It cost $1 billion to build, but the owner of Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center, in an effort to pay less taxes, is claiming it’s worth a mere $111 million.
A subsidiary of developer Forest City Ratner is suing the city, claiming the value of the Nets’ taxpayer-subsidized home has been drastically inflated by tax assessors to the tune of $630 million.
The suit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court last month, challenges the city Finance Department’s assessment that values the arena at $741 million.
If victorious, Forest City could see its annual Payments In Lieu Of Taxes, known as “PILOT,” reduced by tens of millions of dollars.
A Forest City spokesman last night claimed the driving force behind the suit is that the city mistakenly included various properties near the arena on regular tax rolls when they should have been part of the arena’s tax-friendly PILOT program.