Real Deal: Forest City more likely to be sold in full, not in pieces; Ratner's "empire" fadeout?

From the Real Deal's analysis, When a suitor calls: The calculus behind Brookfield’s Forest City play, regarding the reported, but hardly confirmed pursuit of Forest City Realty Trust by Brookfield Asset Management:

• Brookfield's reported offer, less than $24/share, is below the estimate net asset value, but could change
• Forest City's complex enough to require a sophisticated investor
• One analyst thinks the company will be sold in full, rather than in pieces

Note that Forest City yesterday, in its quarterly earnings release, continued its no-comment mode.

Is Forest City New York moving ahead?

Forest City spokesman Jeff Linton told the Real Deal that New York City remained a core market:

“We have moderated our overall development level, but remain committed to development opportunities that allow flexibility to activate entitlement when market conditions are right,” Linton said in a statement. “Our current development ratio of approximately 6 percent of total assets still represents nearly half a billion dollars of active development opportunities enterprise-wide.”

That, of course, doesn't mean that they'll start anything, especially since they lost CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin and her team. There are income-producing properties like MetroTech. One real estate executive quoted anonymously offered a dire assessment:

“They are basically unwinding their position in New York,” he said. “This is further confirmation that the empire that Bruce built is being disassembled.”

Well, it's not clear that they're unwinding MetroTech and other cash cows. Or that they're disassembling projects to sell off piecemeal. But Forest City's New York ambitions do seem on hold.