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August 10, 2009
Atlantic Yards’ Developer Races a Court Hearing, a Bond Deadline and Opponents
The NY Times
Senior real estate reporter Charles V. Bagli catches up with Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner for an update on the controversial, highly subsidized, 22-acre arena and high-rise land grab.
While supporters and opponents attended last week's hearings held by the Empire State Development Corporation:
[Ratner] visited three rating agencies in preparation for selling bonds this fall to finance the first project in the 22-acre development near Downtown Brooklyn: an $800 million, 18,000-seat arena for the New Jersey Nets.
He flew to Moscow to meet with the billionaire Mikhail D. Prokhorov about investing in the money-losing Nets.
He went to and from City Hall and the state’s economic development offices on Third Avenue to complete the paperwork for the Atlantic Yards development and to start work on the arena.
The new images of the arena will be "really beautiful," as opposed to the last ones, which really weren't:
Mr. Ratner said he expected to release new images of the arena before Labor Day. “I think the final architecture will be really beautiful,” he said.
Harbingers — More subsidies and arena bonds at what cost:
In recent weeks, the developer has sought additional housing subsidies from city officials, who have so far declined to go beyond the standard incentives for developers. The project’s underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs, are also preparing to sell about $700 million in bonds for the arena in October.
Some real estate executives and critics said it would be hard to sell the bonds for such an uncertain project. But Jay Abrams, a bond analyst at FMS Bonds, said there “is definitely an appetite for tax-exempt bonds in New York, and elsewhere.” The lawsuit, he added, “is not necessarily a game-killer. At the right price, there’s always a buyer for bonds.
Posted by lumi at August 10, 2009 4:09 AM