No Land Grab

NY1
By Michael Scotto

“It's a project of enormous magnitude, something that certainly will be important to the future and the economy of the city and state,” said Empire State Development Corporation Chairman Charles Gargano.

The $4.2 billion price tag is already nearly $700 million more than last predicted.

The reason? Rising construction costs, along with several other factors.

“Parts of it result from the fact that we’ve had to pay $50 million more in the MTA land,” said Jim Stuckey of developer Forest City Ratner.
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The state has said it would issue $637 million in tax-exempt bonds to help the developer move forward with construction.

“This project is about massive taxpayer subsidies. It's about eminent domain. There are a lot of issues at stake here,” said Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.