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March 22, 2010
Bruce Ratner's salute to Helena Williams and the MTA, Forest City Ratner's subordinate in a private-public partnership
Atlantic Yards Report
Norman Oder continues his series on the Atlantic Yards groundbreaking, today reporting on Bruce Ratner's shout-out to one of his favorite government enablers — Long Island Railroad President Helena Williams.
Williams, on the stage, smiled and took in the applause.
She didn't have to do so.
She could've called in sick and skipped sharing the stage with paid supporters and compromised politicians.
The MTA and the developer
For whom does Williams work, the public, the developer, or, most likely, a governor who agreed from the get-go to support this project?
Last spring, acting MTA head Williams, presumably under pressure from her board, agreed to a smaller replacement railyard worth $100 million less.
The MTA also agreed to only $20 million down for the railyard segment needed for the arena, rather than $100 million for it all, with the remaining $80 million option on the remaining parcels to be paid at a generous 6.5% interest rate. (Eliot Brown of the Observer called the renegotiation "not the agency's finest hour.")
In other words, Forest City Ratner saved $180 million in cash flow, and at least $100 million in total--plus the difference between the MTA's interest rate and a bank's interest rate.
Essentially, Williams and the MTA board turned the public agency into Ratner's bank, giving him financing when there was none to be had, as the Real Deal noted, classifying the deal as one of the best during the credit crunch.
Posted by eric at March 22, 2010 11:39 AM