Olympic dreaming for 2008.

Whether a romantic dream or something that could become reality, the idea to bid for the 2002 summer Olympics has got the city talking.

Championed by Daniel Doctoroff, managing director of Oakhill Partners, and enthusiastically supported by the New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce and now Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the feasibility of hosting an Olympics is starting to be explored.

Not only does the mayor believe the Olympics would bring further world wide recognition for what he calls "the Capital of the World," but could become the economic engine to jump start a variety of stalled infrastructure projects.

These include everything from new Yankee and Shea Stadiums to the train-to-the-plane mono-rail project.

But there are more questions than answers at this very beginning point in the process, something that is stressed by everyone so far involved.

"We've done a lot of work but we are still in the preliminary stage and there is a lot more work to come," said Daniel Doctoroff, a partner with Oakhill Partners, an investment group that is associated with Robert Bass.

But Doctoroff, who was the catalyst to get everyone thinking about the Olympic bid, emphasized this project is a private quest, separate from his work, although another of his partners is also involved. "What do I do for a living? We buy companies and I put together very large deals," he said when pressed. And certainly, the Olympics is a very large deal.

After putting together some research,Doctoroff called Robert R. Kiley, president of the Partnership and Chamber, and in April, made a presentation to that group's executive committee. Doctoroff has since met with the Mayor and others, most recently last Thursday, June 27.

So far, a small task force has been organized by Mayor Giuliani called NYC2008, that includes Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter, developers Lewis Rudin, Jerry I. Speyer, and Fred Wilpon who also owns the Mets; Kiley; and Richard A. Jalkut, NYNEX president and Partnership chair. This group is to be supplemented eventually with other city business leaders.

Reiter explained the organizing committee will be made up of the members of the Partnership.

"We will encourage a core group of leading New York business people to form a core committee to raise money [for a feasibility study]," the Deputy Mayor said. "They will be supported by the city. We will cooperate fully and offer that committee and whoever is doing the feasibility study our help."

Doctoroff, who has been "incredibly encouraged" by the reactions so far, says the committee will raise money but the major task ahead "is to really examine all of the issues."

Regional Cooperation?

A major question for the group will be whether or not any bid would include help from neighboring counties and or states. That is certainly among the issues that would have to be explored by the feasibility study, not scheduled to begin before the fall.

Reiter says recent Olympics have been held in - and the Olympic Committee is encouraging - ever smaller geographical areas, and the events are not as spread out as they used to be.

But it might be slightly difficult, for instance, to find a site for white water rafting trials without going outside city limits, one sporting event that Reiter concedes may have to be held upstate.

And if the bid goes across state lines and includes help from New Jersey, it might be hard to justify funding a new city stadium, particularly one on the West Side of Manhattan.

At this juncture, Reiter says they will first try to keep the bid in New York City and certain surrounding areas within New York State. "It is likely do-able under those circumstances," she said, adding that it's "premature," to involve either New Jersey and its Meadowlands facilities or Connecticut.

Chris Jones, director of Economic Planning for the Regional Plan Association, cautions that an Olympic bid cannot be made without input and cooperation with the other players in the region.

"It's too big to be confined within the boundaries of New York City," he predicted, "and several of the cost risks can be reduced if you can spread the costs in the region. So the sooner they have a meeting of the minds the better your planning will be."

Building Congress president, Richard T. Andersen, says the Olympics by definition is regional. By utilizing facilities that are not in the city "you don't have to build," he said, mentioning in particular a swimming facility in Princeton, New Jersey.

Nevertheless, he said an Olympics can boost community facilities and infrastructure improvements through a comprehensive long-term program that would also require cooperation from the highest levels of government, business and community.

That full cooperation may have to wait until after the Mayoral election as the turf wars are still in progress.

Clint Roswell, a spokesperson for Borough President Fernando the borough president would love to have the Olympics here in 2008.

"We know what the economic benefits would be and it would certainly fit into the city being the media center of the word and the most diverse city in the world."

But Roswell continued, "the borough president hopes this wasn't some expedient way to try to find a back-door way to build the new stadium on the West Side."

They would rather see the money used to rebuild the area around Yankee Stadium, and have the stadium be rebuilt to deal with the legitimate issues raised by Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.

"The renovation and refurbishing would be a great boost," Roswell said, hoping it would also spur the condemnation of the Bronx Terminal Market so it could be turned into a South Street Seaport-type mall.

Atlanta '96

Atlanta's bid for its games, that run this summer from the opening ceremonies on July 19 to the closing ones on August 4th, was contingent on help from surrounding counties. Eventually, they required cooperation from all of the Southern States for manpower and necessary equipment, such as 6,000 buses.

But while most of the events are within the 50-mile radius they call their "Olympic Ring," some are even further. Yachting, for instance, is being held in Savannah, Georgia, a four-hour drive from Atlanta's Downtown. And the white water kayaking and canoeing is located on the Ocoee River that straddles the border of Georgia and Tenneesee, a good 2.5 hour drive from Peachtree Street.

In Atlanta, a city very reliant on automobiles - although its MARTA subway has made steady progress - many citizens are resigned to working at home for the duration of the games.

New York, on the other hand, has an extensive subway and train network extending far into the suburbs that would permit the city to function even while getting tourists to and from Olympic events.

Nevertheless, there are those who while supportive, question the Big Apple's ability to hold such a big party. Attorney Jeffrey A. Moerdler, head of the real estate department at the law firm of Lowenthal Landau Fischer & Bring, is concerned there will be "nightmarish congestion." But he believes some of the events or the Olympic Village could be created in Flushing Meadows, the site of two World's Fairs, although, what, he wonders, would the city do with them afterward?

And he is glad to see Mayor Giuliani is becoming a visionary. "I give him a lot of credit for focusing on the dream," Moerdler said. "We haven't had someone [recently] with a 10 or 20 year vision, like Robert Moses."

The entire event, however, he believes would be "logistically impossible and would shut down the city for a week.

Jones of the RPA says if the Olympics are planned well and make maximum use of existing facilities while creating investments in the types of infrastructure improvements and community, developments that would give a long-term boost to the economy anyway, "then it makes sense."

"It's something that should be seriously considered. But you have to go into it with your eyes open," Jones said, adding that Montreal and Barcelona are still paying off money borrowed for the Olympics years ago.

Steve Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, thinks the idea is wonderful. "At first it sounds crazy, but the reality is that New York has so much to offer in terms of location and excitement that in terms of visitors it makes sense," he said. He is also looking at the Olympic revenues to create infrastructure improvements at no cost to the city.

Atlanta has raised and spent $1.7 billion through private donations and sponsorships to fund items including a major stadium for the Atlanta Braves, a new equestrian facility and dormitory housing for athletes that will be turned over to universities.

Vendors have also been selling everything from inscribed pathway bricks in the new Centennial Olympic Park - the first major Downtown park built in America in many years and also funded by the Olympics - to keychains and snowglobes.

A Boost for NYC

Attorney Peter Malkin, a partner with Wien Malkin Bettex, thinks it is a wonderful idea that NYC should be the host city for the Summer Olympics.

"I agree with the New York Partnership and Chamber of Commerce that this could be an excellent vehicle for funding and accelerating many of the infrastructure improvements that are required anyway for New York City, whether or not it is the host city," he said.

A spokesperson for the Partnership and Chamber of Commerce, Barbara Lorber said, "The Partnership is highly supportive of this initial effort and the spirit that is guiding us is a 'Go'."

Developer Donald J. Trump agrees, saying, "It would be great for the city and the state."

"Wouldn't it be great to have it here?," dreamed Stephen Siegel, president of Edward S. Gordon Company. "If we could get our act together, it would be spectacular. It could only boost the whole community."

Siegel pointed to the efforts of the Atlanta business community that was able to unite towards the Olympic goal. Corporations also don't leave town when an Olympics is coming, he added.

Another broker, further down the "food chain," than Siegel who asked not to be quoted by name, said he didn't care if the Olympics was coming because he couldn't make any money on it.

But others, including the Atlantians, believe that Olympic bids are good ways for business owners from other parts of the world to check out a city for future offices, and a positive way for cities to showcase themselves on television sets around the world.

Investor Jerrold P. Fuchs, says the city's economy is soft and there is a tax base problem. "Why wouldn't they want to [make the bid] given the nature of the problems," he asked.

But he believes growth has to be in the middle class and doesn't know if that would be boosted by a West Side stadium.

Time Equities broker, David N. Lebenstein, said the Olympics would be a good vehicle to help fund a lot of capital projects that have been stalled. "It would keep the Yankees here and get us permanent facilities for the Yankees and Mets," he said. "It would strengthen the local economy and strengthen local tourism."

Lorber said part of the Olympic bid includes a concurrent "cultural Olympics," something she says would be an easy task for New York City.

"There is just more in terms of cultural richness on any given rainy Tuesday than anywhere else in the world," she said.

To accommodate the Olympics, Andersen says, the planners have to look at transportation, hotel accommodations and other kinds of public places, including an Olympic "Village" and sports facilities.

"We are big enough to accommodate the Olympics of the future," Andersen claimed.

Andersen, who is on the 1998 Goodwill Games committee, believes that event will be a good practice for the 2008 Olympics in the same year the bid would be due.

Worldwide Competition

The 2000 Olympics will be held in Sydney, Australia and several of the losing cities for that bid are continuing their quest with bids for 2004, joined by even more cities, such as Rome, eager to reap Olympic visitor goldcards.

Osaka has been discussing a bid for 2008, and in the United States, Boston has already completed its own feasibility study. It is also in the midst of a massive tunneling project to bury its inner city highways and relieve topside congestion.

In the Beginning

Doctoroff says he began thinking about an Olympic bid while in the stands watching a Bulgaria vs. Italy World Cup semi-final soccer match at Giants Stadium.

"This was the most exciting sporting event I had ever been to because it was the nationalism coming through as part of a sporting event," he recalled.

While the stands were filled with Italian Americans and Bulgarian American, Doctoroff thought, "if you substituted any two countries in the world you could have filled the stands with people from any of those countries" because New York has pockets of population from every country in the world.

"It was a short leap to the Olympics," Doctoroff said. He started doing research, looking first, to see if it would be great for New York and second, would New York be great for the Olympics. "I concluded the answer was absolutely 'Yes.'"

New York has until 1998 to put in a bid for the Olympics and to see if the world agrees.