While Bruce Ratner (above) was finally successfully in paying Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s Daniel Goldstein to leave his Brooklyn home, another local resident is presenting a separate challenge to plans to build a new Nets arena. From the New York Post’s Rich Calder :
Peter Williams — who has already received a money settlement from developer Bruce Ratner for handing over property he owned at the site — yesterday filed a scathing lawsuit accusing the state of failing to address his air rights when condemning property for the project.
The 11th-hour legal move by Williams, 66, could potentially devastate Ratner’s $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project, which includes the arena as its centerpiece.
If the court sides with Williams, it could take up to two years for the state to be able to “condemn” the air rights and clear the way for the project — time that Ratner doesn’t have.