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May 20, 2005
Nets' Brooklyn Move to Create Affordable Housing, Ratner Says
[Thanks to NewYorkGames.org for alerting the public to the Bloomberg article.]
Bloomberg
by Henry Goldman
A proposed $2.5 billion project over a Brooklyn rail yard, which includes a new arena for pro basketball's Nets, will reserve half of 4,500 new rental units for low- and middle-income tenants, said the developer, Forest City Ratner Cos. President Bruce Ratner.
At least 20 percent of the units will be for families of four with yearly incomes of less than $31,400, a news release from Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. About 30 percent will be reserved for "middle-income'' families with incomes of as much as $100,480, it said. The apartment towers would rise as high as 55 stories.
Forest City Ratner has spent the past two years developing relationships with community residents and institutions to win support for the project, said company spokesman Joe DePlasco. The housing plan drew praise from both backers and some foes of the arena.
Ratner, in remarks prepared for a Brooklyn news conference with Bloomberg, said, "we've created a program that ensures that people in all economic brackets have access to these apartments, retaining the character of the borough and the city.''
Bloomberg said Ratner will receive low-cost financing from tax-exempt bonds. The mayor said the units are part of a goal he set two years ago to build or renovate at least 68,000 "affordable housing'' units. So far, 26,000 such units are planned or under construction, the mayor's office said.
Bought Team
The $2.5 billion 21-acre project combining housing, retail, office buildings and include a Frank Gehry-designed, 19,000-seat arena to relocate the National Basketball Association's Nets from New Jersey. Forest City Ratner Companies and investors purchased the team last year.
The arena would be adjacent to the Atlantic Terminal, New York's third-largest transit hub, where nine subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road yard converge.
The public costs include $100 million each from the state and city to fund site preparation and public infrastructure improvements including streets, sidewalks, utility relocations, open space and public parking.
More than a dozen Brooklyn Democratic officials, including City Council members, state legislators and Borough President Marty Markowitz joined Bloomberg, 63, a Republican, to voice support for the project.
Praise, Criticism
Bertha Lewis, executive director of the housing advocacy group ACORN, which has tangled with the administration in the past, kissed Bloomberg on the lips.
Council member Letitia James, a Brooklyn Democrat who opposes the development's planned basketball arena, released a statement in which she said she wanted "to congratulate the administration'' for its "commitment to affordable housing.''
Dan Goldstein, spokesman for "Develop Don't Destroy,'' which opposes the project, said "You don't not need to destroy an existing neighborhood to build affordable housing, and you don't not need to build out-of-scale towers 55 stories high to create affordable housing.''
He said his group opposed the city's and state's plans to give Ratner tax-free financing, property tax abatements, payments for infrastructure improvements for streets and transit facilities. Goldstein said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the Atlantic Rail Yards upon which the project would be built, had favored Ratner by negotiating with him before publishing a request for proposals opening the property to bids.
Bids Similar criticisms arose when the agency held negotiations with the Jets football team to build a $2.2 billion stadium on land the agency owns on Manhattan's West Side. That property wasn't put up for public bidding until Cablevision Systems Corp. made an unsolicited offer. The agency's board unanimously chose the Jets -- which raised its offer to $280 million from its original $100 million -- after soliciting new bids over a two-week period in March. Cablevision has sued to alter the result.
MTA spokesman Tom Kelly said the agency planned to put out its RFP "within the next two weeks.'' Kelly said the basketball arena, with its surrounding development of housing, retail and offices, has been in negotiations between Ratner and the agency for more than a year.
"The fact is this has been a one-year or two-year thing and nobody has expressed an interest, Kelly said. "The powers that be tell me that they had planned on putting out an RFP. You could say this was a lesson learned from the experience with the Jets.''
The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.
Posted by lumi at May 20, 2005 08:01 AM