Forest City Ratner Companies
ORG
Forest City Ratner Forest City Ratner Companies
The Forest City Ratner Companies, the developer of a proposed Brooklyn real estate project, can proceed with the demolition of six buildings it owns on the site, a state judge ruled yesterday. The demolitions were approved in December by the Empire State Development Corporation, the agency supervising the state's environmental review process, after Forest City Ratner officials said the buildings were in danger of collapse and posed an imminent threat to public safety. State law forbids developers to alter the site of any proposed project until it has been approved, but the law makes an exception for emergency actions. Justice Edmead said that there was no basis for challenging the agency's determination that Forest City Ratner's buildings merited the exception, and that the agency was under no obligation to obtain an independent engineering review.