The Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday that he was backing a plan by Bruce C. Ratner, the developer, to build a canyon of skyscrapers and an arena for the Nets over railyards near Downtown Brooklyn.
Mr. Sharpton, much as he did when he announced his support for the proposed Jets stadium on the West Side of Manhattan, argued that the building plan, designed by Frank Gehry, would provide needed jobs and lower-cost housing for largely poor and minority areas nearby.
"We have real problems in the neighborhoods surrounding this project," Mr. Sharpton said in a statement released by his office. "We need a plan that is inviting to newcomers while avoiding the type of gentrification that pushes out the old while in the same breath romanticizing the old.
"It's not about a new Brooklyn or an old Brooklyn; it's about a thriving Brooklyn where people of all colors have a chance for a better home, a better job and a better life."
Mr. Sharpton praised Mr. Ratner, whose company is the development partner for the new Midtown headquarters for The New York Times Company, for signing an agreement with community advocacy groups. That agreement promises to use minority and female contractors, to offer job training, to provide community use of the arena and to preserve half of the rental apartments for families earning less than $100,480 a year.
The plan faces several hurdles. Mr. Ratner's proposal to buy and develop the railyards is under review by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and is competing with a bid from the Extell Development Corporation. That plan was designed in consultation with a group of opponents, including area residents, advocates and elected officials who say the Ratner plan is far too big and dense for the scale and infrastructure of the existing low-rise neighborhood.
And although Mr. Sharpton has plenty of influence in some corners, his support did not in the end help the Jets, whose stadium plans were scuttled by Albany leaders. Tom Kelly, a transportation authority spokesman, said that a decision on the proposals could come next week at the earliest, but he cautioned that it could take months longer.