Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Last week, the updated 2025 New York City Area Median Income (AMI) surfaced on the website ( link ) of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), with an increase of 4.3% over 2024 figures . For example, a four-person moderate-income household, at 100% of AMI, could earn up to $162,000, up from $155,300. A single person could earn $113,400. Screenshot from HPD. Annotation - household size The 2024 figures represented an astounding rise of nearly 10% over 2023, with a four-person household at 100% of AMI earning $141,200. (It was $83,900 in 2014!)  Under 2025 figures, a building with units at 130% of AMI--if grandfathered in under the old 421-a tax break--could rent to individuals earning up to $147,420. Keep in mind that AMI depends on better-off suburban counties and, especially, the High Housing Cost Adjustment (HHCA), which ANHD, the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development, calls "a convoluted step" in the calculations of the federal...

So the real-estate publication Brick Underground offers a series called  The Newcomers , which recently published  Why we moved from London to NYC: We always wanted to live abroad and fell in love with Brooklyn . Or, more specifically, Prospect Heights and environs. After all, "Brooklyn" is too big to generalize about. Similarly, they say, "You see so much bad press and comments online about New York not being safe, but we have never felt unsafe here."  Well, duh, they're in a pretty safe neighborhood! Londoners Ian and Helen, who work in private equity, rent a $5,030 (with one month free) one-bedroom at 595 Dean Street, the new TF Cornerstone development in the southeast block of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. They chose the location for its transportation options to Manhattan, "nice bars and restaurants," and "real neighborhood feel." They love the building's amenities. (Extra fee, right?) About the bar "We really wanted a nice neigh...

Updated 4 pm : I got the following statement from Empire State Development (ESD), which asserts that my initial conclusion, based on a secondhand statement, was incorrect: ESD had not approached additional entities to step into the project, including Related.Greenland USA has and as of today remains to be the developer of the Atlantic Yards project pursuant to the project documents. For USIF to pursue foreclosure proceedings given Greenland’s EB-5 default, the project documents require ESD to approve an entity as a permitted developer. USIF had presented a JV including Related, Fortress, and themselves as a permitted developer, but opted not to proceed. As discussed at the April [March, actually] 2025 AYCDC meeting, we have communicated timelines and milestone expectations to relevant parties regarding advancing the project and the collection of liquidated damages. --- We don't know why Related Companies, the developer of Hudson Yards, pulled out of a contemplated joint venture to ...

Ranking the Eight Atlantic Yards Towers, By Entrance (link) Some choices are thoughtful, others baffling, even craven. Placemaking is inconsistent. Part of a more in-depth assessment.

In 2017, President Donald Trump raised what the New York Times called a "staggering $107 million" for his inaugural committee. Among that was  $100,000 from Nicholas A. Mastroianni III, whose father, Nicholas Mastroianni II, founded the United States Immigration Fund (USIF), the country's biggest firm recruiting immigrant investors under the EB-5 visa program, which grants low-cost loans to developers in exchange for purportedly job-creating investments. Well, Trump just raised $239 million for his recent inauguration, well more than double the previous record total. "About 140 different people or companies gave at least $1 million to the effort, including blue-chip companies like JPMorgan Chase, Delta Air Lines and Target," according to the Times. Giving $500,000 was Mastroianni II, who has long supported Trump and surely would like a connection to the White House. Today, Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park is at a crossroads, as the "lender"--er, creditor...

Weekly Digest: Why the EB-5 (Investor Visa) Loan Transactions Need Flowcharts ( link ) It's complicated! Also, the arena company says it's "reshaping the neighborhood." No, not with the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan.

Photos: Norman Oder You gotta respect the hustle--the mutual hustle.  Located on leafy Carlton Avenue an eight-minute walk--but a conceptual distance--from the Barclays Center,  Gertrude' s is a "neighborhood bar & restaurant, inspired by our shared love for iconic New York restaurants, Jew-ish cuisine and the vibrant atmosphere found in European bistros." It's relatively small, and it sure isn't a sports bar. Gertrude's uses the kind of gentrification signage and typeface that some find charming and others find precious. A collaboration But it was in the mutual interest of the Brooklyn Nets and Gertrude's social media savvy management to have two Nets, Jalen Wilson and Noah Clowney, "create," with the help of more experienced kitchen hands, "a classic American smash burger, and a fried chicken sandwich" for a one-night only promotion on Monday, April 7. Curiously enough, as shown in the sign at right, Gertrude's Monday night ...