At AY CDC meeting, though ESD cagey, director Veconi says platform work coming soon. Would that guarantee 421-a tax break for not-so-affordable housing?

The belatedly scheduled meeting of the (purportedly advisory) Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) yesterday lasted just 37 minutes, with eight directors in attendance, one Empire State Development (ESD) staffer as presenter, and no representative of master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, who might have answered some key questions.

Yes, the entity's budget was approved, uneventfully, as was a recommendation for parent ESD to extend the contract for HDR, the project's environmental monitor. No one submitted public comments within the limited window, some 21 hours, after the Agenda was posted. (Of course, the requirement for public comments before items are discussed misses the point.)

Presenter Tobi Jaiyesimi, who serves as ESD's Atlantic Yards Project Director as well as AY CDC Executive Director, had no updates about major issues regarding the project. (I wrote separately about prospects for the middle school, the Times Plaza upgrade, and a traffic study, among other things.)

She did say that the developer was "actively working with" the Long Island Rail Road regarding the two-phase platform, which would support three towers each, and is crucial to completion of the project's affordable housing and the full project itself.

Jaiyesimi couldn't answer some tough questions about the project's progress or future affordability, though director Gib Veconi, drawing on information he'd gained separately, indicated that work on the two-block platform--crucial to six towers over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard--should ramp up soon.

 

Affordable housing

Veconi noted that with two and likely four buildings with affordable units aimed at middle-income households--which compounds a skewing toward middle-income units--the project is far off the commitments in the 2005 Affordable Housing Memorandum of Understanding, which promised 40% low-income units and 40% middle-income units.

The B4 and B15 towers, as well as (likely) B12 & B13, have only middle-income "affordable" units.

Moreover, the community preference--which offers half the lottery slots to residents of the four closest Community Districts--is gone, at least for units that rely only on the 421-a tax break as opposed to additional city subsidies.

"This is just so far away from where the project was marketed in 2006, it's hard to overstate," Veconi said. "This was a project that in 2006 actually convened a community meeting promising people from these neighborhoods, affordable housing, low income affordable housing by 2010."

I think he meant the July 2006 meeting I covered here, which attracted more than 2,000 attendees. However, as I wrote, the State Funding Agreement and Development Agreement later relaxed the requirements for affordability, allowing any units that participate in a city, state, or federal regulatory program to qualify.

"So to think about how far we've departed from that is really, really a concern," he said. " And something that I hope we can find a way to address." Fellow director Ethel Tyus, an ally of Veconi on Community Board 8, nodded along with his criticisms.

What about BrooklynSpeaks effort?

Unmentioned: Veconi's a leader of the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, which has recently pushed for deeply affordable housing in future buildings, as well as a new structure to oversee the project, with support from some local elected officials.

Afterward, I asked Veconi why he didn't mention the BrooklynSpeaks effort regarding affordable housing. 

"At AY CDC meetings, I am participating as a member of the board of an agency charged with overseeing Atlantic Yards' public commitments," he wrote. " Although BrooklynSpeaks' advocacy is clearly related to the subject, I prefer to maintain a focus on the agency's responsibility than introduce another organization's platform."

Indeed, it wasn't part of the agenda and, when directors were asked to disclose any conflict of interest regarding the day's agenda items, Veconi was not compelled to mention BrooklynSpeaks' advocacy. 

That said, it's a little bizarre that the directors, who are supposed to advise the parent ESD about the project, would not be informed about major advocacy regarding those public commitments. Why not lean towards disclosure, and more information? 

Beyond Veconi's opportunity to enlighten fellow board members, ESD could more seriously take its responsibility to ensure an active and informed advisory group. If so, it would keep those directors informed of not just outside advocacy but also--dare I say--press coverage.

Platform work coming?

"My understanding is that the developers have asked" the Department of Transportation (DOT) for measures to change traffic on Atlantic Avenue to work on both railyard blocks to install footings for the platform, Veconi said. 

Note: Jaiyesimi said in September 2019 that footings had already been installed, a precursor to the platform needed to support towers. "Will there be a need for additional excavation work as the platform itself has been erected? Yes. But can I sit here and give you specific percentage of what's been installed and what needs to be installed? No, because I'm not an engineer." Of course, ESD has consultants that could provide an assessment.

"Are they in fact planning to work on both of those blocks," Veconi asked yesterday, "and the work is going to commence in May, from what I've been told. Is that correct?" 

Note that, according to a document I saw in 2019, Greenland Forest City Partners--dominated by Greenland USA--expects to spend about three years on each of the two platform blocks, and work consecutively, not concurrently.

(Veconi told me afterward that he gained that information from by DOT officials working with the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, which he chairs, on the Vanderbilt Avenue open street program. "I don't believe it was shared with AY CDC directors before today," he said.)

Jaiyesimi was nonresponsive. "I don't have details as to when the work will commence, or how it is that they will be phasing the start of their construction work. It might be that the request to the DOT is related to both the construction activity and also the storage of equipment or the logistics that's required to minimize disturbance to the Long Island Railroad."

"I don't have those specific details," she said, but once that is available they'll share a full presentation with the AY CDC and the community.

"Is there a representative from the developers here on this call?" Veconi asked.

No, said Jaiyesimi, Greenland USA's Scott Solish had a conflict. "He was available when we had the meeting, tentatively scheduled for the 15th." So, in other words, getting the budget and recommendation approved by the AY CDC trumped getting information directly from the developer.

"You're correct," she said. "The developer is working with the Long Island Railroad to be able to start the construction of the platform. I just don't want to misrepresent the details of that at this time."

A push for 421-a?

"If Scott was here, I certainly would have asked him to what extent the work is financed at this point and that they can actually complete it," Veconi said. "Because a concern that I have is that we may be looking to do enough work on both of those blocks [to] qualify for 421-a under the current legislation."

That would mean middle-income housing--to help complete the required 877 affordable units, due by May 2025--which "I don't think would be consistent with the project's promises," he said. Indeed, it wouldn't be consistent with the original promises, but it would be permissible based on the State Funding Agreement and Development Agreement.

"I would like to understand to what extent what the timeline is for the completion of the platform now that that work is underway, and that we're not just trying to qualify it for the current version of 421-a," Veconi said.

To get 421-a benefits, they'd have to get foundations in the ground by June 15. It's plausible to do so for B5, the closest tower to Sixth Avenue, for which building permits have already been requested. 

It might even be possible for the adjacent B6 and maybe even B7, the other two buildings planned on Block 1120, the railyard block between Sixth and Carlton avenues.

That said, the buildings would have to be completed by June 15, 2026 to qualify for the 421-a tax break, which would likely mean a time crunch. (As I wrote, even if the affordable units come in 2026, a year late, with $2,000 a month fines, the ability to rent them to middle-income households could easily make up for the cost of fines.) 

However, it seems unlikely, from the standpoint of both constructability and inventory, that the other three towers (B8/B9/B10) would get started by June. That platform, over the railyard block between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues, would be more complicated, given that, unlike with the block to the west, there's no terra firm to use for staging, or for partial foundations.

Nor would those towers be needed, most likely, to fulfill the affordability requirement. So it's possible that whatever DOT protections are expected around that block relate to traffic only.