You can't understand Atlantic Yards unless you walk around. Tour guide Norman Oder also happens to be the journalistic expert on the project, writing the daily Atlantic Yards Report watchdog blog. In recognition of that work, the New York Observer in 2008 named him the 77th most powerful person in New York City real estate. In 2007, he co-led an Atlantic Yards tour as part of "Jane's Walks," tours organized to honor the late urbanist Jane Jacobs.

The most contested development in Brooklyn today would irretrievably change the heart of the borough. Located just southeast of downtown, mainly in Prospect Heights, the 22-acre project would be built over and well beyond an 8.5-acre railyard, including a basketball arena (for the New Jersey Nets, who'd move) and 16 mostly-residential towers, up to about 511 feet tall. Three streets would be demapped. The project, announced in 2003, was supposed to take a decade. Then it was supposed to be finished by 2016. Now the target date is 2019, but even the head of the state agency shepherding Atlantic Yards acknowledges it could take "decades."

The much-touted original project architect, Frank Gehry, has since been dropped in order to "value-engineer" the Barclays Center arena, which now would be designed by the firm Ellerbe Becket, which designed Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and numerous other arenas. The architects for the residential towers and the office towers have not, as of August 2009, not been announced. The project, which received official approvals in December 2006, has been changed somewhat and must be re-approved in September 2009 by the unelected Empire State Development Corporation. Developer Forest City Ratner hopes to get tax-exempt arena bonds issued by the end of the year and begin construction shortly thereafter, but lawsuits must first be dismissed.

On the tour

In 2.5 hours, we'll first start in nearby Fort Greene (meeting place below), getting a sense of the the crossroads location and the history of development around the site.

Among the issues: the scale of the project, the role of "smart growth," transportation access and traffic challenges, interim surface parking; the provision of open space (supposed to be designed by Laurie Olin), the claims of blight (is the neighborhood blighted?),  the provision of affordable housing, and developer Forest City Ratner's history in Brooklyn, including two malls near the project site. (One sits on land once proposed for a new Brooklyn Dodgers stadium.) As of August 2009, there's a significant amount of utility work going on in the footprint, as well as work on the MTA's Vanderbilt Yards. We'll see the buildings that are left, as well as evidence of the ones demolished.

Proponents tout "jobs, housing, and hoops," including a restoration of Brooklyn to the major league status it lost when the baseball Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957. They also point to the need to develop over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard, a functioning railyard but a gap between gentrifying Prospect Heights and Fort Greene. The project would be very dense, involving 6430 apartments. Among them would be 2250 affordable rentals--the subsidy amount remains unknown--part of a negotiation with the housing advocacy group ACORN, which has generated significant political support for the project. But there's little chance that the project benefits would be delivered within a decade, the official timetable.

There's been significant local opposition and some hard-fought lawsuits, challenging what opponents consider a sweetheart deal. As of August 2009, a federal lawsuit challenging the use of eminent domain was dismissed but an appeal in a companion eminent domain lawsuit is pending the Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. A separate lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of the project's environmental review has been dismissed, but an appeal is pending.

Meanwhile, the Prospect Heights Historic District has been approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. As the above map (by photographer Tracy Collins, who has been chronicling the Atlantic Yards saga in great detail) shows, the historic district is directly adjacent to the project site. The rendering below, from the Final Environmental Impact Statement, shows the expected view from the Dean Street playground--at least if the project gets built as proposed.

Driving Directions
Details: $15/person. We meet outside the  Williamsburgh Savings Bank (at Hanson Place and Flatbush Avenue, near the intersection with Atlantic), home to several subway lines (2/3/4/5/N/R/Q) & the LIRR. The building, the tallest building near the transit hub (and now the second-tallest in Brooklyn) is now known as One Hanson Place, as it's being converted into condos. We end near the transit hub, as well.