Empire State Development Corporation and Forest City Ratner Companies have served notice that they intend to fight a July court decision ordering further environmental review of the Atlantic Yards project, Brooklyn Speaks, a civic organization that has for a long time been opposed to the development, announced today.

In July, a Supreme Court judge ruled that the project was subject to another environmental review, as the construction timeline for the second phase of the project was extended to 25 years.

The filing of the appeal by FCRC and ESDC delays ESDC’s obligation to comply with the court order, Brooklyn Speaks said, thus delaying changes to the Atlantic Yards plan that would accelerate the delivery of affordable housing and jobs to the area. – Katherine Clarke [more]

The Empire State Development Corporation today announced that it was giving $17 million to several community organizations and cultural non-profits in Lower Manhattan, many of whom intend to use their grants for expansions, renovations or new construction, according to a statement released today by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The Flea Theater, for example, received $500,000 for the construction of a new three-theater complex at 20 Thomas Street in the Civic Center.

ABC No Rio, a center for art and activism on the Lower East Side, received $275,000 towards its construction of a new multi-use arts center at 156 Rivington Street.
— Miranda Neubauer [more]

The redevelopment of the Victoria Theater on 125th Street in Harlem is finally moving forward after setbacks,
the New York Times reported. The Empire State Development Corporation
had been trying to redevelop the property as a mixed-use hotel and
condominium complex since 2005, and chose Danforth Development
Partners to lead the project in 2008. But the real estate crash that
followed put the plans on hold. Now, Danforth says the $100 million
project can move along with a new equity partner, Exact Capital, and
will break ground in the second half of next year. [more]

Two more holdouts are standing in Bruce Ratner’s way at Atlantic Yards, except in this case, the developer doesn’t want to evict them, he just wants them to let him onto their properties in order to do a little underground construction work. According to the Daily News, the state is taking two Atlantic Avenue businesses — museum and trade show shop Global Exhibition Services and a Storage Mart — to court to force them into letting Ratner install underground steel cables known as tie-backs beneath their buildings, a necessary step for finishing the Carlton Avenue bridge portion of the project. The businesses have thus far rebuffed Ratner’s efforts for fear of property damage, but the state is arguing that eminent domain would allow it to condemn the properties if it had to in order to get the work done. Comments

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Bruce Ratner is kicking Atlantic Yards construction into overdrive for the next three months, ahead of the Barclays Center’s planned Sept. 28, 2012 opening date. According to the Brooklyn Paper, the Empire State Development Corporation, which is overseeing the development, released a new schedule that has workers on the job between 6 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. — beginning one hour earlier and ending one hour later than in their previous schedule — and also working on Saturdays. The Saturday work will go on between 7 am and 5:30 p.m. beginning this weekend. [more]

A petition for certiorari filed by Harlem property owners in the eminent domain case concerning the proposed expansion of Columbia University into Harlem by way of the Empire State Development Corporation will be consider by the Supreme Court of the United States today, with a decision to grant or deny to be released Dec. 13. Similar to the Atlantic Yards case, the property owners in the Columbia case have disputed the ESDC’s findings, which say that their properties are blighted. The ESDC is the same agency that enabled Forest City Ratner to take private homes and businesses for the Atlantic Yards arena. The blog of the Supreme Court has also included the Columbia University eminent domain case on its list of “Petitions to Watch.” [No Land Grab] [more]

A Brooklyn community group has filed a motion to halt work on the multi-billion dollar Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, where construction has begun for an NBA basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets, the Brooklyn Eagle reported. The motion was filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court, by community groups Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and BrooklynSpeaks, in response to a judge granting a motion to reargue a previous ruling against petitioners’ claims that the project would take longer than the proposed 10 years. The next court date is set for Dec. 22. [more]

BrooklynSpeaks, a coalition of civic associations and advocacy groups concerned about development at the Atlantic Yards site, announced yesterday that more than 1,000 New Yorkers have signed a petition calling for legislation mandating public oversight of the project, the Brooklyn Eagle reported. Bills introduced into the State Assembly require the Empire State Development Corp. to create a group responsible for governing the Atlantic Yards’ development, which is now expected to last for 25 years. “As the largest development project in Brooklyn’s history, Atlantic Yards must be managed with no less transparency and accountability than other important state and city projects, like Brooklyn Bridge Park,” said Assembly member Hakeem Jeffries. “We will not accept a private developer being given sole decision-making power over this project’s future given the significant public investment that has been made.” The Atlantic Yards Governance Act has passed the Corporations Committee in the Assembly, and is now before the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee and the Senate’s Rules Committee. [Brooklyn Eagle]

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From left: Assembly member Richard Brodsky and State Senator Bill Perkins

State lawmakers have proposed a legislative package to limit the power of eminent domain. The proposed laws, spearheaded by Assembly member Richard Brodsky and State Senator Bill Perkins, aim to limit eminent domain’s scope by creating a commission to review the state’s eminent domain practices and by ensuring a greater level of compensation for property owners’ whose land is seized. Many like Brodsky and Perkins contend that New York State’s eminent domain laws are woefully outdated — while many other states have updated their laws to protect homeowners, New York has made little to no change in its property seizure procedure they say. Even so, Lisa Willner, a public affairs manager for the Empire State Development Corporation, an agency tasked with helping businesses and enhancing the financial growth of the state, said that limiting eminent domain rights could imperil the fiscal future of many developers. “Eminent domain is an essential governmental tool that allows for the implementation of important development projects to the benefit of the public at large,” Willner said.

The New York Court of Appeals cleared the way this morning for developer Bruce Ratner to move forward with plans for his $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project, dismissing opponents’ claims that the state had misused eminent domain laws in securing land for the development. The decision may come just in the nick of time for Ratner, who needs to make a Dec. 31 deadline if he is to receive tax-exempt status on $600 million in bonds for the new 18,000-seat New Jersey Nets arena he’s building at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue. In addition to the arena, Ratner has plans for 16 high-rise towers nearby on the 22-acre lot, with up to 6,430 apartments. While the eminent domain case was likely the last major obstacle Ratner would have to clear before beginning construction, he is facing a slew of other lawsuits, including one filed by some 20 community advocacy groups last month contending that the Empire State Development Corporation and Ratner’s Forest City Companies planned to circumvent the project’s governing document and were refusing to submit a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. [NYT]