Atlantic Yards’ investor slaps eight-year timeline on project

The Chinese investor that snagged a majority interest in Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development is looking to complete the $5 billion project in just eight years. Zhang Yuliang, the chairman of state-owned Greenland Holding Group told reporters in Shanghai last week about his intended timeline for the development.

Earlier this month Greenland acquired 70 percent of Atlantic Yards — excluding both the Barclays center and the first residential tower, B2 — from Forest City for an undisclosed sum.

“We have development funds, development expertise and experience and an enormous customer base,” and Forest City has the local execution capability, Zhang said, according to the Wall Street Journal. The eight-year timeline would require the construction of nearly two towers a year, though in the decade that Forest City has been involved in the project, it has only started work on one of the 15 planned towers and has completed the Barclays Center, according to the newspaper.

A Forest City spokesperson declined to comment to the Journal about the timeline. Last week, the developer sued to receive further tax breaks at the project, despite having received at least $761 million in subsidies and tax breaks so far. [WSJ] – Hiten Samtani