msweet Posted July 9, 2005 Share Posted July 9, 2005 LINK Nets Face Competing Bid From Manhattan Developer POSTED: 8:17 pm EDT July 6, 2005 NEW YORK -- A Manhattan company made a surprise bid Wednesday for the Brooklyn railyards where a developer wants to put a Nets basketball arena amid a cluster of towering apartment buildings. Extell Development Company executives said they want to build a lower, less populous residential project without an arena above the yards on Atlantic Avenue between the Prospect Heights and Fort Greene sections. Developer Bruce Ratner has spent years planning and promoting his $3.5 billion proposal to build a Frank Gehry-designed arena for the team, which he purchased last year, alongside thousands of apartment towers reaching as high as 60 stories. A spokesman for Ratner declined to comment on the competing bid. Neither Extell nor Ratner's spokesman said how much they were bidding for the property, which is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA's deadline for bids ended Wednesday. The MTA declined comment. Ratner has proposed 17 Gehry-designed buildings with 6,000 residential units housing roughly 15,000 people and 1.9 million square feet of office space. The Extell plan proposes 1,940 residential units and 116,000 square feet of retail space in 11 buildings that would not be higher than 28 stories. Extell's plan was developed in response to a call for competing bids by neighborhood residents who object to the Ratner project, particularly plans to use the state's power to condemn surrounding homes and businesses whose owners who don't want to sell. The smaller Extell plan would not require the use of eminent domain and reflects design ideas put forth by opponents in a plan illustrating what they said should be built instead of Ratner's project. "We like the principles of it," Daniel Goldstein, a spokesman for the group Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, said of the Extell plan. "We feel that it meets many of the principles that we have been fighting for nearly two years now." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundstrom Posted July 9, 2005 Share Posted July 9, 2005 mark my words.....the nets will be in Newark...and Ratner won't own them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Get Real Posted July 9, 2005 Share Posted July 9, 2005 sundstorm I hope you're right. I'd like the Nets in Newark arena it makes it a more viable financial setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefiestygoat Posted July 9, 2005 Share Posted July 9, 2005 I also hope that the Nets end up in Newark and have a new owner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedArmy8 Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Maybe they will move elsewhere. I actually thought they moved last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MantaRay Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Unfortunately, I can confirm that the Nets are still in NJ. I went to their final playoff game against Miami (free tickets and I took my nephews). I have never experienced such contrived enthusiasm at a sporting event, the game was secondary to the music and BS in between play. I wanted to leave after the first 10 minutes it was so boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizDevil30 Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Unfortunately, I can confirm that the Nets are still in NJ. I went to their final playoff game against Miami (free tickets and I took my nephews). I have never experienced such contrived enthusiasm at a sporting event, the game was secondary to the music and BS in between play. I wanted to leave after the first 10 minutes it was so boring. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's what happens when a team has just built up momentum and a fan base and then the new owner announces he's moving the team to basically nowhere. Happened to the Charlotte Hornets after the announcement of their move to I think New Orleans. Charlotte has since gotten another team? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadDog2020 Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Unfortunately, I can confirm that the Nets are still in NJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwindog Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 (edited) From an environmental standpoint I'd really like to see housing in Brooklyn -- there WILL be a beautiful new arena in Newark -- the Nets should play there. Brooklyn needs housing - not any sort of economic kick-start from a stupid arena! Personally I do think Newark needed the arena to enliven the economy. I feel like if the city becomes a desirable place to hang out then the housing will increase as well. I don't feel like it displaced anyone - but rather will improve the standard of living and property values. I wish they'd stop building gated communities and devlop NJs cities. It seems to be doing some good in New Brunswick... although with the rash of crime last year during construction of the new condos et al. I'm not as sure Edited July 11, 2005 by Darwindog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.