Forest City Announces Leasing and Construction Milestones for New York Times Building

Business Wire, July 14, 2006

CLEVELAND -- Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:FCEA)(NYSE:FCEB) today announced a third major tenant for the New York Times Building near Times Square in Manhattan, and the topping-out of the 52-story, 1.5-million-square-foot office tower. The final 40-foot, 2,000-pound beam was raised 746 feet above street level, atop the building's steel frame on the 52nd floor.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, one of Canada's leading business law firms, agreed to a 15-year lease to occupy 60,000 square feet on floors 36 and 37. This agreement is the Times building's third major lease signing in the last month. As a result, nearly one-half of the 700,000 square feet owned by Forest City Ratner Companies, the New York City affiliate of Forest City Enterprises, has been leased.

As previously announced, the international law firm of Covington & Burling has signed a lease for 160,000 square feet on five floors, and national law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP has agreed to occupy 100,000 square feet on three floors.

The New York Times will own and occupy 800,000 square feet of office space, and Forest City Ratner Companies will own and manage the remainder of the building. Construction on the Renzo Piano-designed office tower began in fall 2004, and will be completed in spring 2007.

Charles A. Ratner, president and chief executive officer of Forest City Enterprises, said, "We are very pleased with the leasing results and construction progress for this premium Class A office space. Designed to be technologically advanced and energy efficient, this office tower is destined to become one of the premier business addresses in New York City."

Corporate Description

Forest City Enterprises, Inc. is a $7.8 billion NYSE-listed national real estate company. The Company is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the United States.

Safe Harbor Language

Statements made in this news release that state the Company or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. It is important to note that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, real estate development and investment risks, economic conditions in the Company's core markets, reliance on major tenants, the impact of terrorist acts, the Company's substantial leverage and the ability to service debt, guarantees under the Company's credit facility, changes in interest rates, continued availability of tax-exempt government financing, the sustainability of substantial operations at the subsidiary level, significant geographic concentration, illiquidity of real estate investments, dependence on rental income from real property, conflicts of interest, competition, potential liability from syndicated properties, effects of uninsured loss, environmental liabilities, partnership risks, litigation risks, risks associated with an investment in a professional sports franchise, and other risk factors as disclosed from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including, but not limited to, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2006.