Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

You know the Brooklyn Nets are struggling. They're losing games ( "worst defeat in franchise history" ) and tanking, aiming to get a better chance in the loaded 2025 NBA Draft Lottery, which could reset the franchise with new talent, and make it a lure for free agents.  (As columnist Steve Lichtenstein put it,  Nets Mid-Term Grades Won’t Be Displayed Proudly .) So they're offering various promotions to fill the seats, such as no fees on single-game tickets, or a free ticket with a coat donation. In their three previous home games, the announced attendance was: Jan. 4:  Philadelphia 76ers , 17,926 Jan 6: Indiana Pacers , 16,088 Jan. 8: Detroit Pistons , 16,098 Note that attendance doesn't mean gate count, nor does it mean tickets sold. It means tickets distributed. The Barclays Center official holds 17,732 for basketball, so exceeding that means standing room. The team is averaging 17,480 at home as of now, according to ESPN , but the trend line--at least against l...

Is the deal with Related Companies, as part of a joint venture with the U.S. Immigration Fund and the Fortress Investment Group, to take over the six tower sites over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard, already done? Well, that's one interpretation of Related's November/December 2024 lobbying report , which excludes mention of Atlantic Yards. (Another is that the report has a lapse.) As I reported in November, Related amped up engagement in September and October, indicating that it not only lobbied four executives at Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, it also lobbied New York City Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer.  Is Related asking the city for housing subsidies? As I wrote, it's hard to imagine Related would enter the project without having negotiated, at least partly, the scale of the project, the affordable housing obligation (and deadlines), and more. After all, longtime master developer Greenland USA,...

How Many AtlanticYards Apartments Were Rented to Households Earning Under $50,000? ( link ) Well, far more than suggested in an otherwise useful table from BrooklynSpeaks Still, middle-income units are vastly over-represented.

Barely a month after the Philadelphia City Council approved, 12-5, legislation to allow the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers to build a new downtown arena (dubbed 76Place) in Market East, and more than two years after debates, protests, studies, public hearings, and more occupied a good deal of civic energies, came  Sixers’ shocking arena pivot , as the Philadelphia Inquirer put it this morning. Once gaining leverage over their landlord, Comcast Spectacor, which owns the Wells Fargo Arena and the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, the 76ers cut a deal with Comcast to build a new arena at that South Philadelphia sports complex. Details are expected today. Screenshot from 76Place "Now that the Sixers arena is dead after they used city officials as pawns in a landlord-tenant dispute and completely monopolized our already insane local politics for 2 years, Comcast can at least build their very real biomedical lab proposal at the Fashion District site now," local Chris Olley tweeted , ref...

Weekly Digest: Chilling Winds, and a Busy Forecast for 2025 ( link ) No, there really wasn't a "proper wind analysis." Yes, this year could be acceleration time for the project.

The publication YIMBY’s annual year-end countdown of the 31 tallest buildings under construction in New York include six around Downtown Brooklyn. If the plans for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park come to fruition as currently approved (top image below), perhaps only the B7 tower, approved at 460 feet, would make YIMBY's 2024 list. However, if the project proceeds under plans floated in 2021 and 2023 several would make the list; the 910-foot tower (of two) at Site 5 would surely enter the city's Top Ten, given that in 2024 it would've placed sixth. Also, B9, B6, and B7 likely would make the list, again if they are approved as once proposed. Presumably the expected incoming joint venture involving Related Companies will make its own proposals. From YIMBY At #3 is The Brooklyn Tower , a 1,066-foot residential supertall skyscraper at 9 DeKalb Avenue, at Flatbush Avenue: the 93-story structure stands as the tallest structure in the outer boroughs and yields 550 residential units i...

Photos: Norman Oder OK, we (um, BSE Global) really do belong here. That tricky "You Belong Here/We Belong Here" signage outside Barclays Center was unveiled Oct. 23, 2021 for at least three years, as I  reported . It's not leaving, though the documentation apparently was a bit late, according to an explanation I got from Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The explanation: ESD, BALDC, the MTA and the NBA have consented to an extension of the "You Belong Here" art exhibition at Barclays Center through October 23, 2026. The parties are currently finalizing the necessary documentation reflecting the consent to the extension. In case you're wondering, beyond the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) and NBA (National Basketball Association), BALDC refers to the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation, the ESD alter ego that actually owns the site but then leases it to the arena operator for essenti...