Daily News (New York)

September 10, 2002, Tuesday SPORTS FINAL EDITION

SECTION: SUBURBAN; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 287 words

HEADLINE: $114M IN FED AID FOR BANK

BYLINE: By ERIC HERMAN DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER

BODY:
The Atlantic Terminal office building planned by Forest City Ratner to house the Bank of New York will get a multimillion-dollar boost from the government.

Forest City has qualified for $114 million in Liberty Bonds for the office-and-shopping complex under an $8 billion federal program intended to aid the city's economy, according to officials of the Empire State Development Corp. and the city's Economic Development Corp. The Bloomberg administration pushed for the bond deal, said EDC spokeswoman Janel Patterson, because Mayor Bloomberg "is looking to create central business districts in places other than lower Manhattan, downtown Brooklyn being one."

Congress created Liberty Bonds last year primarily to stimulate development in lower Manhattan. The bonds are tax-exempt, allowing developers to borrow money cheaply. The Atlantic Terminal project will be the first office building funded with the bonds.

10-story structure

The $114 million will cover most of the $120 million construction cost of the 10-

story, 396,000-square-foot office building above the Long Island Rail Road station.

The project also will include 375,000 square feet of retail, expected to cost an additional $120 million.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, federal regulators pushed banks to diversify their real estate so the nation's financial system would not become paralyzed in an attack.

In July, the bank signed a deal to lease 300,000 square feet in the new building, set for completion in 2004. It will move 1,500 to 1,800 employees from Manhattan to the Brooklyn site.

On other recent deals, some have criticized the use of Liberty Bonds to finance luxury rental apartments in downtown Manhattan.