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October 6, 2009
The ESDC still hasn't shared the KPMG report; on video, lawyer explains how AY "timeline" may be longer than ten-year "timetable"
Atlantic Yards Report
A dozen business days after September 17, when the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) approved the 2009 Modified General Project Plan, the ESDC has still not released the KPMG report that provided the basis that a ten-year timetable for the project is "not unreasonable."
In a brief press conference after the board meeting, as shown in the video below, ESDC Senior Counsel Steve Matlin said that the ESDC would look at the issue of releasing the report "in the next few days."
Also in the interview, Matlin said he could not describe potential penalties facing Forest City Ratner if it didn't meet the project timetable because the issue was still under negotiation.
And he acknowledged a tension between a project timeline would last well beyond ten years, but an official timetable of a decade "that we expect to achieve, we want to achieve."
NoLandGrab: At the heart of the KPMG report are the financial projections for Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project, which have NEVER been revealed, so the public has no way of knowing whether the project is financially viable, at least viable enough to approach the much-touted 10-year timeline. One might assume that if either were the case, the ESDC would have already released these numbers.
Posted by lumi at October 6, 2009 6:08 AM