“Forest City Ratner Companies has set a new, very high standard for incorporating contemporary art into private development.” – Susan K. Freeman, President of the Public Art Fund, 2000

Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC), established in 1989 as an affiliate of Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, is one of the foremost urban real estate developers in the New York metropolitan area. Bruce C. Ratner, the company’s founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, maintains a strong commitment to projects that enhance local communities and encourage economic development. FCRC has always seen public art projects as integral to achieving these goals.

Mr. Ratner began his development career in 1985 by spearheading the first new office construction in downtown Brooklyn in a quarter of a century — One Pierrepont Plaza, which opened in 1988. The project launched the transformation of Downtown Brooklyn into New York City’s third central business district and contributed to what today is considered the “Brooklyn renaissance.” Since then, Mr. Ratner and FCRC have completed development of many significant mixed-use projects in the area, including MetroTech Center, the $1-billion, 6.4-million-square-foot high-technology office, academic and retail complex.

Workers, neighbors and visitors strolling the 3.5-acre MetroTech Commons regularly encounter public art installations sponsored by FCRC, with exhibits curated by the Public Art Fund. Underscoring FCRC’s and MetroTech’s support of emerging artists, every year since 1993, up-and-coming artists have been asked to create site-specific installations for the Commons, the public spaces surrounding the vibrant downtown areas of MetroTech Center and Brooklyn Polytechnic University. The thousands of workers and visitors who pass through One MetroTech Center, the building that houses FCRC’s corporate headquarters, are delighted by the changing displays of artworks by nationally and internationally acclaimed artists from Brooklyn and elsewhere in the world.

The FCRC-owned Embassy Suites Hotel in Battery Park City and the Hilton Times Square Hotel were conceived as showcases for the cultural vitality of the city. The development team commissioned and purchased artwork from many noted painters, sculptors and print-makers including: an 11-story mural by Sol LeWitt; paintings, murals and prints by Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Mary Heilman, Elizabeth Peyton, Ellsworth Kelly, Julian Schnabel and David Hockney. Both entrances to the Hilton — its grand marquee on 42nd Street and its 41st Street entrance, which will face The New York Times Building — feature witty and engaging sculptures by artist Tom Otterness.

Currently, FCRC is proposing to develop Atlantic Yards, a 7.7 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Brooklyn as well as Beekman Place in lower Manhattan, a building that will include a public school, an ambulatory care center for the NYU Downtown Hospital and a residential tower. Both are designed by internationally acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, who created the swooping and soaring forms of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

A firm believer in giving back to the city he loves, Mr. Ratner engages in philanthropic endeavors that promote social justice, a spirit of community and an improved quality of life. He has been a Trustee of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) since 1989 and chaired its Board from 1992 until 2001. Out of his involvement with BAM, Mr. Ratner created the MetroTech Downtown Fund, which encourages contributions to the arts from companies moving into Brooklyn.

A strong advocate for New York City’s park system and a Board Member of the City Parks Foundation since its inception in 1989, Mr. Ratner believes that parks play a crucial role in economic development and enhancing the urban environment.

Mr. Ratner received the New York State Governor’s Arts Award in 1994. Two years later, the Metropolitan Museum of Art elected him as a Trustee, a capacity in which he continues to serve.