A new Brooklyn arena could end up costing New York City money — as opposed to providing additional tax revenues — under a new analysis from the city's Independent Budget Office.
One touted appeal of a New Jersey Nets (NBA) arena in Brooklyn was the positive economic impact for the city, with plenty of new money rushing into the coffers to offset revenues lost to tax-exempt bonds.
Now, with the price of the arena rising to $950 million, this advantage could be gone, according to a preliminary opinion from the city's Independent Budget Office.
Could be, we say, becuse IBO officials actually didn't perform any sort of financial analysis. They were going with their gut feelings about the project and looking only at the arena, not the total Atlantic Yards project.
So this "news" may not be as significant as the New York tabloids would have us beiieve — or, rather, we'll be waiting for the real analysis with real numbers.
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