Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

According to an update circulated yesterday by the Barclays Center, the arena will host at least two WNBA Finals game, with the New York Liberty hosting the Minnesota Lynx. Tonight, the game is at 8 pm, with amplified sound on Ticketmaster Plaza 6-8 pm. On Sunday, October 13, the game is at 3 pm, with amplified sound on the plaza 1-3 pm. Also, the arena disclosed something it could have disclosed when the calendar was first circulated . On Sunday, October 27, prior to the Brooklyn Nets' season-opener against the Milwaukee Bucks, "there will be an event on the Plaza from 11 am-6 pm with amplified sound." This is updated with the information in today's article Interestingly enough, though the Liberty are the top seed and the Lynx lost two games in the semi-finals, the Lynx won the series this season with the Liberty. Asked to make predictions, experts at ESPN were split : one picked the Liberty in 4 games and another picked the Liberty in 5, while two picked the Lynx in

Will "Pacific Park" Be Renamed? Housing Surge Would Increase Open Space Deficit ( link ) Back to "Atlantic Yards"? Nah. "Another ocean"? Nope. How about "Brooklyn Central"? You read it here first.

About a year ago, I provided an update ( link ) on the long-running lawsuit by McDonald's, tenant of a drive-through restaurant at the corner of Vanderbilt and Atlantic avenues, against its landlord Vanderbilt Atlantic Holdings (VAH), which would build an 18-story residential tower at the site--if it could get its tenant out. U.S. District Court Dora Irizarry denied VAH's motion to dismiss and motion for summary judgment, pointing toward a bench trial on whether each party failed to act in good faith in the fair market value appraisal process. More recently, the judge handed McDonald's another procedural victory. In a pre-trial ruling Sept. 30, the court denied the landlord's motion to preclude testimony and documentary evidence related to appraisals conducted prior to April 15, 2019, which is when McDonald's told VAH they couldn't agree on the fair market value.  The court. which earlier cited "credibility concerns" regarding the landlord's condu

Weekly Digest: Related Deal Still Murky; Momentum for Site 5 & Permanent Plaza ( link ) New York State officials, at public meeting, sound cagey. What about the middleman with a criminal record?

This is the fifth of five articles about the Sept. 26  meeting  of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The  first  concerned BSE Global's plans to use the closed Modell's store for a youth basketball program.  The  second  concerned the expected entry of Related Companies and the obligations for affordable housing.  The  third  concerned plans for a giant, two-tower project at Site 5.  The fourth concerned the plan to make the arena plaza permanent. Let me cover a few issues unmentioned in previous coverage. For many years, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, held bi-monthly Quality of Life meetings to update neighbors on project changes and to answer questions from them. The last such meeting was in February 2023, more than 20 months ago. The meetings slacked when vertical construction finished, and also, I suspect, because ESD personnel had departed. However, the reason for such meeting

This is the fourth of five articles about the Sept. 26  meeting  of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The  first  concerned BSE Global's plans to use the closed Modell's store for a youth basketball program.  The  second  concerned the expected entry of Related Companies and the obligations for affordable housing.  The third concerned plans for a giant, two-tower project at Site 5.  The  fifth  concerned plans for a Quality of Life meeting. In my coverage of plans for Site 5, catercorner to the arena, I noted that the presentation to the AY CDC by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, used loaded language to describe plans in a document called Exhibit K, part of the parcel's interim lease.  The giant two-tower project at Site 5 would involving transferring bulk from the flagship tower (B1, aka "Miss Brooklyn") once planned to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue to Si

Winnie Greco, Mayoral Aide Under Investigation, Steered Adams’ Relations With China for Almost a Decade , The City and Documented reported yesterday, detailing yet installment of important but belated reporting on a character who was clearly ethically dubious a decade ago . (Why didn't anyone investigate further? Not enough journalists, and publications, to do so, I guess.) Greco, for example, tilted Adams toward the Chinese government and away from anything to do with Taiwan, which China does not consider independent. From the article: Despite serving as an unpaid volunteer, Greco early on was treated as something more than this. Just months into her tenure, she was shown designs for a business card by Borough Hall staffers that identified her as the “American/Chinese Ambassador” for Adams. The card contained an image of the Brooklyn seal, according to a mockup contained in the emails. She would later get a government email address to go with it:  ChinaAmbassador@brooklynbp.nyc.go

This is the third of five articles about the Sept. 26 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC).  The  first  concerned BSE Global's plans to use the closed Modell's store for a youth basketball program.  The  second  concerned the expected entry of Related Companies and the obligations for affordable housing.  The  fourth  concerned the plan to make the arena plaza permanent.  The  fifth  concerned plans for a Quality of Life meeting. So, how exactly did Greenland USA, the current master developer for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, gain New York State encouragement to build a massive two-tower project at Site 5, the parcel catercorner to the arena block? As presented at the meeting (video here , also below), the approval path for what might be the bulkiest--and second-tallest--building in Brooklyn sounded rather bureaucratic. Also, conveniently, it was the responsibility of a previous set of leaders at Empire State Development (ESD), the