Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

In Saturday's New York Times, we got official confirmation that Forest City Ratner's ambitious modular construction plan isn't working too well, given that the B2 tower, long said to be finished by December 2014, is a year late. But we also learned that Forest City's new partner, the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group, is planning to start not one but three towers this year, using conventional construction techniques, building one condo tower and two towers with subsidized housing. That's a reflection of the market in Brooklyn, the cheap financing they've raised through EB-5, presumably commitments from the city for tax-exempt housing bonds, and--who knows--maybe a desire to make a splash. It also changes the equation for the hearing April 30 on the court-ordered Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement , which aims to analyze the potential impacts of a 25-year project buildout. From Draft SEIS, showing two towers on Block 1129, well a...

I was recently asked if the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) continued under the new ownership of Atlantic Yards, the Greenland Forest City Partners joint venture. The answer is yes, formally, but in practice--as I've written --most of the groups and activities are moribund. Obligations to only two specific groups remain, mainly Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance (DBNA), led by the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, and those have been transferred, in significant part if not in full, to the new arena operating company. In June 2015, I wrote about "Assignment and Assumption Agreement" signed 6/30/14 between Forest City Ratner's Atlantic Yards Development Company (AYDC) and the new Atlantic Yards Venture jointly owned by Forest City (30%) and the new majority owner, Greenland Group (70%). But I did so regarding architecture, not the CBA. The agreement (bottom) includes various city, state, and private contracts. Notably on page 11, item #32, it indicat...

From City and State's First Read newsletter: 12 p.m. – [Republican mayoral candidate Joe] Lhota calls for [Democratic mayoral candidate Bill] de Blasio to address failures in the creation of affordable housing in the Atlantic Yards project, Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street, Brooklyn. This will be interesting. As I've written, there's little de Blasio can do to speed creation of the affordable housing, given that state contracts give developer Forest City Ratner a long leash. But he has been mushy-mouthed or silent on key issues. That said, de Blasio can be challenged on: his failure, as Public Advocate, to issue any comment on Forest City's failure to meet its promised goal of 50% (in floor area) family-sized units in the first tower, which is under construction how exactly de Blasio has, as he has claimed "pressured" Forest City on the housing? (he's said nothing publicly) the Public Advocate's failure to say anything about Forest City...

This week AYR will look back at the 8/23/06 hearing on the Atlantic Yards Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), drawing on the official transcript . There were several overstatements and deceptions during the DEIS hearing, notably claims that developer Forest City Ratner (FCR) would pay for the land, that the opponents' legal case was unstoppable, that FCR would build four new high schools, and that affordable housing would be "given" out and guaranteed. (All emphases are added.) FCR paying for the site? Early on, ANN HULKA, Senior Vice President - Real Estate, Empire State Development Corporation, read some boilerplate that was true at the time: The project developer, Forest City, owns or controls approximately 87 percent of the project site inclusive of land owned by the MTA and City property. It is expected that ESDC will acquire title to the project -- the entire project site exclusive of the parcels to be retained by the MTA -- by condemnation, excuse me. All...

Update February 3: it turns out that the Empire State Development's statistics are different , with lower numbers. In building the Barclays Center and other Atlantic Yards construction activities, Forest City Ratner is lagging 25% behind its ambitious plan to devote devoting 20% of construction contract dollars to minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs) and 10% to women-owned firms (WBEs). According to statistics released last week (see below) by Empire State Development (ESD), the state agency overseeing Atlantic Yards, the MBE awards total $91 million (about 16.3% of total purchases), while the WBE awards total $35.1 million (about 6.3% of total purchases). The total, as of the end of 2011, encompasses work back to 2005. Thus the combined M/WBE participation is 22.6%, about three-quarters of the way toward the what ESD calls the "program requirement of 30% for M/WBE," which also appears as goals--20% and 10%, respectively--in the Community Benefits Agreement (C...

Unofficial mockup of planned building at Site 5 I've previously written skeptically about two of the three justifications for shifting the bulk of the tower planned over the arena plaza and creating what I've dubbed the " Brooklyn Behemoth," a giant tower of 1.55 million square feet at Site 5, now occupied by Modell's and P.C. Richard. The notion of "activating" the Atlantic Avenue corridor is pretty thin , and the idea of keeping the arena plaza as permanent open space positions it as a public amenity, rather than a branded business deal . But what about the the third notion, "delivering jobs," to quote Forest City Ratner spokeswoman Ashley Cotton, representing the developer, Greenland Forest City Partners? Building an office tower delivers space for jobs, and the jobs come if there's a market for it. And the market depends on, among other things, the cost of construction. And building the tower at the site originally approved, n...

Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) signatory Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD) went out of business in November 2012, facing a debt to the Internal Revenue Service and a complaint to the state Attorney General over improper spending, with no apparent renewal of funding. And a lawsuit from several who participated in an alleged "sham" training program persists. But BUILD lives on, curiously, in a page on the official Atlantic Yards web site . There's a logic to including a link about job training and placement, since no new partner has been added to the CBA. At the same time, this also allows for a redefinition of BUILD as serving employers, rather then community members: BUILD MISSION: BUILD’s mission was to foster the competitiveness and efficiency of Brooklyn employers by connecting them to local talent through the delivery of effective services that identified and cultivated capable and motivated employment seekers. Ser...

In his mayoral campaign kickoff today, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, according to the Times , cast himself as a reformer: “Let’s be honest about where we are today: a city that in too many ways has become a tale of two cities, a place where City Hall too often has catered to the interests of the elite rather than the needs of everyday New Yorkers,” Mr. de Blasio said. ...Mr. de Blasio applauded the mayor’s anti-obesity and antismoking initiatives, as well as his national push for immigration reform. But he also hammered the mayor — and obliquely, a major Democratic rival, Christine C. Quinn , the City Council speaker — for the “back-room deal” that allowed Mr. Bloomberg to seek a third term. But de Blasio has his own blind spots, such as reliance on the ACORN and Working Families Party activists who supported Atlantic Yards to the hilt. That means he's been unwilling to hold developer Forest City Ratner to the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement it signed, even tho...

This is the seventh of several articles based on discussion at the 1/22/19 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting. The first concerned timing for the B15 tower, with school, and the B4 tower. The second concerned questions about the affordability of future income-restricted housing. The third concerned plans to constrict streets around the B15 tower. The fourth concerned plans for the railyard, demolition, and Times Plaza. The fifth concerned an absurdist dialogue about the definition of construction. The sixth covered NYPD parking, post-event enforcement, and more. So, how exactly does the new health center at 38 Sixth, the tower at the southeast corner of the arena block, fulfill the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), a question I raised in this blog ? I tried to raise it at the meeting. The CBA, I noted, says only that the developer should provide space for the health center to be built out, and that the program, funding and who it is serves would be determi...

Second of a five-part series on Forest City Ratner's plans for Nassau Coliseum redevelopment. Part 1  concerned the overall plan. This addressed the curious politics of a Community Benefits Agreement.  Part 3  addressed the astonishing pitch in China for EB-5 investment.  Part 4  discussed Forest City's claim, at the Nassau County Legislature, it wasn't making much profit on EB-5, and its defense of a sketchy fundraising partner.  Part 5  concerned the brazen effort by EB-5 promoters to use an excerpt from this blog. Remember how much Forest City Ratner hyped its Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), as in the brochure excerpted at right? Well, Forest City has firmly rejected a proposed CBA in Nassau County, where its Nassau Events Center affiliate is revamping the Nassau Coliseum and developing nearby property. Developer Bruce Ratner in September 2013 fudged his answer when asked about a CBA. Today Ratner and his staff firml...