BROOKLYN, NY March 04, 2005 —The developer of the proposed Brooklyn Nets Arena will be asking for hundreds of millions of dollars in tax free bonds to construct the $500 million arena.

The developers say the project will bring 12,000 construction jobs and 8,000 permanent jobs, as well as 2000 units of affordable housing.

They say the $2.5 billion project is unprecedented for an outerborough. But they acknowledge there's a public cost to all of this on top of the $200 million the city and state will pay for infrastructure inprovements.

The developer, Forest City Ratner, hopes to get hundreds of millions of dollars in tax free bonds which it would essentially pay back with its own property taxes. A Forest City spokesman also says Ratner will ask for an undetermined amount of housing subsidies and tax breaks for the affordable housing.