Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

As a candidate last year, Hakeem Jeffries was a qualified supporter of Atlantic Yards. And as a freshman member of the State Assembly, he still welcomes the project’s affordable housing. But Jeffries' posture has gotten tougher lately, and last night he delivered an eloquent criticism of the project, declaring that promised affordable housing was easily matched by government support for developer Forest City Ratner and that the “Atlantic Yards carve-out,” a tax break available only to the developer, was “offensive” because it promoted “economic segregation.” And his audience, responding to the notion of special treatment, seemed to agree. (While the "carve-out" would treat the project differently, it also would preserve the project configuration as approved last year before revision of the tax break. So it’s a matter of perspective.) Jeffries’ Town Hall meeting last night, "My First Six Months Serving You," was actually less about Atlantic Yards than about bre...

[ Updated August 11 ] A compromise on the reform of the 421-a tax break reached yesterday, according to Crain's New York Business , eliminates the "Atlantic Yards carve-out" that would've given a special $300 million break to Forest City Ratner's project and even generated criticism from Mayor Mike Bloomberg and ACORN's Bertha Lewis , both project supporters. Not quite. Forest City Ratner still gets a deal. Ten days ago, an FCR spokesman had declared a modified carve-out a done deal. The Daily News reported that the tweak would reduct to 15 years the tax break for the 1930 market-rate condos. And that appears to be the deal, worth $200 million according to the Post and $150 million in the Sun, even though it's been couched differently in some reports. First, Forest City Ratner would still get its tax savings in most buildings without having to change the income mix, thanks to an upward tweak in the bill's definition of affordable housing. An...

Will Gov. Eliot Spitzer veto the 421-a reform passed by the legislature, one that includes some worthy reforms as well as a handout to developer Forest City Ratner? According to NY1: The governor tells us he needs time to review the legislation before he decides if he will sign it. A veto shouldn't kill the measure for good. If there's to be a summer session to deal with outstanding legislation, there's no reason the legislature couldn't revisit 421-a. In an article Friday headlined 421-a extension will spur construction , Crain's New York Business reported that the six-month extension contained in the 421-a reform will lead to a surge in condominium and apartment construction, as developers will rush to build market-rate projects before a lucrative tax break expires. Here's the key paragraph: The bill approved by the legislature has the support of the Real Estate Board of New York, the powerful lobbying group that represents developers. Insiders say it is unlik...

As Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery this week called for developer Forest City Ratner to abandon the “Atlantic Yards carve-out” in the reform of the city’s 421-a tax exemption, Assemblyman Jim Brennan, who’s been a critic of aspects of the project, seemed like the odd man out--until now. The State Legislature has passed the revised bill but it has yet to be signed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Various forces, including the city administration, are calling for a revision or a veto. Brennan had told the New York Observer’s blog The Real Estate Observer that “It’s not a carve-out… The only thing that happened was that Atlantic Yards got grandfathered in.” That seemed inaccurate, given that there’s a special provision that could only apply to Atlantic Yards, allowing the requirement of 20 percent affordable housing to be spread over the project as a whole rather than applied to each building, as the law otherwise would require, and also nudging up the income l...

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, whose districts include the Atlantic Yards footprint, have publicly called on developer Forest City Ratner to abandon the "Atlantic Yards carve-out" in the 421-a law passed by the Legislature (but not yet signed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has not indicated whether he'd veto it) and adhere to the law as it will apply to every other development in the city. (Click to enlarge) The two legislators have not typically allied on Atlantic Yards issues. Jeffries has been a cautious supporter of the project, more or less, while Montgomery has stood in staunch opposition. The legislators, in their July 6 letter, note that more than $300 million has been committed by the city and state to the project and criticize the "eleventh-hour, highly secretive deal" that led to the carve-out. The carve-out has been estimated by city officials to provide some $300 million in additional benefits. Other public costs an...

Thanks to some investigation by the Metropolitan Council on Housing, which prompted coverage in the New York Daily News and by New York Times columnist Michael Powell, we now know more about a January giveaway to developers worth some $50 million to the largest project. Note that this 421-a "carve-out" is worth far less than the "carve-out" in 2007 legislators gave developer Forest City Ratner regarding the Atlantic Yards project, wroth $150-$200 million. The Daily News article,  NY lawmakers mandate massive tax breaks for millionaires’ Manhattan apartments , was published 6/18/13: The millionaires buying apartments in a soaring tower rising on 57th St. will get more than sweeping views of Central Park: They’ll also be eligible for massive city tax breaks. So will the homeowners and builders of four other luxury Manhattan condo and rental developments. Language quietly inserted into a bill that sailed through the state Legislature singled out the five dev...

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who two weeks ago called the original iteration of the “Atlantic Yards carve-out” “offensive,” yesterday offered measured criticism of the compromise that would give Forest City Ratner $150 million, or $200 million, of the $300 million bonus it had sought. While new construction around the city, except a significant chunk of Manhattan and the Brooklyn waterfront in Greenpoint-Williamsburg, currently gets a 25-year tax break as of right, the belated revision of the 421-a law would require 20% affordable units in exchange for the tax break for construction in the “exclusion zone,” which has been expanded to include Prospect Heights and several other neighborhoods. The original “carve-out” would’ve given four or five Atlantic Yards condo buildings the 25-year tax break with nothing in return—in effect, grandfathering in Atlantic Yards while treating other developments in Jeffries' Prospect Heights district (and beyond) differently. The “compromise” short...

So Governor Eliot Spitzer has signed the reform of the 421-a tax break, which includes an "Atlantic Yards carve-out" worth up to $200 million for developer Forest City Ratner. When the "carve-out" was worth $300 million, it was criticized by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, ACORN's Bertha Lewis, Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez, affordable housing advocate Brad Lander, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB), the Brooklyn Paper , and others. When it was reduced but not eliminated, the only official to offer measured criticism was Jeffries . (He issued it after I queried him, but he may have been prepared to issue a statement anyway.) DDDB seemingly stood alone in its forceful criticism . Affordable housing advocates, city officials, state officials, and the public at large all had something to gain in the revised legislation, beyond the "carve-out." So perhaps some critics felt they could only go so far. But what about those seemi...

So can you make sense of the revision of the 421-a tax exemption, produced in closed-door negotiations between city officials and state legislators, and which even left reporters confused ? It's hard to read. (Click to enlarge.) One key is that the section in brackets, which I've highlighted in red, was the original, more blatant, "Atlantic Yards carve-out," the one that even ticked off Mayor Mike Bloomberg and ACORN's Bertha Lewis. That would've provided an estimated $300 million in benefits to developer Forest City Ratner. (The underlined segments are new.) Getting less blatant The underlining is the new text, and Atlantic Yards would still get special treatment , worth $150-$200 million. The carve-out would have given a 25-year tax exemption for AY buildings that don't include affordable housing, just because they were part of a project that included an average of 20% affordable housing for households at 70% of Area Median Income (AMI), which at that po...

In a column today headlined Atlantic Yards gets a deal so sweet it's sick , Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez bores in on the special carve-out in the 421-a legislation. The deal could be worth [ updated/corrected ] $100-$170 million in tax-exemptions for the condos. (Still, I'd like someone in government to break down the math, since I don't think the bill will, as Gonzalez writes, allow Forest City Ratner to charge an extra $350 a month for affordable units; I think that might apply only to a subset. Doesn't legislation come with official analysis?) The issue, Gonzalez suggests, is a test for Governor Eliot Spitzer. ACORN speaks Gonzalez put Forest City Ratner on the spot. They wouldn't comment. He asked their partner in housing, ACORN, which had lobbied for an expansion of 421-a, didn't know of the special provision. NY ACORN's Bertha Lewis called it "bad public policy," which is remarkable because it 1) involves ACORN's first public critic...

So how could Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries support (and sponsor) legislation to reform 421-a, then vote against it? Below, the press release from his office, and then a further explanation. Press release issued Friday Assemblyman Jeffries today voted “No” on A.9293, legislation introduced by Vito Lopez that would treat the controversial Atlantic Yards project more favorably than other developments as it relates to the 421-a tax abatement program. “The Atlantic Yards project has feasted on government funds for far too long. Enough is enough. There is absolutely no justification for treating Atlantic Yards better than any other development project in New York, when Forest City Ratner has already received $300 million in government subsidies.” Joining Assemblyman Jeffries in voting against the bill is Assemblywoman Joan Millman, who represents the neighboring assembly district. The legislation passed 105-6 on the floor of the Assembly. It will now be sent to the Senate for consideration. As...

Mayor Mike Bloomberg offered his first public criticism of the "Atlantic Yards carve-out" during a radio interview today, saying developer Bruce Ratner "doesn't need" a special tax break that could be worth $300 million. The criticism came almost as an aside while Bloomberg made the larger argument that Governor Eliot Spitzer should veto the 421-a reform passed by the legislature. Listening in At about 20:45 of the mayhor's weekly appearance on the John Gambling Show , the host raised the question of 421-a, subject of an extensive article in today's Times. Bloomberg responded: Well, I hope the Governor vetoes it… You want people to build affordable housing, but you don’t want it to be so onerous that they won’t, and there are places they’re going to build anyway, so there’s no reason to give them tax breaks... Our City Council… came up with a good balance of building affordable housing and also building the market-rate housing that we need. We consulted...

A seemingly small but meaningful change in Atlantic Yards affordable housing preferences was effected in 2007, as far as I can tell, with no announcement or explanation: residents of Brooklyn Community District 3, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, will get community preference in the affordable housing lottery, along with residents served by Community Boards 2, 6, and 8. (A lawsuit was filed  last week challenging that citywide policy, which reserves half the places in the lottery for residents of the local community district or districts.) The Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), signed in 2005, described the “neighboring community” as those in Community Districts 2, 6, and 8. That was reinforced at an affordable housing information session in 2006. Red outline approximates Atlantic Yards location In 2007, state legislation indicated--though no one discussed it publicly at the time--that Community District 3 residents in Bedford-Stuyvesant would also be eligible for...

City Council Member Bill de Blasio is now a candidate for Brooklyn Borough President in 2009, and some of his worthy goals pose an essential tension between affordable housing and neighborhood scale, a balance he bypassed in supporting Atlantic Yards. (Photo from City Hall News ) His statement might leave the impression that he's fighting overdevelopment: I'm running for Brooklyn Borough President to strengthen and protect Brooklyn neighborhoods. As Borough President, no one will fight harder to make Brooklyn more affordable for working families, stop out of control and irresponsible development, protect our environment and improve the quality of life in every neighborhood. Then again, an email message he sent yesterday emphasized the first part of that second sentence: My first priority as Borough President will be to keep Brooklyn affordable by building and preserving affordable housing. As de Blasio well knows, increased density is often the trade-off for affordab...