Belated candor and weasel words: ESD says project "completion date" is 2035; affordable housing means "abiding by the Project documents" (which could change); no fines for missing Urban Room

Empire State Development (ESD) finally--within the past few days--updated its Atlantic Yards page with notes from the previous two Quality of Life meetings, in July and September. (See documents at bottom.)

Those notes were supposed to come as quickly as possible. They didn't. 

My guess is that officials at and advisors to ESD, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, were carefully wordsmithing a few key issues, perhaps in consultation with the project's developer.  

The big news: for the first time, ESD has acknowledged a glaring truth about the project: it won't be done until 2035.

Completion date 2035

As I wrote at the time, if master developer Greenland Forest City Partners (GFCP) aims to complete the project in eight or nine years, as Greenland USA executive Scott Solish claimed at a June 2022 meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, what are the milestones? 

After all, there's a two-phase platform to be built.

I didn't get an answer. But, as the excerpt at right from the July document at bottom indicates, "The Project's completion date is 2035."

That's no revelation, since GFCP in 2018 told potential buyers at the 550 Vanderbilt condo building that “the remaining buildings, and the balance of the public park, [are] projected to be completed in phases by 2035," as I wrote for The Bridge in August 2018. (Greenland USA owns nearly all of GFCP,) 

But it's never been stated that way by ESD, which in the 2009-10 Development Agreement, as I reported in January 2010, granted 25 years (or 2035) as an "outside completion date," after which the developer would lose the ability to build. At that point, the developer and state had regularly estimated a ten-year buildout, despite consistent evidence against it.

In other words, ESD, rather than term 2035 an "outside completion date," now calls it a "completion date." Again, that strikes me as a significant acknowledgment. 

That means the second block of the railyard--between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues--will take years to get a platform, necessary for construction of the last three towers, which will finally deliver the lion's share of the project open space.

Affordable housing obligation

Does GFCP have a plan to meet the May 2025 deadline to start and complete 876 (or 877) more units of affordable housing, or face $2,000/month fines for each missing unit?

In July, Solish said it was the "same answer that we always have. We're moving ahead with our plans with the platform.... We are working on hitting all of our targets, as we always have." Except they hadn't hit their targets--for example, they announced in 2019 that the platform would start in 2020. 

I asked if ESD would enforce the fines, but didn't get an answer at the time.

The new document offers a little more of a clue: "The Developer and ESD are committed to the delivery of the Project’s affordable housing obligations and abiding by the Project documents."

That's not the same as saying they'll enforce the penalties. That could mean that project documents will be revised to offer an extension of the timeline. Or, perhaps, it could mean suspension of the fines, given the "right to refrain" from enforcing various provisions--though it's not certain that right applies to this document.

Urban Room fine

Given the failure to build the Urban Room, the glass-enclosed atrium that would've been part of the tower looming over the arena plaza, why hasn't ESD collected the fines, which could reach $10 million by May 2023?

If not, I asked, when might amendments to the project plan be filed, and what public benefit is being proposed in exchange?

The answer wasn't quite responsive, but repeated the same deflecting statement issued in July after BrooklynSpeaks held a press conference pointing out the absence of the Urban Room (and, ultimately, pointing to the affordable housing deadline):

The existing plaza in front of the Barclays Center has become an indispensable public space and serves as an important public benefit, and ESD acknowledges the importance of ensuring that the developer honors the commitments promised to the community under the Development Agreement. ESD will work to expand access to public space and advance the next phases of this critical project.

About the plaza work

The notes from July state that restoration work on the arena plaza "is expected to be completed in October," or, as I reported at the time, in early October.

The notes from September state that "completion expected in mid-October" or, as I reported, in time for the Brooklyn Nets' home opener Oct. 19. 

They met that goal, for the portion of the plaza serving arena attendees. However, the work on the rest of the plaza has lasted into December.

"So at this point, our target completion date for the plaza is mid-October," she said. "We are trying as fast as possible to get that done in time for October 19."

What's missing

The notes do not offer any insight regarding delays in constructing the platform over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard, which was supposed to start in June but was delayed, we were told, for water main work and final permits--an explanation that deserves far more evidence.