NEW YORK (AP) – Officials have broken ground on a New York City development project including a $1 billion arena for the New Jersey Nets basketball team amid hollers and whistles of the project’s opponents.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz calls Thursday a “great day for Brooklyn.”
Markowitz joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Gov. David Paterson and hundreds of others for a celebration of the launch of the $4.9 billion, 22-acre Atlantic Yards project.
The project has been delayed by lawsuits filed by residents fighting the use of eminent domain.
The basketball arena is supposed to open in 2012.
Supporters have lauded what they say will be the positive economic impact of the project. Paterson says it will create 16,000 construction jobs and 5,500 permanent jobs.
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