Parts of $4 billion NYC project delayed

NEW YORK, March 21 (UPI) -- Economic downturns have slowed parts of a massive construction project in New York City, but a new sports arena is on schedule, the developer said.

The $4 billion Atlantic Yards project slated for 22 acres of Brooklyn, between Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, includes a $950 million new home for the Nets basketball team, three residential buildings and an office tower called Miss Brooklyn.

Bruce C. Ratner, head of Forest City Ratner, the developer, said he was confident that construction will start on the basketball arena by the end of the year.

But the developer has yet to find a major tenant for Miss Brooklyn and "the bond market may slow the pace of the residential buildings," Ratner told The New York Times.

"Until we get a tenant, we won't start Miss Brooklyn," Ratner said.

Ratner bought the New Jersey Nets in 2004. The team loses $30 million a year, the Times reported.

The project covers 8 million square feet of apartments, 16 retail towers, an office building and 8 acres of open space.

The arena would be set not far from the site of old Ebbets Field, where the Dodgers baseball team played before its 1958 move to Los Angeles.