NEW YORK, NY September 15, 2005 —The MTA has voted overwhelmingly to sell the atlantic yards to Forest City Ratner, but the project still needs several more approvals. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports.

REPORTER: Forest City Ratner Executive Vice President Jim Stuckey says yesterday's 10 to 1 vote was a significant milestone in the company's quest to bring a basketball arena, 6000 apartments and towering office buildings to prospect heights.

STUCKEY: It'll allow us now to begin to move to complete the assemblage of the land that allows the entire project to go forward.

REPORTER: Stuckey says with the sale, the company now owns 80 percent of the land it needs. The next step is an "environmental impact statement" which will show how the complex will affect surrounding communities. That process will help to determine the as-yet-unexamined traffic impact of the project. The state's Economic Development Agency and the Public Authorities Control Board must also give approvals.