NEW YORK, NY - The crumbling economy has forced the developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards project to indefinitely delay as many as 900 condominiums and the project's glitzy centerpiece. With the condo market tanking, Forest City Ratner officials told city and state officials at a private meeting on Monday it would shift focus away from pricey condominiums in favor of rental apartments during the first phase of construction. "Going rental is consistent with what other developers are doing elsewhere," said Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights), who attended the meeting. "That's just what the market is dictating."
The new plan calls for creating approximately 900 rental units in three towers formerly planned for condominium and commercial space, said several officials who attended the meeting at the Empire State Development Corp. office in lower Manhattan.
A combination of affordable and luxury rental apartments would be offered under the new plan, the officials were told. It was unclear what will happen to the $4.2 billion project's original call for a total of 1,950 condominiums. A Forest City Ratner spokesman declined to comment on the shift to rental apartments or details of the meeting.
But at least one official saw the delay as an opportunity. "The project is caught up in a perfect financial storm and therefore an opportunity has been created to emphasize the affordable housing component of the project," said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Fort Greene), who told Forest City Ratner executives to build the low income housing before going forward with a proposed NBA basketball arena. Jeffries said Forest City Ratner officials didn't respond to his request.
The delays are yet another indication that the plan to build the arena and 16 towers appears to be struggling under the increasing weight of a plunging economy. Architect Frank Gehry axed nearly every employee working on designs for the unfinished 22-acre project last month because Ratner refused to pay for design revisions, sources said.
Those layoffs were revealed less than a week after top brass insisted the $4.2 billion project would survive the ailing economy - but conceded there will likely be further delays and they didn't have a construction time line.
The tumble has left some elected officials balking at the developer's continued use of public subsidies. "I don't believe the project approved by the state is going to be going forward anytime soon," said Yassky. "Forest City Ratner should return the taxpayer dollars, and start talking about what actually can be built."
Source: NYdailyNews.com