Empire State Building: 1 Year, 45 Days; Rockefeller Center: Seven Years; Mount Freaking Rushmore: 14 Years

So if the Atlantic Yards project is going to take 15 years, it must be the most awesome development ever:

Forest City Ratner claims it will take 10 years to construct its Atlantic Yards development, with an arena opening for the 2009-10 basketball season.

But earlier this week Chuck Ratner, cousin of Bruce and CEO of FCR’s parent company Forest City Enterprises, stated that it would take longer.

“This is going to be a 15-year buildout,” Chuck Ratner said at the Citigroup 2007 Property CEO Conference in Naples, Fla. The arena would open by the 2010 season, he added.

The comments, which were first reported yesterday by Atlantic Yards watchdog blogger Norman Oder, come on the heels of landscape architect Laurie Olin telling The New York Observer he believed the project would take 20 years.

Location Scout: Atlantic Yards.