Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Developer spins off from partners to launch her own real estate firm, Crain's New York Business reported yesterday, citing the departure of former Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin from L&L MAG, the firm she formed with David Levinson and Robert Lapidus of L&L Holding Company.

And, without any inside knowledge, I'd bet the operative word here is "spin."

“Two years ago, we put together a vision for a new development firm and that partnership has been super successful,” Gilmartin told Crain's. “But we had always planned to get to a point where I could spin off and achieve my goal of leading a new company.”

C'mon, she's always spun things, as Atlantic Yards watchers know. Remember: "Atlantic Yards was always a working title." “Forest City does not expect to ask for more subsidy.”"The prompt demolition of the buildings that remain on Block 1129 also is critical to construction of the arena.""Decades…

So, City Council next week is expected to pass a law requiring that affordable housing, funded with city assistance, include 15% of units for the homeless, at least for rental buildings with more than 40 units, as the New York Times reported yesterday, in Facing Homeless Crisis, New York Aims for 1,000 New Apartments a Year. It would take effect 7/1/20.

This would be a larger mandate than in other cities; the Times note that Boston's requirement is 10%, with buildings 10 units or more. The proposed language, as per NY1's Courtney Gross:
§ 26-2802 Set asides. The department shall require that any developer who receives city financial assistance for a housing development project sets aside for homeless individuals and families at least 15 percent of the number of dwelling units offered for rent in such housing development project that are subject to a regulatory agreement requiring that occupancy of such units be restricted based on the income of occupants in such housing develo…

Empire State Development has posted notes (bottom) from the 11/19/19 Quality of Life Meeting and, while it's certainly a helpful exercise, it doesn't encompass the full range of issues and concerns, much less the skeptical tone of some attendees.

My ten posts are linked here. Notably, plans for Site 5, what I considered the most dramatic news, albeit barely discussed at the meeting, go unmentioned in the notes. (We're still waiting for an update, too.) Nor is there any mention about complaints regarding the Barclays Center, or that an arena rep didn't attend the meeting.

What I considered the second most important news, plans for the railyard platform, was described, bureaucratically but not inaccurately, simply as:
There are no updates on the selection of a contractor for the platform and no updates on when construction is expected to commence. However, given that developer Greenland USA made such a big deal of announcing plans for the platform to start in 2020, the l…

The three-story Triangle Sports building at Fifth and Flatbush avenues, across from the Barclays Center, seemed like a prime location to take advantage of arena crowds. Hence its $4.1 million sale price in 2012.

But the awkward shape was not conducive to food-and-beverage service, apparently, and the high price deterred other uses. No wonder, as Brownstoner reported in July 2017, that the owner, RedSky Capital, had apparently commissioned concept drawings showing the building transformed or expanded.
That didn't happen, either. But The Real Deal reported 12/10/19, in RedSky sells building across from Barclays Center as partner liquidates holdings, that Hidrock Properties has bought the building for $7 million and plans "a multi-million dollar renovation."
The future use is unclear.
About that price
The price is  confirmed by the city's ACRIS database; see screenshot below. It seems like a significant profit, based solely on sticker price. 
However, we don't know t…

My essay published yesterday in City & State is headlined Brooklyn’s Barclays Center is a questionable part of Bloomberg’s legacy, with the sub-heading "The mayor showed solicitousness toward fellow moguls above all."

The lead:
As a self-proclaimed “doer and a problem solver,” former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg surely considers Brooklyn’s oft-lauded Barclays Center, which opened in 2012, a triumph.
But Barclays goes unmentioned on his extensive presidential campaign website. Perhaps the controversial arena and its still-incomplete parent project – originally known as Atlantic Yards, now Pacific Park – would raise some uncomfortable questions about how the development has delivered far less than promised. For the rest, please go to the essay. Below, a few extras.

Extra: Bloomberg on the CBA

I point out in the commentary how Bloomberg backed Bruce Ratner's Community Benefits Agreement when it was unveiled in 2005.

We should also remember that, less than a year la…

Maybe, I wrote in February 2018, Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park would have more than 4,500 rentals and fewer than 1,930 condos, given previous documents and the shifting availability of subsidies, which now don't apply to condos.

In fact, a look at documents from 2006 and 2009 casts doubt that the condo total was ever a goal within the overall total of 6,430 residential units.

The December 2006 Modified General Project Plan stated the project would include approximately 5,325 to 6,430 residential units, with the former depending on more office space, which was and remains unlikely. Of the total residential units, "it is expected that 4,500 units would be rentals; the remaining units would be market-value condominiums." Within the rentals, there would be at least 2,250 units of affordable housing

However, in a December 2006 report for Empire State Development, created after consulting Forest City, the consultant KPMG described the project as 4,500 units of "affordable, …

As I wrote yesterday, there's a glut of office space in Brooklyn, though that still doesn't rule out the chances for Site 5, which could deliver significant office space in 3-4 years (in a best-case scenario).

But is Site 5--currently home to P.C. Richard and Modell's across from the arena, but long slated for a significant development, including office space--moving ahead?

As I wrote 11/20/19, more than four years after big plans surfaced for Site 5, construction seemed more likely.
Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, issued a statement 11/19/19: “Later this week, ESD will file papers to condemn a property in Downtown Brooklyn, allowing an important part of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project to move forward. This condemnation was always envisioned in the original project documents. We will continue to work collaboratively with the developer and the community to deliver an exceptional mixed-use projec…