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October 2, 2009
When Bruce Met Mikhail: The Backstory on the Nets-Atlantic Yards Deal
The NY Observer
by Eliot Brown
The Observer's Brown gets a few minutes with Bruce Ratner during a tour of Forest City's Beekman Tower.
By Bruce Ratner's telling, his deal to sell the Nets to Mikhail Prokhorov began in earnest this summer over dinner at the Russian billionaire’s home.
...Asked whether he would miss owning an NBA team, Mr. Ratner hardly displayed remorse. He suggested that with an owner that has substantial resources (Forest City Ratner and its parent have been struggling in the recession) might be a better caretaker for the team than he.
That's a shocker, since Bruce famously said "it's 100 percent about basketball."
“It was important to go to Brooklyn, and we’re going to Brooklyn, and it’s important that we have a really good team in Brooklyn,” he continued, “and he’s going to make that more possible than I think we could, economically.”
...
Speaking of economics, Bruce is getting itchy to start selling bonds.
The state’s top court on Oct. 14 is hearing arguments in a key eminent domain lawsuit regarding Atlantic Yards, and while Mr. Ratner has been victorious in the courts thus far, a loss would surely kill the project. On the financing side, Mr. Ratner plans to start selling $700 million in tax-free bonds in coming weeks, which must be sold before a Dec. 31 Internal Revenue Service deadline.
“I think the ratings agencies will probably have ratings in about two weeks,” Mr. Ratner said. “And then we’ll start selling ’em.”
Posted by eric at October 2, 2009 10:43 AM