From The Bridge: Developer Admits Pacific Park Project Will Take Until 2035

From my article published last night in The Bridge, Developer Admits Pacific Park Project Will Take Until 2035:

The developers of the vexed Pacific Park Brooklyn development (formerly Atlantic Yards) have quietly acknowledged–in a non-publicized document–that the full 22-acre project, with 11 more towers planned beyond the four already open, likely won’t be finished until 2035.
That’s ten years later than the previous estimate of 2025, which remains the deadline for the 2,250 required units of affordable housing, of which 1,468 remain to be built. (The plan also calls for 3,720 market-rate units to be built; only 460 have been constructed so far.)
The new deadline is 32 years after the arena-and-towers project was announced in 2003, with an estimated ten-year buildout, and comes after enormous changes in the project plans, project ownership, and the apartment market in and around Downtown Brooklyn.

The disclosure came in a document filed with the Attorney General's office, not anything publicized by the developer or discussed at a public meeting.

A contrarian might say that 2035 has always been the "outside date" to complete the project, after which the developer is in default and loses development rights. However, that would obscure the significant discussion about when the project was expected to be finished, and how that contrasts with the latest piece of information.

The condo offering plan

First, as explained in the article, the June 2015 Offering Plan for the 550 Vanderbilt condominium stated that the project was expected to be completed in 2025:

Any buyer of a condo would pick up the Offering Plan and subsequent amendments. Not until the 14th Amendment, filed with the state Attorney General in May 2018, did an Update on Status of Construction disclose a new completion date, 2035:

The timetable and map

Second, the 2025 completion date--for both the affordable housing and full project, was in a timetable and a map distributed by the developer in 2014. Here's the timetable:

Here's the map:

Yes, both were subject to change, but no updated timetable or map has been distributed, despite multiple public requests for them, including from appointees to the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation appointed by public officials.

That's why I wrote that the brief statement from the developer "did not explain why the joint venture has not publicly announced this new expected timetable, or whether it has been shared with public officials."

A point-blank question

Finally, as noted in the text, at a public meeting May 8, I asked a Greenland USA representative, “Are you guys aiming to finish the entire project"--not just the required affordable housing--"by 2025?”

“Yeah,” he said offhandedly.

A confirmation from another reporter

2025 is what I was always told when reporting on this, too.

— plitter (@plitter) August 21, 2018