Forest City Community Development Entity Receives $55 Million in Tax Credit Allocation to Stimulate Investment in Low-Income Communities

November 5, 2009

CLEVELAND, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) today announced that its subsidiary, Forest City Community Development Entity, LLC, (FCCDE) was one of ninety-nine groups recently chosen to receive an allocation of New Market Tax Credits (NMTC), as part of a $5 billion federal program to create jobs and revive neighborhoods.

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The allocation of $55 million will go toward providing financing for real estate development projects located in specific distressed and low-income communities. This is the third time FCCDE has received an NMTC allocation, for a total of $151 million in allocations under the program.

"We're honored that our community development entity has received this allocation, which reflects our track record of investing -- and encouraging others in the private sector to invest -- in low-income communities," said Charles A. Ratner, Forest City Enterprises president and chief executive officer. "With continued economic uncertainty, this type of investment is more important than ever, and the New Market Tax Credits program promotes development where it is needed most."

"This program and others like it complement our approach of building public/private partnerships to make transformational projects a reality," Ratner said. "By effectively reducing the cost of capital, the tax credits help make investment possible in projects that might not otherwise be feasible, and they make additional investment possible for other projects."

The NMTC program, established by Congress in December 2000, permits individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in designated community development entities, like FCCDE. The investor receives a credit, claimed over a seven-year period, totaling 39 percent of the cost of the investment. The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund administers the NMTC program. Thirty percent of the program's $5 billion funding for the latest round of allocations came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

About Forest City

Forest City Enterprises, Inc., is an $11.7 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. For more information, visit www.forestcity.net.

Safe Harbor Language

Statements made in this news release that state the Company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements due to various risks, uncertainties and other factors. Risks and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the impact of current market conditions on our liquidity, ability to finance or refinance projects and repay our debt, general real estate investment and development risks, vacancies in our properties, further downturns in the housing market, competition, illiquidity of real estate investments, bankruptcy or defaults of tenants, anchor store consolidations or closings, international activities, the impact of terrorist acts, risks associated with an investment in a professional sports team, our substantial debt leverage and the ability to obtain and service debt, the impact of restrictions imposed by our credit facility and senior debt, exposure to hedging agreements, the level and volatility of interest rates, the continued availability of tax-exempt government financing, the impact of credit rating downgrades, effects of uninsured or underinsured losses, environmental liabilities, conflicts of interest, risks associated with developing and managing properties in partnership with others, the ability to maintain effective internal controls, compliance with governmental regulations, volatility in the market price of our publicly traded securities, litigation risks, as well as other risks listed from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to, the Company's annual and quarterly reports.

SOURCE Forest City Enterprises, Inc.