Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

New York State could have started collecting more than $1.75 million a month in damages starting June 1, given the failure of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developers to deliver 876 (of 2,250) promised affordable housing units, but it hasn't, instead suspending the penalties while it negotiates with a new developer. That new joint venture apparently involves Cirrus Real Estate Partners, Fortress Investment Group, an affiliate of the U.S. Immigration Fund (USIF),  the firm LCOR, and existing developer Greenland USA, surely will seek to revise obligations and gain concessions, while likely making new promises of deferred public benefits. New petition The coalition BrooklynSpeaks, which in a 2014 settlement gained that commitment of $2,000/month damages for each missing unit, has previously protested the failure of enforcement (but hasn't yet pursued a lawsuit) and helped  influenced local elected officials in  writing  Gov. Kathy Hochul and Empire State Development (ES...

A recent brief interview on the Bloomberg Businesweek Daily  podcast  featured BSE Global's CEO Sam Zussman. The summary: BSE Global, the parent company of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, the WNBA's New York Liberty, as well as their home arena, Barclays Center, has built a business model across sports, entertainment, hospitality and media. The company believes that its array of multiple businesses enables it to enjoy operational leverage and extract cross-functional synergies. Sam Zussman, CEO of BSE Global, explains how Brooklyn's unique culture and history make it the ideal home base for the "experiential" powerhouse. Sam speaks with Tim Stenovec, Emily Graffeo and Randall Williams on Bloomberg Businessweek Daily. They didn't explain cross-functional synergies, but perhaps we'll see that as, for example, the Planet Brooklyn festival emerges next month. Event total Zussman described the arena as "open roughly 190 nights a year." Is that accurate?...

Yesterday's scheduled meeting of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Commission (AY CDC)--my preview --was cancelled at the last minute, due to the lack of a quorum, and will be rescheduled. It wasn't the first time. The AY CDC has eleven listed Directors , but a couple have checked out, a few attend more sporadically, and, of course, it's not easy to get people together in the summer.  The board is supposed to have 14 Directors , as established in a 2014 settlement between the state and the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, but it's been difficult to fill those slots, especially the nine gubernatorial appointees. While some Directors have pressed the parent Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, for more information, the board is too often disregarded or disengaged. One example: why didn't ESD explain, at the previous AY CDC meeting, why the "Pacific Park" open space needed work, as I ...

After Less Than One Year, "Pacific Park" Has Faced Significant Wear ( link ) Worn Main Lawn open space has required new turf, but yellow patches (from dog urine, likely) persist. What happens when more buildings open?

This is the first of two articles about 38 Sixth Avenue. Last July 24, City Limits published my article about troubles at 38 Sixth Avenue (B3),  Despite New Owner’s Promised Upgrades, ‘100% Affordable’ Atlantic Yards Building Endures Hot Water Outages, Broken Door, Even Bees . While some of the problems mentioned have been addressed, albeit belatedly, new issues have emerged, which I'll write about separately.  Still, a fundamental question persists about 38 Sixth, which was built by Greenland Forest City Partners, the joint venture involving Greenland USA and original developer Forest City Ratner, and opened in 2017.  (The building, along with similar "100% affordable" 535 Carlton Avenue, was sold by the joint venture in May 2022 to Irvine, CA-based Avanath Capital Management.) Looking south at 38 Sixth. Photo: Norman Oder Why no super? How could a 23-story building with 303 apartments open without an on-site superintendent?  It was never a secret, but evidence sugg...

Bi-Weekly Digest: Can "Public Engagement Process Planning" Restore Legitimacy? ( link ) Much has been lost. Meanwhile, an "art" exhibit on Ticketmaster Plaza just happens to feature the Liberty, the Barclays Center's main tenant right now. Plus: a DJT irony.

So Empire State Development (ESD)  has released the Agenda for the July 15 meeting of the purportedly advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), and the scope is beyond what I suspected when I initially wrote about it. While ESD, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, may (as I suspect) announce that it has approved a permitted developer for at least the railyard development parcels--a joint venture involving Cirrus Real Estate and others--it also will discuss "Public Engagement Process Planning, as shown in the screenshot at right. That sounds like the outline to a process, aiming to find a way to ensure legitimacy to a project that now faces widely embedded skepticism.  AY CDC Director Gib Veconi had previously asked, backed by a board majority, to request a review of the scope before it's finalized. (Note that the meeting is at 3 pm, not 3:30 pm, as initially stated.) Also, as explained below, Cirrus has ramped up lobbying with s...