[NYguy]

Now on to that design for the arena...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/ny...ards.html?_r=1

An hour after learning that a state appeals court had dismissed a major challenge to his long-delayed Atlantic Yards development project, the developer Bruce C. Ratner said he planned to break ground by October on an $800 million basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets in Brooklyn.

Given the anemic economy, the housing and the commercial building may have to wait for some time. But Mr. Ratner said he planned to complete the design for the arena, obtain final government approvals and issue the bonds for the project by fall.

In the last six months, Mr. Ratner has sought additional subsidies beyond the $300 million in cash and tens of millions in tax breaks already approved for the project. He has also said he wants to pare the projected $1 billion cost of the arena by about $200 million. He said he would decide within 60 days whether to keep the original design, by the architect Frank Gehry, or use another.

He said he hoped to erect the first residential building six to nine months after starting the arena.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05162009..._to_169509.htm

After scoring a huge court victory yesterday, developer Bruce Ratner says he'll break ground on Brooklyn's embattled Atlantic Yards project this September -- and may even have the Nets playing there by the 2011-12 season.

Ratner said a revised arena plan would be released at a later date and promised it would still be a Gehry-design that's top-notch.

He said the arena --which Barclays Bank is paying a record $400 million to slap its name on -- would be the first part of Atlantic Yards to break ground in September, followed by four of the high-rises during the project's first phase.