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September 7, 2006
Paying off Ratner
As developer slims project, public bill is likely to soar
The Brooklyn Papers
By Ariella Cohen
If Atlantic Yards shrinks, the public will pay more.
Forest City Ratner brass said this week they plan to tweak the mammoth $4.2-billion mega-development by eliminating a few hundred luxury apartments and reducing the height of the 620-foot “Miss Brooklyn” tower — but the cost will be additional public subsidies for the 2,250 units of below-market-rate rentals that Ratner’s promised to include in the plan.
Real-estate executives were not surprised.
“If a part of their profit is gone [by eliminating some of the project], they have to come up with a way to make the income back,” said Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola. “Public subsidy is a way to do that.”
NoLandGrab: The public is expected to cheerfully pay Ratner to NOT build more luxury housing?
We're already subsidizing the affordable housing. How about we forget the extortion and billowing boondoggle and subsidize someone else with a proven track record to build the affordable housing over the railyards?
Posted by lumi at September 7, 2006 11:05 PM