$2.5-Billion Brooklyn Minicity Could Create Exclusive New Address
Brooklyns proposed $2.5-billion arena project, if built, would take the urban sports village to new heights, depths and lengths. The phased, 7.7-million-sq-ft megadevelopment in the New York City borough would not only have four office towers as tall as 60 stories clustered around the arena, it would contain 4.4 million sq ft of affordable, moderate-income and high-end housing in about 4,500 units, 300,000 sq ft of retail and six acres of recreational parkland. Much of the 24-acre complex would be built over unsightly rails yards in a near-derelict swath of terrain that would connect to the citys third-largest transit hub via a tunnel and a partially sunken, outdoor "living room."
Local developer Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner Cos., which for nearly 20 years has been building projects in Brooklyn where others would not, is the fire behind the development. Soon after the plan was unveiled in December, a group of investors led by Ratner successfully bid for the Nets, a National Basketball Association team currently in suburban New Jersey.