"The interest in the arena bond offering was beyond ourexpectations," says Bruce Ratner, CEO of FCRC, in a statementissued after the bond sale closed Tuesday afternoon. He notes thatorders from institutional investors across the board were almostfour times the supply of bonds, which generated $511 million at a6.48% interest rate. "Even more importantly, the overwhelmingsupport from investors is a good sign of confidence in this projectand in the city." Co-lead underwriters for the deal were GoldmanSachs and Barclays Capital.

Earlier this month, the bond offering, issued through theBrooklyn Arena Local Development Corp., received investment-graderatings of BBB- and Baa3 from Standard & Poor's and Moody'sInvestor Service, respectively. The agencies cited the poorperformance this season of the Nets, which will be housed at the18,000-seat arena, as one of several factors in their relativelylow ratings. On the positive side, New York City's status as amedia market was expected to provide a favorable climate forsponsorship sales for the NBA franchise, according to Moody's.

For much of the fall, it was an open question as to whether thebond sale could proceed in time to make the year-end deadline fortax-exempt status. At issue was the timing of the New York StateCourt of Appeals' decision on whether or not to uphold a lowercourt ruling that okay'd the Empire State Development Corp.'s useof eminent domain for Atlantic Yards. Oral arguments were notpresented before the state's highest court until mid-October.