TimesRatnerReport

I'm still surprised how hard it is to get a relatively straightforward correction in the New York Times. As I wrote in a 12/27/05 post, a caption in the business section that day stated that a shopper was outside the Atlantic Center mall, while he actually was outside the Atlantic Terminal mall.

The two malls from Forest City Ratner are quite different--Atlantic Center is mostly dun-colored, while Atlantic Terminal is red brick. But I initially erred by misidentifying the building in the fuzzy background of the photo as Atlantic Center, which is east of Atlantic Terminal, while it was actually Site V at Atlantic Center, which is south of Atlantic Terminal and across Flatbush Avenue. (Note that the photos at the above links from the Forest City Ratner web site show a now-departed Macy's store at Atlantic Center and a somewhat earlier design for Atlantic Terminal.)

There was other evidence, of course, that the shopper had just been to the Atlantic Terminal mall. The version of the photo in the online version of the newspaper was cropped to show only Atlantic Terminal (right). And the shopper was carrying two bags with the bullseye logo of Target, an anchor tenant of Atlantic Terminal. The other bag that's identifiable, as seen in the print copy version of the picture, has the red star of Macy's, which does not operate in either of the mall complexes, but has a store on the Fulton Mall in Downtown Brooklyn.



I went back to the malls yesterday to try to reenact the photo as seen in the print edition of the Times. It was taken from the southeast border of the Atlantic Terminal Mall (at top left of the Atlantic Yards site plan), looking southwest at Site V, which is across the street (in blue and yellow on the map, below the diagonal Flatbush Avenue). Note that the Atlantic Terminal mall and the Atlantic Center mall, the modified L-shaped building to its east, are outlined in black but are not part of the Atlantic Yards project, as both are on the north side of Atlantic Avenue.

First, I took a photo to try to capture the same light poles (which now lack the festive holiday decorations, obviously, as pictured in the Times) and the mall to the right.


Then I took a closer-in shot to gain a clearer sense of the P.C. Richard sign in the background, as well as the traffic on Flatbush Avenue.


Then I rotated slightly to capture the name of the mall: Atlantic Terminal.


I backed up a little to capture the name and logo of Target under the name Atlantic Terminal. (Yes, it's a little dark.)


Then I rotated and took a picture of the Atlantic Center mall opposite.



There are other sides of the Atlantic Center mall that look more like Site V (which is actually considered by Forest City Ratner to be "Shops at Atlantic Center"). But the bottom line is: the shopper had been to Target in the Atlantic Terminal Mall, he was just outside the Atlantic Terminal mall, and he was headed in the direction of both the Atlantic Center mall and a parking garage.

The caption stated: "Keino Bennet leaving the Atlantic Center Mall in Brooklyn yesterday." It still should be corrected.