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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park FAQ, timeline, and infographics (pinned post)

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Breathless "exclusive" on BSE Global's upcoming media project, sharing "zeitgeist of Brooklyn," cites influence of youth culture brand Complex.

A breathless "exclusive" Business Insider article published Dec. 11,  The billionaire owners of the Nets and Liberty plan to launch a media brand around the 'zeitgeist of Brooklyn' in 2025 , relies on five (!) unnamed sources all buffing the same vague but ambitious project. BSE Global's new media brand will focus on "capturing and sharing the zeitgeist of Brooklyn," spokesperson Sheerin Salimi told Business Insider. They're calling it "Brand X" and even considered "Boom," but it's no longer on the table. Much of this isn't new--it started with the purchase (and transformation) of once-indie Brooklyn Magazine (whose editor is gone) and has been amplified in other coverage, including plans for retail and events. Screenshot from Complex The Complex complex What's new is the influence of the youth culture brand Complex , which mixes content, including video, and direct marketing.  They've hired five former Complex st...

So, what happened to the promised Times Plaza open space? It's been on hold for seven years.

Times Plaza, a modest triangle bounded by Fourth, Flatbush, and Atlantic avenues just above the Site 5 parcel occupied by P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's, is still in limbo. It was  supposed to be revamped  as partial mitigation for an impact from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. but that never happened. Times Plaza today. Photo: Norman Oder Seven years ago (!), in October 2017, I  reported  that the project's main developer, Greenland USA, said open space work at Times Plaza—on about 4,500 square feet controlled by the Department of Transportation (DOT)—might go into construction in the second quarter of 2018.  That didn’t happen. “The developer remains in ongoing discussions with the Department of Transportation,” then-Empire State Development (ESD) Atlantic Yards Project Director Tobi Jaiyesimi said at a  public meeting  in January 2022. What about now? What's the status now? "At this time, there are no immediate construction plans for Times Pl...

In recent quarterly report, Barclays Center operating company discloses 18% drop in cash receipts. Ticket sales down, but still dwarf pre-Ticketmaster numbers.

In a required document aimed at bondholders, the Barclays Center operating company, Brooklyn Events Center, recently reported, for the third quarter of this calendar year and the first quarter of the new fiscal year, $5.4 million in suite and sponsor installments, and $40.3 million in ticket sales. That's a total of $45.7 million in cash receipts. How does that compare to past results? Well, in Q1 of FY 2024, the period of July through September of 2023, ArenaCo reported $4.8 million in suite and sponsor installments, and nearly $51 million in ticket sales, for a total of  $55.8 million. That's an 18% drop. So suite and sponsor revenues are up, perhaps--and this is total speculation--because of the new clubs (The Row and The Key) that have been carved out of former suite space, and maybe also because the success of the New York Liberty has driven new sponsorships. Ticket sales down But ticket sales are down somewhat, though still nearly double the figure two years earlier. In ...

If the 962 Pacific developer didn't win a rezoning, Totem--and maybe Ailanthus--show a connection and a track record.

Last week I published  Making Sense of the 962 Pacific Street Rezoning Story , a couple of weeks after the New York Times published two online articles about the failed rezoning effort for that Crown Heights lot, but just before the Times published the package in print . So this post repurposes some of that long article. One lesson from some past spot rezonings, as I reported, is that the applicant, often spouting promises of community commitments, is not looking to (or even able to) build, and plans to sell the property once a lucrative rezoning as been achieved. “What we're trying to do… is work with all of you so that we can maintain control over our property, and that we could then bring in somebody, a developer, that echoes the same values we have and that the community has,” property owner Nadine Oelsner told Brooklyn Community Board 8. Would the Oelsners maintain a majority ownership in a joint venture? “We pray to God," she responded, "we can keep this property an...

That article in the Times on 962 Pacific is part of a big print Metropolitan section package in the Sunday paper. It still needs a critique.

OK, so that New York Times coverage of the 962 Pacific Street rezoning saga, which I wrote about at length yesterday in my newsletter, Making Sense of the 962 Pacific Street Rezoning Story , now appears, in significant part, in tomorrow's print Metropolitan section, which is delivered with the Saturday paper. Except "Two Buildings Were Planned, But Only One Was Erected," published online as Two Apartment Buildings Were Planned. Only One Went Up , gets a lot of wrong, notably the discussion at Brooklyn Community Board 8, which successfully negotiated for more affordable housing that the developer proposed--or was disclosed in the Times.  Please take a look at my coverage .