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May 12, 2008
Why luxury suite sales this week are needed to market arena bonds
Atlantic Yards Report
Forest City Ratner's ability to recruit buyers for luxury suites — which it begins marketing this Thursday — may be critical to its ability to secure funding for the arena.
A counter-protest in response to the "Time Out" rally. An Bruce Ratner op-ed in the New York Daily News. The release of new renderings of the Atlantic Yards arena, office tower, and first residential building.
Let me try to put Forest City Ratner's recent efforts in some perspective. The office tower rendering is aimed to help attract an anchor tenant and get the building started. The rendering of a residential rental tower, with half the units subsidized, is aimed to maintain public support for the project.
But, more than anything else, the developer's efforts are about getting the arena built. That means the public must be convinced it's viable and, crucially, buyers of luxury suites must be recruited. The guarantee of certain suite revenues, I believe, will back bonds for the now-$950 million arena.
NoLandGrab: With Madison Square Garden embarking on a top-to-bottom renovation, new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees opening next year, and a new home for the Giants and Jets underway, it'll be interesting to see what demand there might be for suites in an arena that's still in rendering stage.
Posted by eric at May 12, 2008 9:36 AM