Forest City Enterprises cites revised timetable on Greenland deal, joint venture assuming MTA obligation

Forest City Enterprises 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission cites a previously reported $19,590,000 loss on the Greenland deal for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, and also details the revision of the timetable.

The document states:

On June 30, 2014, the Company entered into a joint venture with Greenland Atlantic Yards, LLC, a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Greenland Holding Group Company Limited (“Greenland”), to develop Pacific Park Brooklyn, a 22 acre mixed-use project in Brooklyn, New York. The joint venture will execute on the remaining development rights of the entire project, including the infrastructure and vertical construction of the residential units, but excludes Barclays Center arena and the under-construction B2 BKLYN apartment community. Under the joint venture, Greenland acquired 70% of the project and will co-develop the project with the Company, along with sharing in the entire project costs going forward in proportion to ownership interests. For its 70% equity interest, Greenland invested cash and assumed 70% of the nonrecourse mortgage debt on the project. As of September 30, 2014, the Company had received $203,923,000 of cash, net of transaction costs, related to the disposition. The transaction resulted in a net loss on disposition of partial interest in development project of $19,590,000 ($16,211,000, net of noncontrolling interests) during the nine months ended September 30, 2014. Upon closing, the Company determined it was not the primary beneficiary of the joint venture. As a result, the Company deconsolidated the Pacific Park Brooklyn development project and accounts for the joint venture on the equity method of accounting.

The document describes the revised plan:

The joint venture will execute on the remaining development rights, including the infrastructure and vertical construction of the residential units, but excludes Barclays Center and the under construction B2 BKLYN apartment community. Consistent with the approved master plan, the joint venture will develop the remaining portion of Phase I and all of Phase II of the project, including the permanent rail yard. The remaining portion of Phase I that will be developed by the joint venture is comprised of seven buildings totaling approximately 3.1 million square feet. Phase II consists of seven buildings totaling approximately 3.3 million square feet.
On June 27, 2014, just prior to the closing of the joint venture with Greenland, the City of New York and State of New York entities revised certain project requirements with the goal of accelerating the construction of affordable housing. We are now obligated to start construction of one multi-family building consisting entirely of affordable rental units by December 31, 2014 and a second building consisting entirely of affordable rental units by June 30, 2015. Each construction obligation carries liquidated damage penalties of up to $5,000,000, payable to a city housing trust fund, if not commenced by such dates. In addition, affordable units are required to constitute 35% of all units for which construction has commenced until 1,050 affordable units have been started, after which the percentage drops to 25%. Failure to meet this requirement will prevent the joint venture from seeking new building permits, as well as give the State the right to seek injunctive relief. Also, temporary certificates of occupancy (“TCOs”) for a total of 2,250 affordable housing units are required to be issued by May 31, 2025 and a $2,000 per month penalty will be imposed for those affordable units which have not received TCOs by such date, until issued.

The document states that the joint venture has now replaced the construction guarantee with the MTA for the permanent railyard previously posted by Forest City itself:

In order to construct the seven buildings in Phase II, substantial additional costs for rail yard and infrastructure improvements, including a platform over the new permanent rail yard, will be required. Our agreement with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (“MTA”) requires collateral to be posted and for the construction of the permanent rail yard to be substantially complete by December 2017. We had previously posted $86,000,000 of collateral with the MTA, which was returned upon the closing of the joint venture on June 30, 2014. At closing, the joint venture has provided the $86,000,000 collateral to the MTA, of which our portion was 30%, or approximately $26,000,000. The joint venture is accounted for on the equity method of accounting, resulting in the deconsolidation of thePacific Park Brooklyn development project. The closing of this joint venture allows us to accelerate the delivery of needed affordable housing while significantly reducing our future equity requirements for the full build-out of this project, thereby reducing our development risk and improving our future liquidity.

The document describes the impairment and loss:

In December 2013, upon signing of the definitive agreement with Greenland for the sale of the Pacific Park Brooklyn development project, we determined it was likely the sale transaction would close. As a result, we classified the assets and liabilities as held for sale on our December 31, 2013 consolidated balance sheet and recorded the asset at estimated fair value less estimated costs to sell, resulting in an impairment of $289,864,000 ($242,417,000, net of noncontrolling interest) during the 11 months ended December 31, 2013. Upon closing of the transaction, an additional $19,590,000 ($16,211,000, net of noncontrolling interests) was recognized primarily due to estimated costs required to complete our obligations prior to closing were higher than originally estimated. The original estimate as of December 31, 2013 was based on the most current available information.

The overall impact:

During the three months ended June 30, 2014, the Company entered into a joint venture with Greenland Atlantic Yards, LLC, a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Greenland Holding Group Company Limited (“Greenland”), to execute on the remaining development rights of Pacific Park Brooklyn, a 22 acre mixed-use project in Brooklyn, New York. Following the transaction, the Company determined it was no longer the primary beneficiary of the Pacific Park Brooklyn project, which historically was a VIE. The impact of the deconsolidation to the December 31, 2013 Consolidated Balance Sheet and parenthetical disclosures were decreases of $504,171,000 to development project held for sale, $1,141,000 to cash and equivalents, $99,784,000 to restricted cash, $2,571,000 to other assets,$228,000,000 to mortgage debt, nonrecourse of development project held for sale and $20,428,000 to accounts payable, accrued expenses and other liabilities and an increase to investments in and advances to unconsolidated entities of $156,071,000 to the September 30, 2014 Consolidated Balance Sheet.