The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to postpone a vote today to select a winning bid to develop the Atlantic railyard near Downtown Brooklyn, two people connected with the authority said yesterday.
The board was scheduled to review two dueling bids by developers at its meeting today and possibly vote, but a person who is close to the authority's chairman and to other board members said that the board instead intends to delay the vote so that higher bids can be submitted. The expected delay was confirmed by an executive with the authority, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is so controversial with neighborhood groups.
The two bids, each of which would prominently feature an arena for the Nets of the National Basketball Association, are both lower than the appraised value of the 8.3-acre site, officials have said.
Just this week, the real estate investment group led by Gary Barnett, the president of Extell Development Company, which has the higher $150 million bid, amended its proposal to incorporate the $500 million glass-walled basketball arena for the Nets, which has long been the centerpiece of the plan submitted by the developer Bruce Ratner, of Forest City Ratner, who has submitted a $50 million bid.
Mr. Ratner has submitted detailed plans to build the arena, a new and improved railyard for the authority and 6,000 apartments in towers as high as 60 stories. Mr. Barnett's plan is more modest, and includes 1,940 apartments in buildings from 4 to 28 stories high.