Battleground: Atlantic Yards

At stake: Prospect Heights and adjacent neighborhoods could be dramatically transformed by Bruce Ratner’s proposed 22-acre Atlantic Yards development, which includes an arena for the New Jersey Nets.

The combatants: Forest City Ratner Companies, Governor Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg, Attorney General Spitzer, Senator Charles Schumer, Congressmen Edolphus Towns, Gregory W. Meeks and Anthony Weiner, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, Assemblyman Roger Green, Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and affordable-housing advocate ACORN vs. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, which is supported by a celebrity crew including Heath Ledger, Steve Buscemi, Jonathan Safran Foer, Jonathan Lethem and Rosie Perez, as well as City Council member Letitia James and neighborhood and religious leaders from all over Brooklyn.

No issue in Brooklyn is more contentious than Bruce Ratner’s vision for a massive complex of skyscrapers to be built on top of the Long Island Rail Road’s Atlantic Yards and in the adjacent Prospect Heights neighborhood. Ratner’s plans call for an arena to showcase the real-estate mogul’s recently purchased New Jersey Nets, as well as 16 other commercial and residential buildings designed by Frank Gehry—including one that, at 620 feet, would be the tallest structure in the borough. More than 6,800 new residential units are included, as are offices, stores and green spaces. The cost, estimated at $4.2 billion, would make this one of the largest private developments in the city’s history.

Though Ratner’s scheme garnered quick support from politicians, unions and some affordable-housing advocates, thousands of Brooklynites have heeded a call to fight the razing of Prospect Heights. United in the umbrella group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, opponents decry what they say is a sweetheart deal for Ratner that opposes the character of surrounding neighborhoods, one that would cause gridlock and waste the hundreds of millions of dollars that the city and state have agreed to contribute. On July 18, the Empire State Development Corp. released a study, summarizing expected benefits (creation of housing and office space; “removal of blighted conditions”) and adversities (crowded schools, congestion and noise, in addition to displaced residents and businesses). The study also reflects a much heftier price tag, up from the original $2.5 billion.

Only about 60 permanent residents remain in the seven square blocks Ratner wants to tear down to realize his vision. Among the holdouts is Daniel Goldstein, who for the past 18 months has been living a surreal life as the sole tenant in a building of luxury condos. His name is the only one listed on the buzzer outside; the elevator is always waiting on the first floor while he’s out, and on his floor when he’s in. “They can’t build this project without my little apartment, and we have a very strong legal case,” Goldstein says. “Owning this condo gives me more power than the City Council.”

Goldstein is the only condo owner left in the project’s footprint. Renters have lost their leases or taken payments to give up rent-stabilized units. All the other condo owners in Goldstein’s building have sold to Ratner, many getting much more than what they paid when the building opened in 2003. Goldstein, a former graphic designer who now works full-time for DDDB, says that he won’t sell out. That stance could force Ratner to abandon the project or, more likely, to make a legal case for eminent domain and whether the public benefit of an arena, affordable housing and jobs outweighs Goldstein’s right to his home.

The project’s proponents say they care about other homes besides Goldstein’s. “Housing problems in this city are getting worse every day, and it is critical we get this project under way,” says James Stuckey, president of the Atlantic Yards Development Group. (Opponents note that some of the “affordable housing” units would rent for more than $3,000 a month.) And Goldstein’s threat to fight eminent domain in court? “Whenever you do a major development in New York, you can be sure that someone will litigate something,” Stuckey says. “We have done a lot of projects here and we have plans for contingencies, including lawsuits.”

Assemblyman Roger Green, whose district includes Prospect Heights, says he’s concerned that “the opposition has said they don’t want the project, period. I believe it is going to happen, and hope they will eventually move to a more realistic position.” The development’s other advocates, including Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki and Attorney General Spitzer, claim that the idea of bringing an NBA team to Brooklyn has widespread support.

But for now, the objectors continue to gather signatures and pepper the neighborhood with antiarena graffiti and flyers. According to recent reports, in a tacit admission that this battle may last as long as some of the nation’s overseas military entanglements, Ratner is negotiating to keep the Nets in New Jersey through 2012, despite his stated plan to bring them here in 2009.—Justin Rocket Silverman