tracy collins photography - atlantic yards

On December 10, 2003, developer Forest City Ratner proposed a major project for central Brooklyn, New York called “Atlantic Yards.” Architect Frank Gehry and landscape architect Laurie Olin were selected to design the project, which would today include a 20,500 seat arena for the NBA Nets professional basketball team and 16 towers ranging in height to 511 feet (approximately 50 stories). If built as proposed, Atlantic Yards would be the most expensive single development in Brooklyn history, covering 22 acres with a total of 8 million square feet of space and more than 6430 residential units. The development cost is estimated to be $4 billion.

The proposed site, roughly bounded by Flatbush and Fourth Avenues to the west, Vanderbilt Avenue to the east, Atlantic Avenue to the north, and Dean Street to the south, covers an area over seven-square blocks and includes the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) Vanderbilt Yard, several businesses and homes. It straddles the low-rise residential neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Park Slope and Prospect Heights.

The proposed development has strong government support from (former) New York State Governor George Pataki, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, among others. The city and state have pledged a total of $305 million, in addition to lucrative tax and other incentives. Some local unions, housing advocates and residents also strongly support the project, often citing the developer's promise of much needed jobs and affordable housing for the local community.

In contrast, I and many others strongly oppose Atlantic Yards due to its size, density and cost to New Yorkers. We predict increased pollution; decades

of construction; overcrowded subways, schools and roads; overburdened fire, police and medical services; and are skeptical of the promised jobs and affordable housing.

The other major issue is the developer's threatened use of eminent domain to force the sale of properties in the project footprint. Forest City Ratner is currently a co-defendant with city and state officials in at least one lawsuit (Goldstein v. Pataki), in which the plaintiffs allege that the developer and government officials are abusing their power of eminent domain.

I began taking photographs of the neighborhood in 2004 soon after I bought my home on Dean Street near Carlton Avenue. At that time I had heard bits of information (and plenty of rumors) about Atlantic Yards, but was assured by my real estate agent that my house was not threatened by eminent domain. It (probably) will be spared due to the Newswalk Building, a recently completed condominium conversion of a Daily News printing facility that sits between my brownstone and the Atlantic Yards site. I've heard a number of theories as to why Newswalk is not threatened by eminent domain, but suspect that it's about money: it would be very expensive to buy out all 170 units, assuming the owners would sell willingly.

If Atlantic Yards in its current form is what is actually built, I fear that the neighborhood in which I chose to make my home will not merely be transformed, but will be replaced. Whatever happens, I intend to capture some of what may soon be a lost neighborhood.