Bruce Ratner wants investor to buy 80% of Atlantic Yards

Bruce Ratner is seeking an investor to purchase as much as 80 percent of the $5 billion Atlantic Yards development.

A sale of a 50 to 80 percent interest, real estate analysts told the New York Times, could net his firm, Forest City Ratner, nearly $800 million. The deal would allow Ratner to retain control as developer, but expedite the progress of some of the long-delayed residential buildings.

When complete, Atlantic Yards will contain 14 buildings and roughly 6,000 apartments, near Atlantic and Flatbush avenues in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Most of the structures slated to be built on top of a steel and concrete platform over the railroad yard have faced construction delays. Forest City Ratner will owe millions in state fines if the residential portion of the project is not built.

Last month, the Plumbing Foundation of New York City, a nonprofit association of licensed contracting firms, manufacturers and suppliers, sued the Department of Buildings, alleging that Ratner’s plan to build those prefabricated towers ignores established building safety rules.

Ratner sold his personal stake in the Barclays Center as well a controlling position in the resident Nets basketball team in 2010, as previously reported. [NYT] – Mark Maurer