He’s been the biggest booster of the controversial Atlantic Yards project that includes bringing the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn, but Borough President Marty Markowitz has been oddly silent since a Russian billionaire swooped in to try and save the project this week.
Political operatives close to Markowitz say he’s red-faced over developer Bruce Ratner’s plans to sell a majority stake in the NBA’s Nets to Mikhail Prokhorov. The 44-year-old playboy would also finance the project’s long-stalled arena, and potentially salvage the residential and commercial portions of Atlantic Yards.
“It’s a combination of anger and embarrassment,” said one operative. “He signed on to a magnificent Frank Gehry-designed Brooklyn palace in the sky, and now he’s got a foreign-owned big hole in the ground.”