A while back I was riffing on the mass of new stadium plans in the New York area. The most controversial of those these days is the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, where a large slice of the borough is planned to sprout an arena for the Nets, along with a host of skyscrapers taller than anything else in Brooklyn.
Even though there are still cases pending in federal court, construction is about to start, with Forest City Ratner giving the go ahead to begin the prep cleanup work in some parts of the project site. You can believe that Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn is having fits over this. It’s really rubbing me the wrong way as well. The project footprint is too big, the buildings too tall, and this all has the feel of overuse of eminent domain against the many for the gains of a few, at least in my eyes. But be that as it may, with every passing day the tide seems to be turning in favor of the builders.
Somehow I don’t think we’ll see a repeat of the defeat of the West Side Stadium project here. I can only hope that if this happens, all the positives being preached by the builders come to pass and then some. Even the original World Trade Center project was loathed as much as it was loved in its day, but before it’s tragic end it had endeared itself into the heart of the city. Maybe the same can be said for the new vision of Brooklyn.
Really, I’m trying to look on the bright side here….
Edit: Reader Chad pointed out the following paragraph in this press release regarding the building heights:
Mr. Ratner today also announced some additional programs to support the Atlantic Yards project, as well as a reduction to the height of the proposed “Ms. Brooklyn†building, ensuring that no building at the site will be taller than the 512-foot Williamsburg Savings Bank.
It’s good to see at least one of my major concerns has been mitigated.
Tags: New York City, Sports
You may need to update your info. None of the Atlantic Yards buildings will be taller than the existing Williamsburg Bank Tower.
I hate to differ Chad, but in the model photo above (taken directly from the Atlantic Yards web site), the tall building to the far left IS the Williamsburg Bank Tower. Unless there’s been a recent unpublicized change in the project building heights, I’m sticking to my guns here. Do you have any reference materials you can use to back up your claim?
You might also want to check out invisible man’s Google Earth visualization of the Atlantic Yards project. Nothing like moving around in 3D to get an even better sense of the disproportion of scale we’re talking about here.
http://atlanticyards.com/html/footer/e_news13.html
paragraph three
I stand corrected, and have stated as such in the post. Far be it that I should intentionally mislead people….
[...] have a good feeling about it all. Not often I get to say that about public works of this scale (see my ranting on the Atlantic Yards project if you need [...]