Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

This is the fifth among multiple posts concerning the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting Tuesday 10/9/18, held at 55 Hanson Place and sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD). The first post concerned the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation; the second post was about work in the Vanderbilt Yard; the third post concerned contracts for future project monitors; the fourth post concerned plans for the B4 tower at the northeast corner of the arena block. I wasn't able to attend but am relying on an audiotape of the meeting.

Greenland USA project manager Scott Solish said his firm was were "proud to be be partnering" with developers TF Cornerstone and The Brodsky Organization, which were "ideal partners" with "deep roots in New York City."

Unmentioned were the terms of the deals that Greenland Forest City Partners--controlled since June 95% going forward by Greenland USA--struck with the two family-owned firms.

The sale was …

This is the fourth among multiple posts concerning the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting Tuesday 10/9/18, held at 55 Hanson Place and sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD). The first post concerned the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation; the second post was about work in the Vanderbilt Yard; the third post concerned contracts for future project monitors and the Site 5 tower. I wasn't able to attend but am relying on an audiotape of the meeting (and the slide presentation). 

So, there was a presentation about plans for B4, aka 18 Sixth Avenue, the giant tower slated for the northeast corner of the arena block, with more images than the one released a few weeks ago, as described below..

Greenland USA project manager Scott Solish introduced  Michael Lew, a principal at the architecture firm Perkins Eastman, who's leading the design.

Lew noted that his firm is large, with 1,000 employees worldwide and 58 in New York, with 14 different practice…

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning Monday, Oct. 15 was circulated at 3:10 pm yesterday (late) by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners.

There are a few changes from the previous update, notably extended hours of work on the railyard's East Portal, including evening, night, and weekend work.

Not only will demolition of the East Portal structure continue near Atlantic and Vanderbilt avenues, to expedite the work, the contractor will extend the weekday work hours within approved permit stipulations (7 am to 5:30 pm) until the end of November.

The contractor also will work between 8 am and 5:30 pm on Saturdays. In both cases, the timeline will be reevaluated in November. Appropriate noise and dust mitigation measures should be in place, but are not detailed.

Also, the contractor plans to perform East Portal abatement activities--asbestos? it's unspecified-- during Night…

This is the third among multiple posts concerning the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting Tuesday 10/9/18, held at 55 Hanson Place and sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD). The first post concerned the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation; the second post was about work in the Vanderbilt Yard. I wasn't able to attend but am relying on an audiotape of the meeting. 

Questions about the state's monitoring of Pacific Park were again deferred until when an expected seismic change in the project plan surfaces.

As ESD's Atlantic Yards project manager  Tobi Jaiyesimi noted, the state authority's contracts with environmental monitor, the firm HDR, and an owners’ representative, STV, were extended earlier this year with no change in the scope of work.
"And we anticipate that those contracts will be put out for an RFP [Request for Propsoal], as we discussed in conversations with [former Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation] Dire…

From Gothamist, 10/11/18, Hudson Yards Has $4.5 Billion In Taxpayer Money. Will We Ever See It Again?:
"Whether large-scale projects like Hudson Yards or Atlantic Yards pay for themselves is difficult to assess," concludes Doug Turetsky, chief of staff for the IBO [Independent Budget Office], which has conductedseveralstudies of aspects of Hudson Yards financing but has never dared to attempt calculating a total public cost figure. Well, it's true that the IBO's pre-project Atlantic Yards calculations were based on assumptions that have not panned out, like a steady buildout. Also, the developer's projections, both for themselves and for the public, were also based on unrealistic assumptions.

Also worth considering is what development would've happened anyway, without Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, or whether a different, more realistic project might have delivered more (and faster) public benefit, as well as more certain private benefit.

A building across from the southeast block of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park--where two residential (plus retail) towers are completed and the other two likely to be finished or make significant progress in two or three years--is now on sale for $8.7 million, positioned for office and retail use.
From Real Estate Weekly, 10/11/18:
TerraCRG has been retained to sell 646 Dean Street, an 18,800 s/f conversion opportunity in Prospect Heights. Ofer Cohen, Dan Marks, Daniel Lebor and Mike Hernandez, along with their investment sales team, are marketing the property. Located between Vanderbilt and Carlton Avenue, directly across the street from Pacific Park, the four-story, M1-1 zoned building can be delivered vacant. The location and zoning make the asset ideal for creative office and retail use. Brooklyn-focused TerraCRG, by the way, is located just a few doors down, at 634 Dean Street.
The TerraCRG listing sets the price at $8.7 million:
TerraCRG has been retained to exclusively represent ow…

This is the second among multiple posts concerning the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting Tuesday 10/9/18, held at 55 Hanson Place and sponsored by Empire State Development. Here's the first post, regarding the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation. I wasn't able to attend but am relying on an audiotape of the meeting. 

Greenland USA executive Scott Solish, whose firm controls the project, spoke enthusiastically about progress in the Vanderbilt Yard.
"As many of you have seen, the Sixth Avenue ramp [to the railyard] is now finished," he said, so that allows Long Island Rail Road vehicles to access the yard.
(Greenland, after buying out nearly all of Forest City Realty Trust's stake, as of June controlled 95% of the project going forward, but then sold three development sites--B15, B12, B13--to two other developers. There are four towers completed, and 11 more expected.)

Now Greenland Forest City Partners can start to take out the tempora…

This is the first among multiple posts concerning the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting Tuesday 10/9/18, held at 55 Hanson Place and sponsored by Empire State Development. I wasn't able to attend but am relying on an audiotape of the meeting.

As the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project ramps up toward more construction, with four buildings  likely to start in the next two years or so, the advisory body set up to provide advice and oversight not only is well behind its meeting schedule, it’s losing more members.

The Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), according to a June 2014 establishing document from Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority overseeing/shepherding the project, "shall meet not less than quarterly."

It's been more than six months--two quarters--since the last meeting in March, which was the second meeting in 2018, scheduled hastily, it seemed, to position the board to endorse a contract renewal by its p…