http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/bonds-for-nets-arena-in-brooklyn-sell-briskly/
Bonds for Nets’ Arena in Brooklyn Sell Briskly
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
December 15, 2009
Almost six years after he bought the New Jersey Nets with plans to move the team to Brooklyn, the developer Bruce C. Ratner and a local development corporation sold more than $500 million in tax exempt bonds in two hours Tuesday morning for a new basketball arena in Brooklyn.
Indeed,
the demand for the bonds from institutional investors far outstripped what was available and belied the project’s tortured history and court challenges. The $1 billion basketball arena at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues is the centerpiece for the 22-acre Atlantic Yards development, which is to include more than 6,000 apartments.
“There was a strong appetite for the bonds,” said Jay Abrams, a bond analyst at FMS Bonds. “The market was comfortable with the ratings the deal received and the security that was pledged.”
The developer’s underwriters — Goldman Sachs and Barclays Capital — handled the sale of the tax exempt bonds, which totaled $511 million. The developer and his partners will raise the rest of the money for the 18,282-seat arena privately.
Next week, Mr. Ratner, chief executive of Forest City Ratner, is expected to complete the “master closing” for Atlantic Yards with various city and state agencies. At the same time, Mr. Ratner is plans to close on the sale of an 80 percent stake in the Nets to the Russian billionaire Mikhail D. Prokhorov, pending approval by the N.B.A. The two partners will invest $293.4 million in the arena and use a $131 million subsidy from the Bloomberg administration.
They hope to open the new arena by June 2012.
The new housing at Atlantic Yards may take longer, given the flagging real estate market, although Mr. Ratner has promised to start one of the residential towers after the arena is under way. He must also contend with several remaining lawsuits challenging the project.
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