December 11, 2003
NYC Wants the Nets
The billion dollar Brooklyn dreams of developer Bruce Ratner were unveiled yesterday, with the centerpiece being the Frank Gehry designed arena. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said, "Forget the Dodgers – Brooklyn’s future is the Nets." He added, "We are on the threshold of restoring Brooklyn to its rightful place on the national sports stage. Brooklyn, as everyone knows, is a world class city, and it deserves a world class team playing in a world class arena designed by a world class architect." Our man Marty, once you same world class for the third time, it loses meaning, though we get your point.
The entire development plan, aside from Ratner's $275 million bid to buy the Nets, is estimated at $2.5 million, with investors such as Ratner and Jay–Z. Yes, the Hova. Hizzoner was there, and Mayor Bloomberg said, "We’re at the beginning of the process. We don’t have the Nets yet. You better get them." Get them, then develop the commercial and residential parts on top of the railroad yards plus bulldoze a residential block in Prospect Heights.
The Times' Herbert Muschamp on the plan: "A Garden of Eden grows in Brooklyn. This one will have its own basketball team. Also, an arena surrounded by office towers; apartment buildings and shops; excellent public transportation; and, above all, a terrific skyline, with six acres of new parkland at its feet. Almost everything the well-equipped urban paradise must have, in fact."
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Now I know they are desperate.
The nets would be great for Brooklyn but they should hire a real, professional, architect. Gehry is a fine sculptor but Brooklyn needs an arena not another monument to Gehry's ego.
If you take a gander at the proposal, Gehry's design is pretty ego-free this time around. It pretty much looks like a normal arena, except for the track on the roof. It's nothing like his crazy-ass Walt Disney Concert Hall or anything.
I love how much time, energy and money is spent on designing something for a team that they don't have.
Yeah but they're more likely to get the team if they have at least this really rough design out there. I think it's great, Brooklyn deserves it.
Oh great, just what Brooklyn needs: The Renaissance Center, v2.0. Because it worked SO WELL for Detroit.
Folks, the jury came in on boondoggles like this year ago: they don't work. Ever. This thing is the ultimate white elephant.
If you want to restore Brooklyn's downtown, consider doing something to make small business owners actually want to set up there.
holy crap, someone just mentioned the RenCen. I didn't know anyone outside of Detroit knew about it. anyways, it can work. the problem with the RenCen had to do with politics and a bunch of other nonsense.
I don't see this being the RenCen v2. RenCen isn't at all integrated within downtown Detroit. It stands there, all by itself. The only reason to go visit the buildings is if you work in one of them or are staying in the hotel.
The proposed Brooklyn arena fits in a much tighter space and is integrated with mass transit and the street level (as far as I can see from the prelim plans). Downtown Brooklyn certainly isn't Detroit (thank God!) and I see this as a big boost to the area, along with Brooklyn Bridge waterfront park and a few other developments.
Jenny-- I grew up in Ann Arbor; all too painfully familiar with the RenCen.
Oh well, at least they're not proposing that we build an elevated monorail. :)
agreed - this is not a good thing for Brooklyn, not in that area. Prospect Heights and the surrounding areas are already going through a renaissance without this monstrosity. Surely, folks don't really think the developers are doing this for the good of Brooklyn.
I live in Park Slope, Love basketball (hate the Nets, Go Celtics!) and even like me some Jay z but in no way, shape or form do i want the Nets moving to the 718. Park Slope and The Heights rule because they are so cozy. I don't want no stinkin' skyline in the Slope. That's why I moved out here!
However, getting a Target, I can handle.
I don't know about Detroit, but someone from Ohio with pretty impressive sounding credentials was quoted in the NYT as saying: "It has all the ingredients to be successful," said Prof. Mark S. Rosentraub, a sports economist and the dean of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University in Ohio. "It's a very attractive market. Add in the kind of housing that's being talked about and the retail opportunities, you have something that could work." It's easy to be the critic, and I bet lots of people complained about Rockefeller Center, the World Financial Center and Battery Park City before they were built, but this seems like a good project. It's not some white elephant arena in the middle of a town with no complementary housing or retail (which is what I imagine Detroit to be like), but a mixed use plan that will bring more affordable housing to an area in need of it (there is a freight yard there now, and some, but not much, housing), retail and office space, and it sits right atop one of the biggest mass transit hubs in the whole country. It sounds like a good urban plan.
That sure don't look like the RenCen. The problem with the RenCen was it was built in the middle of a burnt-out wasteland, by a mayor who had gone on the record many times about driving the white man out of the city, and is the perfect monument for the US car industry - stupid, ugly and a waste.
That does not look at all like the Center I'm used to. It's not a barren hole in the middle of no where
Here is a site by the developer with information about the project.
As someone who lives on one of the blocks that would be condemned and demolished if Ratner's plan goes through, let me say that this is NOT a good idea! Firstly, I would lose my home, a very cool loft space in an old Spalding factory (ironic, dontcha think?)that I worked very hard to get and develop; I built a custom kitchen, a walk-in closet, a recording studio, and I tiled the bathroom floor myself. Other residents in my building have done much more.
But it's not just that, it's the fact that Ratner and his cronies are lying to the public about how many people and local businesses would be affected by his plan. The Prospect Heights Action Coalition conducted a door-to-door census and found that more than 1,000 residents (including some very young ones; there have been 4 babies born in my building in the past year)would have to be "relocated." Our homes, that we have all worked so hard to create, along with our neighborhood, which is growing and blossoming as we speak, would be destroyed.
We all agree that the LIRR rail yards and the adjacent stretch of Atlantic Avenue are in great need of development. But Ratner doesn't need to tear down our homes to do it. The three blocks he wants to raze and redevolped have been undergoing a renaissance of their own, due in large part to the pioneering efforts of condo owners like myself and my neighbors. I bought my place a couple of years ago, when there was still alot of uncertainty about the neighboring buildings. But we stuck around and watched as the Newswalk and Atlantic Arts buildings have gone condo and the overall neighboorhood is on the rise. Here's an idea: Why not use the rail yards and tear down the Atlantic Center Mall - Ratner's previous failed attempt at creating a "New Brooklyn." Don't destroy our homes. Let's keep the RATs out of Brooklyn.
So a boro of 2+ million should quash its complete rebirth because a few people decided to buy condos in the middle of desolate, ugly rail yards?
The press that the "opposition" is getting is ridiculous - go look at this so called "neighborhood" - there is virtually nothing there! - Heck the only retail establishment anyone can cite is a BAR.
Do you realize what a professional basketball team will mean to Brooklyn in terms of the tourism, restaurant, and real estate biz. Do you realize that the psycological effect of "putting Brooklyn back on the map" as its own "city" will have positive effects for millions. Do you realize how much better Brooklyn's competitve advantage will be in terms of the continued development of Downtown Brooklyn as a Biz center especially now that the city is pushing Brooklyn as the "new" Jersey City. Who do you think goes to NBA games - Biz execs thats who! Do you know what psycological effect this will have nationwide when all the press hits about Brooklyn "avenging" the Dodgers, etc....
No instead of thinking of the 100,000 of new jobs related to the momentum that the this development would bring, you are concerned with your new condo. I only hope that the powers that be, can stand up to the pressure of a vocal and selfish few.