows developer Forest City Ratner to acquire the 22-acre site
in stages instead of all at once, and that Ratner would first take
possession of the parcel that will hold
the arena, parking and four towers. The vote kicks off a 30-day public
comment period on the changes to the $5 billion project. Yesterday, the MTA said it would allow Ratner to
stretch out the payment of $100 million over two decades instead
of paying it in one lump sum. [more]
