Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

As I wrote May 12 ( link ), no one official seemed to take seriously the deadline that day to start the platform--which would support six towers--over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard. That meant a seemingly generous 15-year window was waved away. So it's worth going back to the June 24, 2009 renegotiation of the deal by original developer Forest City Ratner to buy development rights from the MTA over and in the three-block, 8.5-acre railyard. Notably, as explained below, a key MTA board member who defended the renegotiation suggested it was at no risk, because the state authority could always get the development rights back if nothing were built.  Not exactly. The reality today is that the set of transactions is more complex than discussed, and the state authority is not in line to get the development rights back, even though the deadline--set by a different state authority--has been breached and nothing's been built. Deal contours Instead of pa...

Something is cooking, contractually, regarding the development rights for the six towers (B5-B10) over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) Vanderbilt Yard. In shorthand, I and others have typically described them as being held by the project's master developer, for now Greenland USA, which has since November 2023 seemed on the brink of losing them in foreclosure. That's because the Greenland entity that controls those development rights has failed to pay back $286 million in loans from immigrant investors under the EB-5 investor visa program, and the creditors for those loans were given those development rights as collateral. Indeed, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority, said last month, "Greenland USA has and as of today remains to be the developer of the Atlantic Yards project pursuant to the project documents." That raises a question, yet unresolved: will ESD enforce the project documents that require Greenland to pay $2,000/month ...

So, original Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner is helping--a bit--to "Fix the City," the super PAC backing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for Mayor, and raising money from various corporate bigwigs. The former Forest City Ratner CEO and Chairman, now known more as a philanthropist and advocate , nonetheless identified himself as a real-estate developer in his May 8 contribution of $36,000.  Why that unusual figure? Probably because it's "twice chai."   It's well less than that contributed by others, many of whom have active business in the city. Why'd he even give? Well, he's not out of the real-estate game, given personal holdings, and as Chairman of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, where Cuomo is listed as an Honorary Chair, it's wise to stay connected. Update : Ratner has a history of support for Cuomo. For example, in 2014,, Ratner and his then-wife, Pamela Lipkin, gave a total of $29,000 to Gov. Cuomo's re-election campaign. After all, he ...

This bears watching, as Atlantic Yards-adjacent, maybe more, as it involves the company and unions already allied on Atlantic Yards, gaining a large new partner. According to a May 15 press release ( link ) from Resorts World New York City: More than 150 members of the organized labor movement and leadership from Cirrus Workforce Housing today joined with Resorts World New York City to unveil a groundbreaking agreement to build up to 50,000 units of workforce housing across the five boroughs. This pact represents a major investment from Resorts World New York City, the single-largest employer of Hotel and Gaming Trades Council members, and organized labor to address the Big Apple’s growing shortage of working-class housing. The details of the agreement were not made public, including the solidity of the commitment and the precise range of "workforce" housing.  The phrasing "up to 50,000 units" leaves much wiggle room. Atlantic Yards watchers know that such promises ...

Weekly Digest: As May 31 Deadline Approaches, Cirrus Lobbying Emerges ( link ) Would future deal just include the railyard sites, or extend to Site 5? Flashback to a 2022 penalty ignored--and protested. More on BSE Global's Brooklyn "ecosystem."

So Adweek Feb. 24 published  The New York Liberty's journey from chaos to a championship , an interview with team CEO Keia Clarke. Asked, "How active has ownership been in creating the Liberty's culture?", Clarke responded: Clara [Wu Tsai] is an amazing mind who sees the Liberty as having so much potential that she wanted to support it with her own resources, and I don't just mean financial resources. Clara does interviews, Clara invites celebrities to games, and Clara is the torchbearer for what this will be in the long term—and I can't ask for anything more than that. And they're doing it in the spirit of Brooklyn. The "You Belong Here. We Belong Here" sign that's in front of Barclays Center. That's Clara Wu Tsai's sign, vision, and mystique , and that's what she brings to the table every single day. So how could you not want to run through a wall and make sure that the business success and the KPIs are growing? (Emphasis added)...

Last week Bloomberg published a predictably reverential article, With the New York Liberty, Clara Wu Tsai Aims for the First $1 Billion Women’s Sports Franchise , which repeats the lore about the Tsais' (Clara and husband Joe Tsai, the Alibaba billionaire) savvy willingness to spend big, beyond the WNBA's salary cap, to make it a magnet for stars, and rebuild the fan base. The article also states, "They also bought the Nets’ home arena, the Barclays Center." Not quite. They own the operating company. The fig leaf of public ownership allows for a tax-exempt site and tax-exempt financing. Hotels and restaurants to help Brooklyn? From the article: Through the Liberty and Nets’ parent company, BSE Global , meanwhile, the Tsais are planning a major development initiative in the traffic-clogged area around Barclays. Adding hotels and restaurants, Wu Tsai says, will help draw more fans for the Liberty and Nets while also benefiting Brooklyn more broadly: Only a fraction of ...