Scaled-back Nets arena, Brooklyn development in new deal for government land

New Brooklyn arena deal unveiled

NEW YORK — The owner of the New Jersey Nets will get a 22-year delay on paying the full $100 million for the right to build a new arena in Brooklyn under a deal made public Monday.

Developer Bruce Ratner, the Nets’ principal owner, will pay the Metropolitan Transportation Authority $20 million up front and another $80 million in installments under the plan, which the full MTA board will vote on Wednesday. He had originally agreed to pay the MTA $100 million upon closing for development rights to rail yards it owns.

Under the revised deal presented to the MTA finance committee on Monday, Ratner will pay $20 million at closing and then make additional payments until 2031.

City and state officials have long believed the project will benefit the area by generating tax revenues and creating jobs.

But foes of the Ratner project, known as Atlantic Yards, said the MTA should reject the revised payment plan and solicit new bids to develop the site.

“They are getting next to nothing up front for the railyards,” said Daniel Goldstein of the group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, which has sued to halt the project. “They’re not testing the economy. They’re not testing the market.”

But MTA chief operating officer Gary Dellaverson said there is no knowing when market conditions might favor an alternative development deal.

“I have no idea when it would be more propitious than now to engage in a second transaction on this property,” Dellaverson told reporters after the finance committee meeting. “I simply cannot guess.”

The revised plan will go to the full MTA board meeting on Wednesday. The Empire State Development Corp., a state agency, will vote Tuesday on a delayed schedule for completing the $4 billion, 22-acre project.

The MTA controls some parcels on the 22-acre site and the ESDC controls the rest, or expects to through eminent domain. So the two agencies as well as the city and the developer are working together.

The original Atlantic Yards plan has been cut back due to the economic downturn. The project was to feature a $1 billion basketball arena and 17 buildings that combined office and residential space, all designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. Gehry will no longer be designing any of the 17 buildings. The new plan for the arena by architectural firm Ellerbe Becket has been compared to an airport hangar.

Ratner said in a statement Monday, “While the world has changed significantly since Atlantic Yards won public approval in December 2006, and we are trying to adapt to those changes, the project and the project benefits, including the arena, the jobs and the affordable housing will remain the same.”

The developer must start construction of the arena by the end of 2009 to qualify for tax-exempt bonds. The Nets have insisted that they will break ground on the Brooklyn arena this year and move into it in the fall of 2011.