Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

This is the second of two articles about the Jan. 25 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting, held by Empire State Development (ESD), which oversees/shepherds the project. The first concerned the unresolved whistling noise from B3. Beyond discussion of the perplexing whistling noise coming from 38 Sixth Avenue, the meeting was brief and uneventful. There were no updates about the big questions regarding the project: plans to build the first phase of the two-block platform over the Vanderbilt Yard; plans to meet the 2025 affordable housing requirement; plans to shift bulk from the unbuilt tower once planned to loom over the arena to Site 5, longtime home to Modell’s and P.C. Richard. Only 16 people attended the meeting, including state Sen. Jabari Brisport, and representatives from the offices of Rep. Yvette Clarke and Council Member Crystal Hudson. It lasted about 36 minutes. The format, in which attendees can't see each other, speak, or read the chat, also tamps down

This is the first of two articles about the Jan. 25 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting, held by Empire State Development (ESD), which oversees/shepherds the project.  The second is a round-up of issues. In the brief (36 minutes) and mostly uneventful meeting, the most significant news came from Greenland USA executive Scott Solish’s effort to describe the efforts to address a perplexing whistling sound from 38 Sixth Avenue, which has disturbed neighbor s for weeks. (Greenland USA is the dominant player in Greenland Forest City Partners, which built the tower.) The sound comes from the rooftop boiler room, which provides heat and hot water to the 303 units as well as the healthcare facility run by New-York Presbyterian. Of the three boilers, two have malfunctioned. (The building opened in 2017.) For one, he said, the parts were available in stock and so it was fixed quickly. For the second, the burner replacement part is on order. (Note that Council Member Crysta

Tomorrow night's session, the third in BrooklynSpeaks' four-week  Crossroads initiative  to generate a new plan for, and improvements related to, Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, concerns Housing, notably the plans for more certain and more affordable income-restricted "affordable housing," of which 876 more units (of 2,250 total) are required by May 2025, a deadline that seems in doubt. It's at 7 pm; the slideshow should be posted during the presentation, with the opportunity to comment, and the video should be posted soon after.  As explained below, BrooklynSpeaks, a coalition of neighborhood and advocacy groups in 2014 helped accelerate previously delayed affordable housing. But it was misleading about the level of affordability--which it now criticizes, given the disproportionate amount of units for not-so-needy middle-income renters. (I've previously covered the session on  Urban Design , focusing on proposals for  Pacific Street  and for  Dean Street , and t

The BrooklynSpeaks proposals regarding transportation and traffic (my preview ) got a general endorsement from the more than 60 people who attended an online session 1/19/22, even as they expressed general dismay about conditions in the area around the Barclays Center and larger Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project.. Posted below is the video of the presentation, as well as the presentation board/slideshow, but those wishing to comment on the document should go to the  posting here . Uncontroversial asks After all, who could object to calls for new subway entrances to the expected building at Site 5 across Flatbush Avenue from the arena, longtime home to P.C. Richard and Modell’s. It’s approved for a large building, 250 feet and 439,050 square feet, but the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developers want to move bulk from the unbuilt “Miss Brooklyn” tower, once slated to loom over the arena, across the street, creating a two-tower project that could rise 80 stories and exceed 1.1 million sq

Warriors Part Owner’s Uyghur Comments Fuel More NBA China Controversy , Yahoo reported 1/18/22: Warriors minority owner and billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya drew unwanted attention after saying on The All-In podcast that “nobody cares” about the genocide of Uyghur people in China ’s Xinjiang region—an ongoing human rights issue criticized by the U.S. and other countries worldwide. “Of all the things I care about, it is below my line,” Palihapitiya said on the podcast. The Human Rights Project called his comments “revolting,” while the Campaign for Uyghurs said the comments “were unacceptable and contribute towards an environment of apathy towards one of the greatest atrocities of our time.” Then he apologized, and the Warriors said his views “certainly don’t reflect those of our organization.” But this was a "gaffe" in the sense that he spoke an uncomfortable truth, that few care, and that the NBA relies on the China market. And if it came to the Brooklyn N

The New York Times Sunday Business section last week published  C.E.O.s Were Our Heroes, at Least According to Them , a surprisingly tart essay from Peter S. Goodman, which--ah, makes sense--was adapted from his new book “ Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World .” He focuses on mega-wealthy Salesforce founder Marc Benioff, who during last year's World Economic Forum--held online, rather than in the Swiss Alps village of Davos--claimed that CEOs were "the ones who stepped forward with their financial resources, their corporate resources, their employees, their factories, and pivoted rapidly — not for profit, but to save the world." Yes, acknowledges Goodman, Benioff had helped get protective gear to U.S. hospitals thanks to his connections in China. He adds: But it was also fair to ask a pertinent question: Why was the wealthiest, most powerful country on earth dependent on the charity of a profit-making software company to outfit medical personnel with basic p

The Women’s Tennis Association Set a Standard For Crisis Response , author Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his newsletter 1/15/22, contrasting it with the NBA's response to a parallel China contretemps. He noted that, upon "the disappearance of the top-ranked Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, just after she accused a senior Chinese goverment official of sexual assault," the governing Women’s Tennis Association, despite a huge, ten-year deal for tournaments with the Chinese government, "decided to suspend all future tournaments in China and Hong Kong until Shuai’s allegation was properly investigated. And the NBA? By contrast, when in October 2019, then Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey retweeted “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” the Rockets lost all cooperation and content in China, Morey had to apologize, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver initially  said : “We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many

Joe Tsai’s Family Office Pays $188 Million for Dan Och’s NYC Penthouse , Bloomberg reported 1/19/22, noting that less than three years ago, the 220 Central Park South penthouse had been purchased for $95 million. It also comes with a maid's room downstairs. Is it for billionaire Tsai or fellow Alibab co-founder Jack Ma, both of whom have their money managed by Blue Pool Capital? The article assumes it's Tsai, who last year "bought two full-floor condo apartments" there, paying $157.5 million. (Hey, shouldn't Tsai get a pied-a-terre in Brooklyn, near the Barclays Center? Maybe he's renting.) The Bloomberg article, oddly enough, ends: Tsai acquired a 49% stake in the Brooklyn Nets basketball club from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in 2018. Wait--the transaction was announced in 2017, and Tsai bought the rest of the team, plus the arena operating company, in 2019.

Below, a press release from the Brooklyn Nets, plus--on the right--one of the downloaded images. Reading it, I couldn't help be reminded of the lesson from Can't Knock the Hustle , the 2019-20 chronicle of the Nets, of "no progress without profit." The press release BROOKLYN NETS AND GLOBAL FASHION DESIGNER PHILLIP LIM COLLABORATE ON EXCLUSIVE CHINESE NEW YEAR MERCHANDISE Items from collection go on-sale beginning Jan. 25 at Nets’ Chinese New Year Celebration Game presented by Panda Express JANUARY 20, 2022 | BROOKLYN NETS BROOKLYN (Jan. 20, 2022) - The Brooklyn Nets will commemorate the Chinese New Year on Tuesday, Jan. 25 when the team hosts the Los Angeles Lakers at Barclays Center, with the celebration presented by Panda Express® . To mark the occasion, global fashion designer Phillip Lim has collaborated with the Nets on an exclusive merchandise line - the first time the designer has worked with a sports team. The design is a nod to 2022 as the year of the Tige

With her proposed replacement for the 421-a tax break, rebranded in 2017 as Affordable New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul may have handed a lifeline to the developers of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, offering a robust tax break in exchange for deeper affordability-- at levels the project's most organized critics have encouraged. That could help the project "recover" the balance between low-income and middle-income units, albeit long after rising Area Median Income (AMI) has steadily lifted the floor for such calculations. And a new tax break, offering certainty in planning, could help the developers move toward meeting the 2025 deadline for 2,250 affordable units, with 876 more to go. Meanwhile, Hochul's proposal has been embraced by the real estate industry, which means profits remain forecast, and criticized by several housing advocates as bad public policy, as explained below.  Whatever the broader issue, it seems a relative change in the policy--deeper affordability, ra

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning Monday, Jan. 24, was circulated yesterday at 4:37 pm (lead time) by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners. There are some changes from the  previous update . Notably, after substantial completion of the exterior façade of B4 (18 Sixth Ave., aka Brooklyn Crossing), the hoist removal along Atlantic Ave. has begun and will take about six weeks to complete. At B15 (662 Pacific St., aka Plank Road), the sidewalk replacement is substantially complete, and the sidewalk should be fully reopened to pedestrian traffic during these two weeks. The update promises "improvements to the street in early spring when weather conditions permit." Utility work on Dean Street At the B12/B13 site, aka 615 Dean and 595 Dean, where concrete superstructure operations are nearing completion, interior concrete superstructure work continues. As previously pred

So accidental Gov. Kathy Hochul is raking in the cash, having deterred both Attorney General Letitia James and former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio from challenging her, and she relies, as always, on real estate, along with various political action committees. She's way ahead of announced candidates Jumaane Williams, the NYC Public Advocate, seeking name recognition in an off-year, and Nassau County Rep. Tom Suozzi, who might wisely withdraw and run for re-election. Real estate showers Hochul with cash , the Real Deal reported 1/20/22: With at least $4.6 million from prominent New York building owners and developers, Hochul’s haul for the upcoming election blows away what Andrew Cuomo collected from the industry during his final run for governor, The Real Deal’s analysis of campaign disclosures found. All of the top real estate donors have business interests that depend directly or indirectly on state support. Some have projects on or beside state-controlled land or venues: airports ,

The bi-monthly Atlantic Yards Project Quality of Life Meeting--sometimes informative, often obfuscatory--will be held virtually Tuesday, January 25 at 6 pm.   Some of my questions are below, but the typically anodyne agenda indicates presentations from representatives of Empire State Development, the state authority that oversee/shepherds the project; the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corp.; Barclays Center; master developer Greenland Forest City Partners. Access via  Zoom Dial In: 646-558-8656 || Passcode: 955 8912 5104# Meeting 955 8912 5104 During the meeting, attendees will be able to submit questions and comments to presenters via the virtual platform’s chat feature or via email to AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov .  That doesn't mean we'll get to see other's questions, or be able to follow up, unlike in IRL meetings. My questions Among my questions, some of them perennial: are there plans to start the platform over the first block of the Vanderbilt Yard? does

There are some interesting, Atlantic Yards-adjacent nuggets in Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max's recent podcast interview with former Deputy Mayor (and former city housing chief) Vicki Been, posted 1/12/21,  Max Politics Podcast: Vicki Been on De Blasio Era Housing Policy, Neighborhood Rezonings, & More . Max asked Been if, in retrospect, the administration of Bill de Blasio should have designed its affordable housing "with a little bit more of the of the focus on very lowest income New Yorkers?" "If we had had perfect foresight into what all would happen," Been said, "we probably would have aimed a little bit we would have aimed for a higher share of the housing to be affordable" to low-income households earning 30% to 50% of Area Median Income, or AMI. The Affordable New York revision They had "counted on" the 421-a tax break "as providing more housing at the 60 and 80% AMIs in our planning," Been said, but when the law was revi