Gilmartin of Forest City speaks at AREW luncheon

While AREW's March luncheon guest speaker MaryAnne Gilmartin executive vice president of Forest City Ratner Cos. (FCR) sees the world of development as being in a challenged space, she's personally going to be busy for a very long time. With Atlantic Yards scheduled for a building a year, she's looking at 15 years of development. The current status: groundbreaking this year on building two, the first residential building, with Barclays Center scheduled for a 2012 opening. FCR's Beekman Tower (renamed 8 Spruce St.), the curvaceous Frank Gehry-designed residential tower in lower Manhattan (at 870 feet the tallest in the Western Hemisphere) is, however, ready for its close up. With an outstanding review by the New York Times' architectural critic, Gilmartin said interest is soaring, so much so that FCR is scheduling tours for the general public.