Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

So, is the new Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) station at Elmont, set to serve the new UBS Arena at Belmont Park, actually on its way? The answer seems to be yes, thanks significantly to upfront funding from Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the Belmont arena project. In July, NBC reported that this new station--the first new full-time LIRR Station to be built in more than four decades--was among projects that might not come to fruition, without significant aid to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority from the federal government. (I cited this in a 11/15/20 post .) But the LIRR page regarding this new station  indicates that , as of September, work on the station has started, noting that "The south platform is scheduled to open in Autumn 2021"--in time for the 2021-22 hockey season, assuming the arena opens to spectators--"and the full station by the end of 2022." Financing issues According to the LIRR : Constructing the new fu

It's unmistakable. A tall neighbor to the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park footprint, 550 Clinton Avenue, is more than halfway toward its 29-story height, steadily rising at the northeast corner of Atlantic Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue, ultimately stretching east to Clinton Avenue. Photo Nov. 20, 2020 At the center of my photo at right, taken from Dean Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues, the new rental tower is only about 14 stories, dwarfed in perspective by the closer 550 Vanderbilt Avenue condo building. The new tower will be 312 feet, while 550 Vanderbilt is some 202 feet, but add 40 feet for mechanicals . The tower will have its retail component along Atlantic to Clinton. Directly catercorner to the new tower is the future B10, at 313 feet , at the northeast corner of the Pacific Park site. But that requires a platform over the second block of the railyard, between Carlton and Vanderbilt, and the platform for the first block, between Sixth and Carlton avenues, hasn't

834 Pacific (photos by Norman Oder); 550 Vanderbilt in background Barely half a block from the Atlantic Yards site, just east of Vanderbilt Avenue and the 550 Vanderbilt condo tower, rises a new residential building, six-story  834 Pacific Street . It offers  113 apartments , 34 of them affordable, or income-restricted, via the city's Housing Connect web site . That's 30% affordable, conforming to the Affordable New York program, at 130% of Area Median Income (AMI), though note below how incomes have stretched. The developer is the company Happy Living on a site leased from the  Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph , part of the Diocese of Brooklyn. (Two separate, presumably superseding, lease documents indicate $5 million.)  New four-story building (A four-story commercial or community facility building is being constructed by the Diocese east of the Co-Cathedral, at 860 Pacific Street. See image at left.) City Realty  says  the new residential site was formerly site for a rectory. Ac

11/20/20 photos, Norman Oder A walk last Friday around the Barclays Center plaza showed that arena managers are getting ready for the new NBA season and the likely return of (some) fans, even as metal fencing protects the entrance area. First, the oculus has returned to showing advertisements, after months of broadcasting a quote fron Martin Luther King Jr., belatedly instituted after  more then a week of protests starting at the end of May, and more recently public-service announcements regarding such things as voting . From NY Daily News, 5/29/20 Second, three pieces of older "street furniture" used for wayfinding, in some cases damaged or marred by graffiti during protests, is being replaced by new digital signage, with touch screens for information, starting with the "Welcome to Barclays Center" below left.  For an example of the old signage, see the 5/29/20 New York  Daily News , screenshot at right, which shows both graffiti as well as a dislodged metal pa

From Newsday 11/20/20, New Coliseum leaseholder gets break on rent : The new leaseholder, Nassau Live Center LLC, headed by Nick Mastroianni II, has not paid rent since taking over in August after Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov had shuttered the building and walked away from $100 million in debt. Mastroianni was next in line to take control of the lease because he had orchestrated the loan for the Coliseum’s 2015 renovation. Well, I'm pretty sure the 200 immigrant investors own the company holding the lease, but it's managed and controlled by Mastroianni, who runs the biggest and busiest "regional center"--a middleman loan packager for EB-5 investors--in the country.  The "U.S." dodge Also from Newsday: Mastroianni's Jupiter, Fla.-based company, U.S. Immigration Fund, raised $100 million from 200 Chinese investors through a federal program that provides visas in exchange for financing job-creating projects in the United States. USIF is not affilia

This is the fourth of four articles on the 11/17/20 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting, held on Zoom by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The  first  focused on after-hours construction. The second  concerned the big open questions about the project. The third concerned local questions raised. Barclays Center representative Mandy Gutmann said that, with the arena events on pause, "our work continues in the community," including partnering with organizations like the Food Bank of New York  and City Harvest. They've helped feed about 30,000 people since April, Gutmann said, and that continues into next week. (Updated below.) Via DT Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance, office@ Rev. Daughtry's House of the Lord Church, most active remaining signatory of #AtlanticYards Community Benefits Agreement DBNA gives out arena tix 2community groups, was supposed 2arrange low-cost arena rent for groups (didn't

Well, NBA basketball is expected to start in December at the Barclays Center, without fans, but the three college tournaments scheduled have been relocated, saving teams from extensive travel. . @NCAA Proactively Alters Men’s Basketball Tournament Sites. The change affects the A-10 (East Regional) and @DaytonFlyers (First Four) — both were set to host in 2021 https://t.co/IsLPt0xJVm pic.twitter.com/DlGaSEuvbf — Atlantic10Conference (@atlantic10) November 16, 2020 🚨 #MarchMadness Update 🚨 The 2021 NCAA Tournament will be held in one geographic area. 👉 https://t.co/0b9eNzVcRS pic.twitter.com/MO6M7M6Ood — NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) November 16, 2020

This is the third of four articles on the 11/17/20 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting, held on Zoom by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The first focused on after-hours construction. The second concerned the big open questions about the project. The fourth concerned the Barclays Center. Attendees raised several specific questions, and got answers. There are two damaged street trees outside 535 Carlton Avenue and "a few" at 550 Vanderbilt Avenue, according to Greenland USA's Scott Solish, which co-developed the buildings. "Yes we are aware of them," he said. "Those are in the process of being replaced… you want to plant them at the right time." As to the messy condition of Atlantic Avenue outside the Vanderbilt Yard, he said "we discussed it with LIRR," which owns the railyard. "We have our building staff on the lookout… We are working, along with LIRR, to keep ev