After 2015, Ratner hopes Islanders will call AY home

Bruce Ratner, head of Forest City Ratner, developer of arguably Brooklyn’s most controversial development ever, sat down with the Times and told them, among other things, that the Atlantic Yards will be completed on time, that pre-fab construction is a great way to make housing construction more affordable and that after 2015, he’d like the Islanders to come to the sports arena.

“There is no winning,” Ratner said, in reference to the debate about whether the Atlantic Yards project will offer enough affordable housing. “And that’s ok.”

However, Ratner hints that his use of modular construction for the housing at the project is pioneering and will help pave the way for more low- and middle-income construction. Ratner said he will save 15 to 20 percent on the costs of materials using modular construction, but that the savings later in labor costs will be “tremendous.”

“We need to figure out economic ways to build our cities,” he said. [NYT]