Ratner gets 45 days to up ante MTA talks exclusively with Bruce despite his low offer By Jess Wisloski ner’s company, with the hopes of upping its the July 27 meeting that neither bid came commitment of her company to the proj- The Brooklyn Papers bid by the board’s Sept. 29 meeting. close enough to the state authority’s $214 ect, and reiterated Extell’s plans to develop Ratner’s bid offers $50 million up front. million appraised value for the rail yards to 1,940 units of new housing, with 573 As it once was, so it shall be again, It also includes $29 million in renovations justify the board’s interest. mixed-income units. the Metropolitan Transportation of the rail yards (to help pay for the reloca- Compared to Ratner’s bid — which was She said the costs of infrastructure and Authority board decided this week, tion of them required by Ratner’s plan), two years in the making and included any required platform would be paid for when it cast aside the high bidder — $20 million in environmental remediation dozens of support letters from elected offi- by Extell, and again raised an offer pre- / Jori Klein who offered $150 million to develop of the land (which needs to be done in or- cials, a myriad of minority contracting or- sented by Extell on Monday to work with the Long Island Rail Road storage der to develop the site for housing), $182 ganizations and numerous labor unions, Forest City Ratner to add an arena that / Jori Klein yards at Atlantic Avenue — and million to build a platform (to build the the Extell bid — hastily prepared to meet would be developed on private property. instead voted to continue their exclu- housing and commercial properties over the MTA’s one-month deadline — was “One thing someone asked us,” Goren the shifted rail yards), $25.4 million in presented on standard-sized sheets of pa- said after her testimony to the board, “if we sive negotiations with preferred de- The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn MTA operating expenses and $23 million per with far fewer support letters and little would have had more time would we have Extell Vice President Lela Goren speaks veloper Forest City Ratner. in new sales tax revenues. analysis of the benefits. done more? Yes. We would have reached out Papers The Brooklyn about her company’s bid for the Atlantic The MTA board voted 11-1 on Wednes- The other bidder, Extell Development At the board meeting, held at the MTA’s to some of those other groups. You know, the MTA chairman Peter Kalikow listens Avenue rail yards during the MTA board day to approve a resolution calling for exclu- Company, submitted a $150 million bid. Madison Avenue headquarters, Extell Se- unions, we use union labor,” she said, point- to deliberations on the fate of the meeting in Manhattan on Wednesday. sive negotiations with developer Bruce Rat- MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow said at nior Vice President Lela Goren vowed the See MTA on page 3 competing rail yards bids. BROOKLYN’S REAL NEWSPAPERS Including The Bensonhurst Paper Published every Saturday — online all the time — by Brooklyn Paper Publications Inc, 55 Washington St, Suite 624, Brooklyn NY 11201. Phone 718-834-9350 • www.BrooklynPapers.com • © 2005 Brooklyn Paper Publications • 20 pages •Vol.28, No. 30 BRZ •Saturday, July 30, 2005 • FREE ‘Park’ to house 1,200 condos By Jess Wisloski Wendy Leventer, executive The Brooklyn Papers director of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corp. Brooklyn Bridge Park’s (BBPDC), a subsidiary of the sponsor unveiled a double ESDC that is in charge of the surprise Wednesday night, park’s planning and implemen- BEER PIER announcing that state offi- tation, maintains that the luxury cials had approved a draft housing is the only way to raise plan for the 1.3-mile water- enough revenue to pay the front development — and park’s annual expenses, estimat- that it would include 1,200 ed at $15.2 million. units of luxury housing. Opponents of the park hous- NOT NEAR Previous estimates had put the ing, most of them long-time ac- number of high-end condos in the tivists in the fight to get Brook- residential, commercial, and open lyn Bridge Park built, were space development at anywhere fuming at the news. Brooklyn Brewery: City from 700 to just over 900. “They keep adding on to it,” Critics have complained since said Murray Adams, president a reworked Brooklyn Bridge of the Cobble Hill Association. dragging feet on Pier 7 Park plan was released late last “First it was 700, then they were year that planners have strayed talking about a thousand, now By Jess Wisloski bution center to the pier just south of from one of the founding princi- it’s 1,200. The Brooklyn Papers Atlantic Avenue, that plan is being de- ples intended to guide develop- “It’s been perfectly obvious / Jori Klein / Jori Klein from the beginning that this thing It seems as though most every- layed by the existing tenant and the ment of the 80 acre site — that Port Authority of New York and New there be no private housing de- was set on the track from Pataki’s one on what remains of Brook- Jersey, which owns the pier. velopments. office, no matter what anybody lyn’s working waterfront is on- “What I’m trying to understand is, But what shocked them even did or said,” said Adams. “The board to welcome Brooklyn given the position of the Port Authori- more about this week’s an- fix was in, as you say.” Brewery, and its exclusive distrib- ty, that they’d like to see Phoenix and His main lament, Adams said, The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn The Brooklyn Papers The Brooklyn nouncement from the Empire utor, Phoenix Beverage, to Pier 7 Brooklyn Brewery there, why can’t State Development Corp., was was that none of the communi- — except the owners of the pier. we get this done? It’s kind of frustrat- that nearly 80 percent of the ty’s efforts or time in meeting Steve Hindy, who owns the ing,” Hindy said on Tuesday. housing, some 940 units, would with the BBPDC and lead park Williamsburg-based Brooklyn Brew- “All the indications we have had Trash talkin’ be concentrated on the southern architect Michael Van Valken- ery, told The Brooklyn Papers this from the Port Authority is they think Dozens of Bensonhurst residents turned out on Thursday, July 14 for rally at Crospey and 26th tip of the park west of Furman burgh over the past months was week that while he is eager to relocate Phoenix and Brooklyn Brewery avenues in opposition to city's plan to build a waste transfer facility at the site of the former Street between Joralemon Street ultimately valued in the final and expand his operations and distri- See BEER PIER on page 4 garbage incinerator. For the complete story see page 8. and Atlantic Avenue. See CONDOS on page 13 NEVER ON SUNDAY Council repeals 7-day parking meters By Ajla Grozdanic “We believe that there should be no tax for The Brooklyn Papers on worship,” said Monserrate, a co-chair of the Black, Latino and Asian caucus. “Sun- The City Council voted over- day was historically a family day.” whelmingly this week to eliminate Gentile, who earlier Sunday held a simi- Sunday parking meter requirements lar support rally outside Bethlehem Luther- citywide. an Church, at Ovington and Fourth avenues While Mayor Michael Bloomberg in Bay Ridge, followed Monserrate at the could veto the measure, Wednesday’s 41- City Hall podium. Over and over again, 3 vote is an indication that there are Gentile said, people tell him that during enough votes for an override. Sunday service, they have one eye on the “Right now we need 34 votes [to over- pastor and the other on the meter. ride a mayoral veto],” Bay Ridge Coun- “I am proud to see that the City Council cilman Vincent Gentile said after the will be voting on this issue, which affects vote. “We have 43 members as co-spon- New Yorkers across the five boroughs,” sors of the bill. We need 34 to vote to Gentile said. “Sunday parking meters have override the veto and we’re confident been around for nearly two years now, and PAGE 9 that we’ll succeed.” if you ask me, that’s two years too long.” Callan / Tom Gentile and Queens Councilman Hiram Gentile, who has been holding rallies Monserrate, who introduced the bill, lob- protesting Sunday meters in his district the bied for its passage last Sunday, holding a last two years, in April introduced legisla- GIRL press conference on the steps of City Hall tion seeking to allow motorists to double with fellow council members and bill sup- Callan / Tom park for five minutes at a time. Unlike the porters from Brooklyn, Queens and Man- Sunday parking bill, that measure was Papers The Brooklyn hattan. roundly derided, both by the mayor and “Give back our ticket-free Sundays,” other council members, as unenforceable. “End pay and pray now” and “City Bloomberg, who pushed for the institu- Liza Minnelli in Coney Council and Mr. Mayor: Give New York- Papers The Brooklyn tion of Sunday parking regulations in Liza Minnelli (right), in Brooklyn to kick off Borough President Marty Markowitz’s summer ers a day of rest,” were some of the signs At City Hall, Councilman Vincent Gentile (at podium) discusses legisla- 2003, as a means to help the city recover concerts at Coney Island, hams it up on the Cyclone roller coaster after her show.