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March 28, 2007
State Never Saw Business Plan For Atlantic Yards Project
The NY Sun
By Eliot Brown
Atlantic Yards critics have always had the sinking feeling that Bruce Ratner never submitted financial projections for Atlantic Yards, not to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as part of the "Request for Proposal" for the railyards, or to the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) as part of the approval of public funding of by the Public Authorities Control Board.
Really, why would Ratner need to explain the finances of the project when it was a backroom deal all along?
Today, The NY Sun confirms Brooklynites' worst fears about the project:
In examining the $4 billion mixed-use Atlantic Yards project for approval, New York State's leading development agency never saw a business plan from developer Forest City Ratner, documents and officials now say. The project, which plans more than 6,000 units of housing and a home for the Nets basketball team, was approved by the state just before Governor Pataki left office.
Critics contend that state officials should have reviewed a full financial model before promising hundreds of millions of dollars in public incentives and subsidies. Forest City's full financial plan has long been sought by critics of the project and legislators, including Assemblyman James Brennan of Brooklyn, who sued the Empire State Development Corporation to obtain it last month, presuming that it was in their possession. The Empire State Development Corporation has denied Mr. Brennan's repeated records requests for the comprehensive model.
A spokesman for the Empire State Development Corporation, Errol Cockfield, now says the state has never seen or possessed any comprehensive business plan from the developer.
Here's a surprise:
A spokesman for Forest City Ratner declined to comment.
NoLandGrab: Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report pointed out to us in an email message this morning that the reporter, Eliot Brown, is "confusing profit with IRR [Internal Rate of Return]."
Ratner's "profit" will probably be much higher, since he's not putting up all of the money for the project but will likely reap more of the returns. How much higher? No one but Ratner knows, since he never provided that information to anyone, including the officials who approved every aspect of the project.
We don't mean to slam Eliot Brown. As a 20-something cub reporter, he just scooped the entire NY press corps (yes, even the "Odert Report") with this story.
Posted by lumi at March 28, 2007 9:02 AM