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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Forest City: "Becoming the Nation’s Leading Mixed-Use Urban Placemaker" in "core, high barrier-to-entry urban markets"

presentation by Forest City Realty Trust yesterday at the Citi Global Property CEO Conference, as posted on the firm's web site, shows how they portray their corporate transformation.

Recently, from 2014-16, Forest City "[t]ightened focus on urban, mixed-use placemaking projects," focusing on core markets.

In 2017 and going forward, Forest City plans "sales of non-core assets, including FAH (federally-assisted housing) and retail assets, to fuel investments that align with our focus on core markets and urban, mixed-use placemaking projects."

That comes with corporate changes, including elimination of the firm's dual-class stock structure, and an effort to enhance margins and increase the dividend. (Some of that is a response to prodding from activist investors who have charged the stock is undervalued.)
The next slide, below, focuses on what Forest City says "What sets us apart," including:

  • Transformative, placemaking assets concentrated in core, high barrier-to-entry urban markets.
  • Key strategic relationships with public- and private-sector partners in local markets who share our long-term commitment to communities
  • Embedded growth opportunities – with approximately $826 million (cost at company share) of projects under construction and 20 million square feet of entitlements in attractive real estate markets

Note that success in "core, high barrier-to-entry urban markets" does rely on those "strategic relationships." That's how they aim to get New York State to approve the transfer of bulk from the approved B1 tower, on the arena plaza, to Site 5, to create a giant complex. (That plan is on hold because of a lawsuit over control of the P.C. Richard site on Site 5.)

Also note that, despite those 'embedded growth opportunities" and "entitlements," Forest City has announced unspecified delays in Pacific Park construction, despite a 2025 deadline for at least the affordable units (which had been widely assumed as the project deadline).

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