BROOKLYN NETS?

Bruce Ratner's $4 billion dream for a new Brooklyn will have to wait, at least until next year. The New Jersey Nets owner and developer has been plagued by a string of problems that have delayed his plans for a new NBA arena, office towers and thousands of apartments in Brooklyn. Ratner said a recent court ruling would delay the project by up to six months, meaning the Nets won't move in until least 2011. Groundbreaking has been pushed back until at least next year for the arena, which will cost more than three times what Ratner paid for the entire franchise. And the financial crisis has made it tougher to raise money, potentially jeopardizing a lucrative naming rights deal with Barclays Capital. "Let me be clear," he said last month, "that the project will go forward."The downturn is threatening plans begun four years ago when Ratner, CEO of Forest City Ratner Cos., bought the Nets as a centerpiece of a 22-acre development on an old rail yard, industrial buildings and homes in Brooklyn. The megaproject would include an 18,000-seat sports and entertainment arena, 16 skyscrapers with hotel, office and retail space, 6,400 apartments and eight acres of open space.