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October 3, 2009
It Came From The Atlantic Yards Report
Atlantic Yards Report
The Empire State Development Corporation, the tool of developer Bruce Ratner, pulled a fast one at their last board meeting. They approved a Nets arena, but did not publicly acknowledge that it was 20 percent smaller than the official site plan. This move was likely done to avoid lengthy public comment and analysis.
It's very curious. When the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) on June 23 adopted the 2009 Modified General Project Plan (MGPP), the arena (see Exhibit A-2) was described as 850,000 square feet, as it had been in 2006.
On September 9, after the comment period on the MGPP had closed, Forest City Ratner announced that the new design, by Ellerbe Becket and SHoP, was for a 675,000 square foot arena.
MaryAnne Gilmartin's very good investment advice (so far)
On July 22, at the first community information session, Forest City Ratner's MaryAnne Gilmartin said that “we have assets that are, in our opinion, worth many times more” than the current stock price.
I called it a bit of a stock tip and, if you followed it, you would have done quite well. On July 22, the stock (FCEA) of parent Forest City Enterprises, was at $6.94. Yesterday, even after two days of deep percentage drops, the stock closed at $11.76.
That doesn't mean long-time stockholders are in the clear, given that stock's 52-week high was $29.47 and the stock neared $70 in 2007. It all depends on the timing...
Sale of Nets may have been part of diplomatic discussions, but the White House isn't talking
In what the Courier-Life considers a front page story, ‘Bam is mum on Nets sale:
President Obama may have weighed in on New York’s upcoming gubernatorial race, but he remains silent when it comes to commenting on Atlantic Yards. That after the White House declined comment on Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s majority purchase of the NBA’s Nets and their planned move to Brooklyn.The Russian government, however, says President Dmitri Medvedev did discuss the sale with Obama as part of talks at the UN and during the G-20 summit, according to NetsDaily.
Posted by steve at October 3, 2009 9:22 AM