It might be time for Bruce Ratner to play a more active role in Brooklyn’s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
From the New York Times’ Charles V. Bagli :
(Mayor Bloomberg is thrilled to share a podium with Buster Bluth)
A rival bidder to Bruce Ratner, the developer, has made a $150 million cash offer for development rights at the Atlantic railyard in Downtown Brooklyn, three times the amount Mr. Ratner bid for the property, where he proposes a $3.5 billion tower complex that includes a basketball arena for the Nets, stores, parks and 6,000 apartments.
The rival bid, made by the Extell Development Company, is a far more modest $1 billion proposal to build almost 2,000 apartments over the yard. Mr. Ratner, who also intends to acquire many of the parcels to the east of the yard, bid only $50 million for the development rights, according to documents released yesterday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The difference in those bids could be a problem for the Ratner proposal, even though it has far more political support. The agency’s board, which is set to choose between the two offers at its monthly meeting on Wednesday, may have to contend with a new law that requires it to take the highest offer, without regard to any political considerations.
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat, said that the authority “ought to live by the law,” which was passed in June but does not take effect until late this year.