Award-winning developer is big Brooklyn backer.

Bruce C. Ratner, recognized as one of the foremost urban real estate developers in the city, has been named recipient of the fifth annual Jack D. Weiler Award by the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York.

Ratner, president and chief executive officer of Forest City Ratner Companies, was presented with the award for his accomplishments in real estate development, philanthropy, and civic and cultural contributions on April 13 at the UJA-Federation's Real Estate Division luncheon at the Plaza Hotel.

Forest City Ratner Companies, the New York affiliate of the national real estate company, Forest City Enterprises, has been one of the foremost urban real estate developers in the New York metropolitan area. In 1988, Forest City Enterprises and Forest City Rather Companies completed the $138 million, 19-story One Pierrepont Plaza office building in downtown Brooklyn.

Over the past decade, Ratner has been a driving force in transforming downtown Brooklyn into the city's third business district. He was responsible for converting over four million square feet into One Pierrepont Plaza, the first new office building to be constructed in downtown Brooklyn in over 25 years.

Ratner explained that while many developers at the time were Manhattan-oriented, he had always been aware of the potential that Brooklyn offered as a site for development, and, as a result, he has been in the forefront of the transformation of downtown Brooklyn into the city's third business district.

Currently, Ratner is involved with the construction of Atlantic Center, a retail, housing and office complex near the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which is slated to open in the spring of 1995.

"I think there is a hard push for retail in the borough," said Ratner. "The area is very underserved. Our major focus is the retail opportunities in the borough and retail is very exciting in a great time."

Ratner was involved with the creation of MetroTech Center, a $1 billion commercial, academic, and high technology office complex on a 10-block, 16-acre site in downtown Brooklyn. MetroTech Center, designed around a 3.3-acre landscaped commons, features the construction of over 5-million square feet of new commercial space, as well as the renovation and expansion of the New York Telephone Company and Polytechnic University facilities.

"Very few, and no New York developers, were interested in the project," Ratner said. "I has new, and very familiar with the city, and I thought Brooklyn was the best downtown in America. It has great schools, great transportation, and a business district."

Located in the Civic Center-Borough Hall area of downtown Brooklyn, the plan for MetroTech includes eight new and three renovated buildings, with the first building, Two MetroTech Center, completed in the summer of 1990.

Metro-Tech Center was developed by Forest City Ratner Companies and MetroTech, a non-profit affiliate of Polytechnic University. In terms of economic impact, tenants at MetroTech will generate 16,000 jobs in downtown Brooklyn and 550 jobs will be retained aI Polytechnic University. Once the MetroTech project is in full operation, the annual payroll will exceed $480 million, as well as creating 4,000 construction jobs and generating an estimated $54 million annually in new tax revenues upon completion, after tax abatements have ended.

Ratner also worked with the community to create the first voluntary affirmative action program which resulted in $76 million in construction being awarded to minority and women-owned businesses, a total of 16.6 percent of the contracts at MetroTech. According to Ratner, an average of 37 percent of the work force employed on the MetroTech project were minorities or women.

One MetroTech Center, a 23-story building completed in 1992 at a total development cost of $190 million, is the home of the new headquarters of the Brooklyn Union Gas Company. Other tenants include Bear Stearns & Co., a major investment banking and brokerage company, and Chubb Contingency Trading facility (ChubbCTF).

Chase Manhattan Bank's new Financial Services Center occupies Three and Four MetroTech Center, with the two buildings totalling 1.5 million square feet, and Five MetroTech Center is a new 127,650-square foot building at Polytechnic University, the home of the four-story, 78,500 square-foot Center for Advanced Technology in Telecommunications.

Under the plan; Polytechnic University's Jacobs Administration Building was renovated in 1988, the former Brooklyn Fire Headquarters was renovated and completed for replacement housing in 1989, and 10 MetroTech Center, which previously housed the former Bartons Chocolate Factory, was totally renovated, both exterior and interior, in February of 1992. Tenants in 10 MetroTech Center, a 17-story, 420,000 square-foot building, include the Internal Revenue Service, the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles, and the New York City Human Resources Administration.

In order to complete MetroTech Center, the City of New York needed to take responsibility for relocating an estimated 200 residents who occupied approximately 100 residential units within the development, as well as 60 businesses and five city and state governmental agencies. Forest City Ratner Companies joined the City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Economic Development Corporation in working with Community Planning Board 2 to successfully complete the comprehensive relocation program.

"We think in terms of developing the whole community structure," Ratnet said. "We consider the education structure, look at city services, the cultural element, how to develop a strong community on an urban scale." Ratner has always maintained that -there is a strong link between education and a positive urban environment, as evidenced by the amount of time he devotes to the promotion of education, parks and cultural institutions. Ratner serves as chairman of the board of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and also is chairman of the board of the City Parks Foundation.

After graduating cum laude from Harvard College and Columbia University School of Law in 1970, Ratner began his career directing the Model Cities Program and heading the Consumer Protection Division within the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs during the administration of former mayor John Lindsay. He taught at New York University Law School from 1973 to 1977, before returning to public service as New York City's Commissioner of Consumer Affairs from 1978 to 1982, a tenure during which he designed major consumer fraud protection regulations which became models for subsequent national legislation.