TimesRatnerReport

Here's a gem from the 9/14/05 Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meeting that made it into some press coverage, but not the New York Times report. When challenged as to why the MTA would accept Forest City Ratner's $100 million bid for the railyard at issue, while the 8.3-acre property had been appraised at $214.5 million, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow dismissed the appraiser the agency hired as "some guy."

As the Bergen Record reported 9/15/05 in MTA accepts Ratner bid for Brooklyn rights:
Kalikow dismissed his own agency's two-month-old appraisal, saying that $214.5 million "is just some guy's idea of what it's worth."
"That was his opinion, and it wasn't borne out by the marketplace," he added.
[Forest City Ratner's Jim] Stuckey said the MTA appraisal was unrealistic because it was based on a level of zoning "that doesn't exist on the land today." He also said that the construction of a platform, a storage facility, site cleanup and other improvements at the site would be worth $345 million - making the Ratner bid worth far more than the MTA had sought.

The exchange also made WNYC's 9/14/05 MTA Approves Brooklyn Railyards Sale to Ratner report.

Of course, the marketplace also was represented by Extell's $150 million bid, which also included plans to improve the site. There's been dispute about the legitimacy of that bid, but the MTA chose to negotiate solely with Ratner.