With project nearing inflection point, BrooklynSpeaks & electeds call for enforcing fines for missing Urban Room--or maybe for the state to renegotiate.
And its absence has, in large part, been ignored, as a "temporary" plaza outside the Barclays Center has become a crucial part of arena operations, a gateway to the transit hub, and a periodic place for public gatherings and protests.
But with Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park nearing an inflection point, the unbuilt Urban Room--the glass atrium once planned to serve as a gateway to the arena and the unbuilt flagship tower (B1, aka "Miss Brooklyn")--looms as a potential benchmark and bargaining chip regarding the project's future, notably affordable housing.
"We’ve watched for years as the deadline for completing the project’s affordable housing has gotten closer, but no plan for achieving the goal has ever been released,” said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, in a press release from the BrooklynSpeaks coalition. “The developers are liable for $2,000 per month for every unit not finished by May 2025. ESD [Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project] has always maintained it will collect on those damages if the time comes. This is a troubling sign that may not happen.”
Also, project documents set a fine, totaling $10 million after year, if the Urban Room is not built--and developer Greenland Forest City Partners has not yet proceeded with a plan to formally eliminate the Urban Room, make permanent the arena plaza, and shift the bulk of the unbuilt "Miss Brooklyn" across Flatbush Avenue to Site 5, currently home to Modell's and P.C. Richard.
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| 2016 proposal to eliminate B1 and the Urban Room, transferring bulk to Site 5 |
That plan, first floated in 2015-16, could create a giant two-tower project nearly 800 feet tall, according to 2016 plans, with more than 2.5 times the bulk and triple the height of what was previously approved for Site 5.
And it could add new, more deeply affordable housing--albeit while building a project nearly 50% bulkier than the already anomalous 80 Flatbush tower, which exceeded the bulk of the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning.
Enforcement, renegotiation, or both?
So yesterday, members of the coalition, along with local elected officials in person and in rhetoric, called for the fines to be enforced--or maybe not.
"If we can't trust ESD to collect the damages owed," asked Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, "how can we trust them" regarding other commitments?
de la Uz noted that there's no way GFCP can meet the deadline to deliver 876 (or 877) more units of affordable housing by May 2025, after which it faces a $2,000/month penalty for each missing unit.
She demurred when asked if they'd be OK with waiving those fines if GFCP agrees to include what BrooklynSpeaks has recommended: deeper affordability, and other public amenities.
But de la Uz did suggest it was fluid. "Anytime you have a contract where a party hasn't fulfilled its obligations, it's an opportunity to renegotiate," she said. "The state of New York has leverage it's not using."
BrooklynSpeaks released a letter (bottom) recently sent to ESD CEO Hope Knight from Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon, Phara Souffrant Forrest, and Robert Carroll; State Senator Jabari Brisport; and City Council Member Crystal Hudson. They wrote:
The Urban Room remains a significant public commitment of the project, and its completion deadline and remedies for non-performance by the developer remain in effect. We request ESD to affirm that liquidated damages will be assessed, as provided in the MDA, for failure to deliver the Urban Room as required, and inform us when they have been collected. We note that the first payment is due this month. ESD’s affirmative response is necessary to retain our confidence in the agency’s ability to ensure compliance with the upcoming affordable housing deadline (we estimate those liquidated damages to be $1.75 million per month), and our support for the agency’s continued role as the lead agency responsible for overseeing the Project.
Official response
In public meetings ESD officials have distinctly uninterested in enforcing the deadline and imposing costs on the developer, which is dominated by Greenland USA. (Note that Greenland USA's parent company is struggling financially, deep in debt, though the firm's local rep has brushed that off.) Project documents give ESD the "right to refrain" from enforcement.
Yesterday, spokesperson Emily Mijatovic gave the Brooklyn Paper a deflecting quote.
“While the existing plaza in front of the Barclays Center has become an indispensable public space and serves as an important public benefit, ESD acknowledges the importance of ensuring that this developer honors the commitments it promised to the community,” she said. “ESD will work with the developer and the community to expand access to public space and advance the next phases of this critical project.”
Expand access to public space? That could mean, simply, the coming open space next to buildings going up on the southeast block. Or it perhaps could mean that the proposed building(s) at Site 5 could contain a public space, as proposed by BrooklynSpeaks.
Greenland Forest City told the Brooklyn Paper:
“We have heard loud and clear from locals, visitors and public officials that Brooklyn’s public square is a far better civic space for Brooklyn residents, transit riders, and visitors to Barclays Center than the enclosed atrium originally planned for this site,” a spokesperson said. “Pacific Park Brooklyn is unmatched in its successful delivery of affordable housing, transit and infrastructure improvements, and a world-class arena, and while we continue with our next phases of the project over the railyard, we hope to work with the State and our neighbors to ensure the plaza is protected and that development planned for this site can be re-imagined elsewhere in Pacific Park.”
Of course, given that GFCP doesn't control the plaza, or the arena company, it can't build there, and I'm confident that various deals to sell the arena company were predicated on no construction to interfere with arena operations.
(The site is technically owned by the state, and controlled by the arena company, which initially was owned by Forest City Ratner, the project's original, and sole, developer. Forest City was later absorbed by Brookfield, whose Forest City subsidiary now owns just 5% of the project going forward.)
I called the plaza Brooklyn's "accidental town square," after protests coalesced there in 2020, when the arena was shuttered. However publicly accessible, it serves arena operations--and revenues--first. So ESD's rhetoric about preserving the plaza in light of 2020 protests is contrived, since the plan surfaced years before.
As to whether the atrium would've been worse, well, it would have been enclosed from the elements, but with less space to accommodate crowds. Then again, as Regina Cahill of the North Flatbush Business Improvement District (NF BID) said yesterday, the Urban Room likely wouldn't have worked.
From the press conference
Veconi, in his opening remarks, called the Urban Room "a very important part of the Atlantic Yards project" and asked people to imagine the "soaring glass atrium."
Simon said government agencies had not done their job.
Brisport said "one of our jobs is to hold the wealthy and powerful accountable."
Borough President Antonio Reynoso said, "This whole thing has been a complete failure."
The NF BID's Cahill said the project "deserves a thorough review and perhaps a new vision of the entire unbuilt portion"--six parcels over the MTA' Vanderbilt Yard, which should this year see construction of the first phase of a two-block platform, plus Site 5.
de la Uz said accountability has only come from organizing and advocacy, including the 2014 settlement, spearheaded by BrooklynSpeaks, that got a new 2025 deadline for the affordable housing, after it had been extended until 2035.
That said, she acknowledged that the income-targeted housing was not that affordable and, in response to my query, said she regretted not going further to negotiate that affordability.
Veconi noted that the Urban Room was reaffirmed as recently as 2014, which was the last time project agreements were amended. (Of course, the developer surely had expected to have ESD change the project documents to eliminate the Urban Room, as proposed in 2016.)
In response to my question, de la Uz also demurred when asked if they had a maximum bulk and height for Site 5. That said, there was little discussion of that building's scale during BrooklynSpeaks' public charettes last winter.
I asked if anyone had made a stink about the missing Urban Room until recently.
Veconi said it had been discussed during the recent charettes. And it did get a mention at a 2020 session. Still, it's not even listed by BrooklynSpeaks under Accountability.
The press release
Elected officials, community organizations and civic groups demand State hold Atlantic Yards developers accountable for missed project deadline
“Urban Room” was to have been a significant public amenity; Hochul administration must collect $10MM in damages from Greenland Forest City Partners for failure to build it
BROOKLYN, NY, July 14, 2022: City and State elected officials and community leaders today called upon Governor Kathy Hochul to hold developers at the Atlantic Yards project accountable for failing to deliver a key element of its design by a contractual deadline. Project documents describe the “Urban Room” as “a significant public amenity comprised of a large, glass-enclosed public space” that would “accommodate the major flows of people to and from the subway system during the day and night, serve as a direct subway entrance to the Arena and allow for a variety of public uses and programmed events throughout the year.” However, developer Greenland Forest City Partners (GFCP) has taken no action to start construction of the Urban Room, which was required to have been completed in May of this year. The project’s Master Development Agreement (MDA) between GFCP and Empire State Development (ESD) provides for a penalty of $10 million if the deadline is missed.
In a letter to ESD CEO Hope Knight, Assembly Members Jo Anne Simon, Phara Souffrant Forrest, and Robert Carroll; State Senator Jabari Brisport; and City Council Member Crystal Hudson wrote, “The Urban Room remains a significant public commitment of the project, and its completion deadline and remedies for non-performance by the developer remain in effect. We request ESD to affirm that liquidated damages will be assessed, as provided in the MDA, for failure to deliver the Urban Room as required, and inform us when they have been collected. We note that the first payment is due this month. ESD’s affirmative response is necessary to retain our confidence in the agency’s ability to ensure compliance with the upcoming affordable housing deadline (we estimate those liquidated damages to be $1.75 million per month), and our support for the agency’s continued role as the lead agency responsible for overseeing the Project.”
“The Urban Room is an important component of the Atlantic Yards project that was key to securing political support at the time of the project’s approval,” said Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. “It’s a key obligation of the developer and the State to the people of Brooklyn. We call on Governor Hochul and Empire State Development to protect the public’s rights under the project agreements. Failure to do so casts a shadow on the enforceability of other project obligations. If ESD can’t enforce its own Master Development agreement in the face of utter failure, how can the public count on them to enforce the delivery of over 877 units of affordable housing? Time’s up. There’s no excuse.”
“ESD should enforce the Master Development Agreement ("MDA") at the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site and collect damages from the developer for not completing the enclosed community amenity known as the Urban Room,” said Assemblymember Robert Carroll. “If ESD does not enforce its own MDA the community should have no faith in them enforcing any other part of the agreement, including the 877 affordable apartments that the developer needs to complete, and alternative governance structures should be considered.”
“One of our roles in government is to hold the wealthy and powerful accountable, and if we can’t do that, we have failed,” said State Senator Jabari Brisport, whose district includes all of the Atlantic Yards footprint. “If we have an MDA that says the developer must meet a deadline or pay $10 million, and Empire State Development fails to collect, the people can’t trust their government. That’s a very dangerous place to be in.”
“Accountability has been missing from Atlantic Yards since its inception. More than a decade ago, Empire State Development made a clear agreement with this project’s developers on behalf of the people of New York State–and both the developers and ESD have repeatedly failed to deliver,” said Council Member Crystal Hudson. “The terms of the agreement explicitly spelled out expectations, including what was to happen should they not be met. Our community deserves more than Empire State Development’s deliberate inaction, which only further erodes our trust in their ability to enforce this contract for the benefit of the public. Together, with my colleagues in Albany and our neighbors, we’re calling on Governor Hochul and Empire State Development to do their job and hold these developers accountable once and for all.”
“Empire State Development’s inability to keep the developer accountable to their project commitments around the Urban Room brings into question their oversight over the broader project and affordable housing commitments due by May 2025,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif. “Public commitments to the residents of Brooklyn are on the line, and the current level of inaction is unacceptable. Governor Hochul and ESD need to exercise proper oversight now.”
“Greenland Forest City Partners committed to build the Urban Room to provide public space to the community and has failed to meet its deadline. This raises serious concerns about the developer’s ability to fulfill its commitments, including the project’s critically-needed affordable housing. We need to hold this developer accountable to keep the project on track and to ensure the community sees the benefits they were promised,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
“We absolutely must hold the developers of Atlantic Yards accountable to their commitments,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “The state must collect on penalties now and push Greenland Forest City Partners to deliver on the project they promised in order to gain support, and the community benefits that Brooklyn deserves and demands. ESD can and must enforce on its original agreement and send a message that New York will not tolerate developers evading their commitments to the communities they build in, and will seek full financial penalties if they do.“
“Developers should be held accountable and government officials should enforce contracts, especially where significant promises are made to a community,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “By neglecting to enforce terms associated with the Urban Room, we allow a dangerous precedent where developers can overlook contractual obligations and face no penalties, as we’re seeing happen with Greenland Forest City Partners and Empire State Development on the Atlantic Yards project. I stand with my colleagues in calling for Governor Hochul’s enforcement of terms, conditions, and penalties.”
“While the community has come to understand that the existing plaza is essential for arena operations in handling their patrons, ESD has not been effective in ensuring that GFCP and past developers deliver on the project agreements” said Regina Cahill, Chair of the North Flatbush BID. “ESD needs to step up its oversight and represent the community.”
The Atlantic Yards plan was last amended in 2019, when developers received additional rights for more than 100,000 square feet of floor area to construct a fitness center and field house below two buildings on Dean Street currently under construction. The change was approved without public review, and with no additional public benefits in exchange. “When developers ask for more, the State bends over backwards to give it to them,” said Howard Kolins, President of the Boerum Hill Association. “But when it comes time to ensure the public gets what was promised, the State has been asleep at the wheel.”
The Atlantic Yards development agreement allows ESD discretion to enforce its terms–or not. “We’ve watched for years as the deadline for completing the project’s affordable housing has gotten closer, but no plan for achieving the goal has ever been released,” said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. “The developers are liable for two thousand dollars per month for every unit not finished by May 2025. ESD has always maintained it will collect on those damages if the time comes. This is a troubling sign that may not happen.”
“Recent reports indicate Greenland USA’s parent company may be at risk of defaulting on its debt, which would also appear to trigger a default under the project agreements” said Gib Veconi, Chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, Inc. “This is no time for the State to be cutting corners instead of looking out for the public interest.”
###
About BrooklynSpeaks: The BrooklynSpeaks coalition was formed in 2006 to advocate for accountability at the Atlantic Yards project. BrooklynSpeaks successfully challenged a 2009 renegotiation of the project agreements between Empire State Development and developer Forest City Ratner, with a State Supreme Court finding that ESD’s extending the completion deadline of the project from ten years to twenty-five years violated New York State environmental law. In 2014, coalition members settled a threatened Fair Housing suit for an acceleration of the deadline for Atlantic Yards’ affordable housing from 2035 to 2025.
The BrooklynSpeaks sponsors are:
The Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation
The Boerum Hill Association
The Brooklyn Heights Association
Brown Community Development Corporation
CNU NYC
Diaspora Community Services
Fifth Avenue Committee
The Park Slope Civic Council
IMPACCT Brooklyn
The North Flatbush Business Improvement District
The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council
More information about BrooklynSpeaks is available at www.brooklynspeaks.net.
“Urban Room” was to have been a significant public amenity; Hochul administration must collect $10MM in damages from Greenland Forest City Partners for failure to build it
BROOKLYN, NY, July 14, 2022: City and State elected officials and community leaders today called upon Governor Kathy Hochul to hold developers at the Atlantic Yards project accountable for failing to deliver a key element of its design by a contractual deadline. Project documents describe the “Urban Room” as “a significant public amenity comprised of a large, glass-enclosed public space” that would “accommodate the major flows of people to and from the subway system during the day and night, serve as a direct subway entrance to the Arena and allow for a variety of public uses and programmed events throughout the year.” However, developer Greenland Forest City Partners (GFCP) has taken no action to start construction of the Urban Room, which was required to have been completed in May of this year. The project’s Master Development Agreement (MDA) between GFCP and Empire State Development (ESD) provides for a penalty of $10 million if the deadline is missed.
In a letter to ESD CEO Hope Knight, Assembly Members Jo Anne Simon, Phara Souffrant Forrest, and Robert Carroll; State Senator Jabari Brisport; and City Council Member Crystal Hudson wrote, “The Urban Room remains a significant public commitment of the project, and its completion deadline and remedies for non-performance by the developer remain in effect. We request ESD to affirm that liquidated damages will be assessed, as provided in the MDA, for failure to deliver the Urban Room as required, and inform us when they have been collected. We note that the first payment is due this month. ESD’s affirmative response is necessary to retain our confidence in the agency’s ability to ensure compliance with the upcoming affordable housing deadline (we estimate those liquidated damages to be $1.75 million per month), and our support for the agency’s continued role as the lead agency responsible for overseeing the Project.”
“The Urban Room is an important component of the Atlantic Yards project that was key to securing political support at the time of the project’s approval,” said Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. “It’s a key obligation of the developer and the State to the people of Brooklyn. We call on Governor Hochul and Empire State Development to protect the public’s rights under the project agreements. Failure to do so casts a shadow on the enforceability of other project obligations. If ESD can’t enforce its own Master Development agreement in the face of utter failure, how can the public count on them to enforce the delivery of over 877 units of affordable housing? Time’s up. There’s no excuse.”
“ESD should enforce the Master Development Agreement ("MDA") at the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site and collect damages from the developer for not completing the enclosed community amenity known as the Urban Room,” said Assemblymember Robert Carroll. “If ESD does not enforce its own MDA the community should have no faith in them enforcing any other part of the agreement, including the 877 affordable apartments that the developer needs to complete, and alternative governance structures should be considered.”
“One of our roles in government is to hold the wealthy and powerful accountable, and if we can’t do that, we have failed,” said State Senator Jabari Brisport, whose district includes all of the Atlantic Yards footprint. “If we have an MDA that says the developer must meet a deadline or pay $10 million, and Empire State Development fails to collect, the people can’t trust their government. That’s a very dangerous place to be in.”
“Accountability has been missing from Atlantic Yards since its inception. More than a decade ago, Empire State Development made a clear agreement with this project’s developers on behalf of the people of New York State–and both the developers and ESD have repeatedly failed to deliver,” said Council Member Crystal Hudson. “The terms of the agreement explicitly spelled out expectations, including what was to happen should they not be met. Our community deserves more than Empire State Development’s deliberate inaction, which only further erodes our trust in their ability to enforce this contract for the benefit of the public. Together, with my colleagues in Albany and our neighbors, we’re calling on Governor Hochul and Empire State Development to do their job and hold these developers accountable once and for all.”
“Empire State Development’s inability to keep the developer accountable to their project commitments around the Urban Room brings into question their oversight over the broader project and affordable housing commitments due by May 2025,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif. “Public commitments to the residents of Brooklyn are on the line, and the current level of inaction is unacceptable. Governor Hochul and ESD need to exercise proper oversight now.”
“Greenland Forest City Partners committed to build the Urban Room to provide public space to the community and has failed to meet its deadline. This raises serious concerns about the developer’s ability to fulfill its commitments, including the project’s critically-needed affordable housing. We need to hold this developer accountable to keep the project on track and to ensure the community sees the benefits they were promised,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
“We absolutely must hold the developers of Atlantic Yards accountable to their commitments,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “The state must collect on penalties now and push Greenland Forest City Partners to deliver on the project they promised in order to gain support, and the community benefits that Brooklyn deserves and demands. ESD can and must enforce on its original agreement and send a message that New York will not tolerate developers evading their commitments to the communities they build in, and will seek full financial penalties if they do.“
“Developers should be held accountable and government officials should enforce contracts, especially where significant promises are made to a community,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “By neglecting to enforce terms associated with the Urban Room, we allow a dangerous precedent where developers can overlook contractual obligations and face no penalties, as we’re seeing happen with Greenland Forest City Partners and Empire State Development on the Atlantic Yards project. I stand with my colleagues in calling for Governor Hochul’s enforcement of terms, conditions, and penalties.”
“While the community has come to understand that the existing plaza is essential for arena operations in handling their patrons, ESD has not been effective in ensuring that GFCP and past developers deliver on the project agreements” said Regina Cahill, Chair of the North Flatbush BID. “ESD needs to step up its oversight and represent the community.”
The Atlantic Yards plan was last amended in 2019, when developers received additional rights for more than 100,000 square feet of floor area to construct a fitness center and field house below two buildings on Dean Street currently under construction. The change was approved without public review, and with no additional public benefits in exchange. “When developers ask for more, the State bends over backwards to give it to them,” said Howard Kolins, President of the Boerum Hill Association. “But when it comes time to ensure the public gets what was promised, the State has been asleep at the wheel.”
The Atlantic Yards development agreement allows ESD discretion to enforce its terms–or not. “We’ve watched for years as the deadline for completing the project’s affordable housing has gotten closer, but no plan for achieving the goal has ever been released,” said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. “The developers are liable for two thousand dollars per month for every unit not finished by May 2025. ESD has always maintained it will collect on those damages if the time comes. This is a troubling sign that may not happen.”
“Recent reports indicate Greenland USA’s parent company may be at risk of defaulting on its debt, which would also appear to trigger a default under the project agreements” said Gib Veconi, Chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, Inc. “This is no time for the State to be cutting corners instead of looking out for the public interest.”
###
About BrooklynSpeaks: The BrooklynSpeaks coalition was formed in 2006 to advocate for accountability at the Atlantic Yards project. BrooklynSpeaks successfully challenged a 2009 renegotiation of the project agreements between Empire State Development and developer Forest City Ratner, with a State Supreme Court finding that ESD’s extending the completion deadline of the project from ten years to twenty-five years violated New York State environmental law. In 2014, coalition members settled a threatened Fair Housing suit for an acceleration of the deadline for Atlantic Yards’ affordable housing from 2035 to 2025.
The BrooklynSpeaks sponsors are:
The Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation
The Boerum Hill Association
The Brooklyn Heights Association
Brown Community Development Corporation
CNU NYC
Diaspora Community Services
Fifth Avenue Committee
The Park Slope Civic Council
IMPACCT Brooklyn
The North Flatbush Business Improvement District
The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council
More information about BrooklynSpeaks is available at www.brooklynspeaks.net.
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