After reading the latest “ATLANTIC YARDS CONSTRUCTION UPDATE” from the ESDC, the state agency puppet on the end of Forest City Ratner’s string, I might have described my state as apoplectic. Why would such a typically non-informative bureaucratic publication drive me to the edge of derangement? It’s not like this most recent pronouncement of “construction” (which usually details mostly destruction and demolition) was markedly different than those before.
What really drove up my blood pressure was the following:
Demolition
- The Abatement contractor will install scaffolding in preparation for the removal of asbestos at the roof at 475 Dean Street.
Why? Why are they now preparing to demolish this building (in the photo above)? 475 Dean used to be the home of many and the place of business for others, until Forest City Ratner (FCR) bought the building (with our taxpayer money) and cleared it out. It’s been sitting vacant for years. Why, now, are they preparing to destroy an inhabitable building, in the midst of a housing crisis? Why, when there’s no guarantee that Atlantic Yards will actually happen? Can’t they wait until the Court of Appeals rules in the next few weeks? It doesn’t make any business sense to me. Granted, I’m not in the eminent domain and public subsidy development business like FCR, but it just seems like a calculated, strategic move at this point in time.
I suspect that they, FCR, made the strategic decision to convey in the strongest terms possible that Atlantic Yards is a DONE DEAL, that it is happening, that there is no Plan B, that it’s inevitable. They must act this way in order for the all so crucial sale of hundreds of millions in bonds before year end. They must keep up appearances for the bond rating agencies, for investors, for the markets, for politicians who’ve hitched their wagons to the train wreck in slow motion that is Atlantic Yards. They can’t afford to blink, to give even the slightest hint of doubt or uncertainty, as blinking now could prove fatal to the whole charade.
Much like the demolition of the historic Ward Bread Bakery building last year, FCR cannot afford the possibility of optional uses for the site. As long as a building stands, there’s the possibility of reuse, there’s the possibility of an alternate, there’s the possibility of something other than Atlantic Yards.
