550 Vanderbilt: no payment for "Pacific Park" open space; yes, Maisonette address was officially amended to Dean Street

A couple of amendments filed last year to the Offering Statement of the 550 Vanderbilt condominium offer some clues about the project.

The "park" is stalled

From notes to Financial Statements for 2019 and 2018:

Conservancy/Shared Park Maintenance

The Condominium was built to be a part of the Pacific Park neighborhood project, that joins a few neighboring properties. As part of the initial budget, the Condominium was asked to pay approximately $145,000 towards its share of the maintenance of Pacific Park. As of December 31, 2017, that amount was accrued as a liability in anticipation of the completion of the project. No amount has been accrued for 2018 or 2019 as the project has not been completed and the Condominium’s share of expenses has not been assessed.

Indeed, "Pacific Park"--if defined as the finished open space that will straddle the demapped Pacific Street between six towers--may not arrive until 2035, if ever. 

Otherwise, the fractional open space west of 550 Vanderbilt has been truncated by the under-construction 615 Dean Street tower (and its adjacent 595 Dean), and likely will reopen when the new tower opens in 2023. Perhaps that's when the condo building will be dunned for upkeep.

Here's info on the Pacific Park Owners Association, which funds the Pacific Park Conservancy, the entity overseeing the project's open space.

The Financial Statements note that $230,000 was budgeted in 2019 but not spent. A similar amount was budgeted for 2020, but was presumably not spent; that will be confirmed when the 2020 Financial Statement is issued.

The Maisonette address was officially changed

Another amendment officially changed the street address of the one unsold Maisonette, which has a private entrance on Dean Street.

Unit M1, previously assigned the address of 550 Vanderbilt Avenue, "now has an alternate address of 655 Dean Street, Brooklyn, New York 11238," which meant that all references in the Plan were updated, and an updated floor plan was attached, as shown at right.

I described it last October as "a creative--or desperate--attempt to rebrand/refresh the unit, which had been listed $4,650,000, then reduced to $4,500,000, $4,175,000, and $3,995,000. That price persists today.

Looking at the advertising

From the StreetEasy listing:

Situated in Prospect Heights, 655 Dean Street is just steps from all the restaurants, bars, cafes, and shops that line Vanderbilt and Atlantic Avenues. It is close to Prospect Park and Barclays Center, and sits within Pacific Park, the revolutionary new Frank Gehry-designed 22-acre project with 350,000 square feet dedicated entirely to park space, children’s play areas, open lawns, basketball courts, dog runs, and more.

Owners of 655 Dean Street will enjoy access to 550 Vanderbilt’s 10,000 square feet of amenities. For $3,733 a month in common charges, these include a library by McNally Jackson, fitness center by The Wright Fit, lounge with catering kitchen, children’s playroom, pet grooming station, and an amazing rooftop terrace with communal gardens and breathtaking city views.

(Emphases added)

Well, Vanderbilt Avenue has a lot of shopping, but Atlantic Avenue, at least nearby, does not. And the building, of course, does not "sit within Pacific Park," because all but a fraction of the open space doesn't exist yet. Frank Gehry was the master planner, not the project designer.

As to the "10,000 square feet of amenities," that emphasis was surely written pre-pandemic, since many if not most amenities are likely truncated by the pandemic, as has happened across similar properties. In fact, the selling point for such a unit is the private, street-level entrance. But a limit on amenities could make the common charges seem burdensome.