Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Relative newcomers to Brooklyn usually don't know that, at least until early 2009, when the independent Brooklyn Paper was sold to Rupert Murdoch, presaging future sales until its current ownership by outer-borough behemoth Schneps Media, the publication punched above its weight. It reported skeptically, and in-depth, regarding Atlantic Yards, and its broadsheet print issues made a big splash, especially in Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods, before smartphone-based social media took off. Today, though, it's no surprise to see the Oct. 29 Brooklyn Paper puff piece headlined  Meet Laurie Jacoby, the woman behind Brooklyn’s biggest stage: Barclays Center : When the lights go down and the first notes of a concert echo through Barclays Center, there’s one person whose vision and passion have helped make that moment possible: Laurie Jacoby. As Chief Entertainment Officer for Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, Jacoby oversees all programming and live events at the Barclays Center ...

Workshop on Height & Density Ignores Plan for Two Towers Across from Arena, Hints at New Configuration Over Railyard ( link ) While Nov. 18 session purports to solicit public input, state authority overseeing project already supports a giant project at Site 5. Blank map for railyard points to revision of six-tower plan.

Yesterday, with just two weeks' notice, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, announced the first of four public workshops purportedly aimed to share the future of the project, given a new development team for the half-completed project. It will be held across the street from the Barclays Center on Tuesday, November 18, from 6-8 pm, at the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, 140 Flatbush Avenue, in the former Modell's big-box store. Registration is  here . The meeting location, in fact, is part of Site 5 (with the currently occupied P.C. Richard), which is officially slated for a 250-foot, 440,000 square foot building, according to 2006 approvals, but has already gotten ESD support  for a giant, two-tower project, with one tower 910 feet and some 1.242 million square feet of bulk. (The Brooklyn Basketball Training Center is a temporary youth training facility run by BSE Global, parent of the Brooklyn Net...

The Murky Path to Cirrus's Control of the Remaining Project ( link ) Was the key element debt regarding the B1/Site 5 parcels, or advantageous contract language in the second EB-5 loan? What about the EB-5 middleman? The explanations don't fully make sense.

So, what about the three ballot proposals to speed the approvals of housing in the city? An easy call? After all, it's indisputable that the city--though it would be better to focus on the region, given the recalcitrant suburbs--needs more housing, especially affordable housing, and some Council Districts have been far more welcoming than others. It's easy to outsource conclusions to supporters (like the YES on Affordable Housing coalition, Errol Louis in NY Magazine, and the YIMBY group Abundance NY ), opponents (like the City Council , Village Preservation , and TenantsPac ). or to HellGate's more nuanced A Crash Course in the 3 Controversial Housing Ballot Proposals . I tried to look at the actual language, and it was... confounding. So here's Ballot Proposal 2, according to NYC Votes : What you'll see on the ballot Fast track publicly financed affordable housing . Fast track applications delivering affordable housing in the community districts that produce the...

The Barclays Center yesterday circulated its November 2025 event calendar to neighbors, citing 18 ticketed events in as many days. That includes seven Brooklyn Nets games, and 11 concerts. Also on the calendar: a New York Liberty Holiday Merch Shop, on Nov. 21, and six unspecified private events. The Nov. 10 private event appears to be a press conference to promote a January boxing championship bout.  The Nov. 14 private event is a celebration for the Just Brooklyn Prize of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund.  The rest? Unclear. They could be small events, or large ones.  November 2024  The November 2024 event calendar  included 17 ticketed events in as many days. That includes six Brooklyn Nets games, nine concerts, and two nights of a college basketball tournament.   The calendar did not include a Nov. 9 concert, R&B Forever Tour , listed on the arena's web site. So there should be ten concerts, not nine, and a to...

It’s not too early to state that the Nets (0-5) are not just a bad team," wrote Substack columnist Steve Lichtenstein Oct. 30. "They are also acutely displeasing to a basketball purist’s eyes." The fan site NetsDaily suggested the Nets "may have one of worst defenses in NBA history." Meanwhile, as NetsDaily editor-in-chief Anthony Puccio observed , "Nets ticket prices seem high for a tanking team. $44 to get in the door; $100+ to sit in the 100s."  Still, the Nets sold out their first two home games, at the new capacity of 17,548 (from 17,732, to account for new entertainment space). Well, surely they want to put a decent team on the floor while aiming for a choice draft spot, but it's a "sports entertainment corporation" (to quote subsidy skeptic Bettina Damiani) first and foremost, so there are different reasons people might attend, including fans of other teams, tourists, and others seeking a basketball experience that, however not...