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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Bruce Ratner 2008: AY in a decade; Bruce Ratner 2009: AY in maybe 25 years

A little more than a year after he pledged in the New York Daily News to build the entire Atlantic Yards project in a decade, developer Bruce Ratner has told the same newspaper it could take 25 years.

(Of course, the project is officially supposed to take a decade, though the Empire State Development Corporation in June acknowledged the potential for a delayed buildout. While ESDC suggested there was no need for a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement, or SEIS, DDDB thinks Ratner's admission bolsters that argument. Also note that a real estate expert hired by CBN also said the project would take at least 20 years.)

In May 2008, Ratner wrote in a Daily News op-ed:
We anticipate finishing all of Atlantic Yards by 2018.

The newspaper reported yesterday:
Ratner said he hopes to have the entire project, which includes 16 office and residential towers, done in 10 years - but acknowledged it could take as long as 25.

"I don't know" if the 10-year time line will pan out, he said. "Our job is to get this done as fast as possible." Ratner vowed to begin construction on the arena by the end of the year.


(The earlier version of that article didn't include the quote.)

Of course if the project takes 25 years, various projected benefits--affordable housing, new open space, and removal of blight--would be delayed, and blight could be exacerbated.

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