No Land Grab

A spokesperson for one of the city's larger developers, who own property in the footprint of the proposed Atlantic Yards development, said building an arena and bringing the NBA’s Nets to the area would be great for the borough.

However, the spokesperson for the developer, Shaya Boymelgreen, also did not rule out putting in a play for the 11-acre Atlantic Yards site if is went to open bidding.

“It [building the arena and bringing basketball to the Atlantic Yards] would be great for Brooklyn and will surely bring a lot of jobs and cash into the borough,” said Boymelgreen spokesperson Will Kim.

“If [Bruce] Ratner has that capacity and right [to develop the Atlantic Yards], all the best to him, but if that’s not the case, all who have the capacity would look at it,” he added.

Kim said that if Ratner gets approval and is ready to go, that is what will happen at the site, but if it goes to open bidding, the company for which he works is “very opportunistic and aggressive” and in any market environment, buying is considered.

Kim said Boymelgreen is not interested in bidding for the Far West Side’s Hudson Yards out of respect to the city, which has certain goals [a Jets Stadium] for the property.

Kim identified two properties that Boymelgreen owns in the footprint of Ratner’s 21-acre proposed development site. They are 800 Pacific Street and 752 Pacific Street.

Boymelgreen is in preliminary discussions with several hotel operators to turn the 800 Pacific Street site into a 150- to 200-room hotel, said Kim.

Kim said Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) has had discussions with Boymelgreen’s company about purchasing the property, but it is doubtful they will sell it.

“We’re trying to market it in the most economic kind of way we can,” said Kim.

Kim said the company is also trying to co-market 750 Pacific Street with the property’s owner, Henry Weinstein.

Weinstein said it hasn’t been determined yet how the property should be marketed.

“I’m against the arena, “ said Weinstein, who also owns several properties adjacent to the proposed FCRC footprint. “It would overload services and make transportation extremely difficult.”

Weinstein said he also opposes the taking of any property for the project under eminent domain laws.

There would be a lot of developers who would be interested in the Atlantic Yards site should it to to open bidding, Weinstein said.

FCRC Spokesperson Barry Baum refused to comment.