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July 1, 2008
C.B. 1 approves Ratner’s tax break just by saying no
Downtown Express
By Julie Shapiro
And if you didn't have enough reasons to loath Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner, check out this un-freakin'-believable report of how his company, Forest City Ratner, used the planned public school in the already heavily subsidized Beekman Street tower to "blackmail" (an observer's word, not ours) Manhattan's Community Board 1 into approving the all-luxury-rental residential tower for a 421-a tax abatement, at the last minute, before the new rules came into effect.
Forest City Ratner executives threatened to halt construction of the new school on Beekman St. unless they receive a 20-year tax break from the city.
At an emergency meeting of Community Board 1’s Executive Committee June 18, Forest City said funding for the pre-K-8 school and 76-story apartment tower was in jeopardy. In March, Forest City closed on $680 million in construction financing for the project, but MaryAnne Gilmartin, an executive vice president at Forest City Ratner, said the money could disappear unless Ratner also receives a 20-year 421-a tax abatement.
Without the abatement, “Work would certainly stop on [the] site and then we would have delays,” Gilmartin said.
...
“I don’t think the project or the school were ever really in jeopardy,” said Paul Hovitz, a board member. “I think they were manipulating us [into helping them get the abatement]. We were being blackmailed.”
NoLandGrab: As if you didn't already know that the folks at Forest City Ratner play hardball 24/7, keep in mind that this project is already receiving Liberty Bonds, ostensibly in exchange for building the school, which the company was threatening to delay even further unless it received a tax-abatement worth millions.
Posted by lumi at July 1, 2008 6:03 AM