The company that wants to build an arena for the struggling New Jersey Nets had a bad third quarter of its own.

In an earning statement released last week, Forest City Enterprises, the parent company of Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, reported a 30-percent fall in profits.

Profits were $55 million, or 54 cents per share, down from $79 million, or 78 cents per share, over the first nine months of 2004.

But according to CEO Charles Ratner, who is Nets owner Bruce Ratner’s cousin, the slip in profit is only temporary.

“We believe these results will be more than offset by a strong performance in the fourth quarter,” Ratner said in a statement.

The weak profits for the Cleveland-based real-estate giant stemmed from more land purchases and fewer property sales than during the same period last year, experts said.

In addition to the $100 million FCE sunk into the MTA rail yards for the Atlantic Yards project, the company acquired more than 400 acres for a golf course in North Carolina and moved forward with a mega-mall in Denver.

The appetite for land does not seem to be diminishing anytime soon.

Last week, Washington, DC selected Forest City Enterprises to partner with a local development corporation on a five-acre parcel near the city’s new baseball stadium, a project that, like the Nets arena, requires the use of eminent domain. .

©2005 Community Newspaper Group