In 2017 study, the Brooklyn Chamber unwisely hailed seeming success of Barclays Center and predicted 2025 delivery of required affordable housing
From the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce's 2017 COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (CEDS) for Brooklyn: The Next 100 Years:
The Atlantic Yards development has repurposed former railyards to create a new entertainment center at the Barclays Arena that generated $47 million in gross ticket sales revenue in its first year, positioning it as the top-grossing US venue for concerts and the second globally. The development project will also create at least 2,250 new units of affordable housing by 2025.
First, $47 million in "gross ticket sales" for concerts in the arena's debut year, 2012-2013, does not represent profits. The arena (reportedly) made generous deals with performs so it could open big. Madison Square Garden was still under renovation.
(The source of that $47 million statistic was apparently the trade magazine Pollstar, as reported 7/24/13 by NY 1.)
As of the study's completion in 2017, as reported, the arena's net operating income (profit) had been steadily below expectations, as the operating company first had to cover debt service.
About affordable housing
As to "will also create at least 2,250 new units of affordable housing by 2025," that was aspirational. They could have said "is expected to create" or "is obligated to create, subject to $2,000/month fines for each missing unit."
As to "will also create at least 2,250 new units of affordable housing by 2025," that was aspirational. They could have said "is expected to create" or "is obligated to create, subject to $2,000/month fines for each missing unit."
But "will also create" is way too definitive. Today, with 876 (or 877) units yet to start, and the May 31, 2025 deadline looming, it seems likely that developer Greenland USA, which owns nearly all of the joint venture Greenland Forest City Partners, will seek to negotiate relaxed terms.
Another missed prediction, in Red Hook
Another missed prediction, in Red Hook
From the Chamber document:
One notable delivery in Red Hook is the tech-centric, campus-like Norman Foster development at 280 Richards Street known as Red Hoek Point, which will add more than 500,000 square feet of office space upon completion in 2018.
Except that was promoted and marketed by Joe Sitt's Thor Equities, known for flipping properties perhaps as much as building, and even then it seemed unrealistic to build an office campus so far from the subway.
So Red Hoek Point never got built. Sitt leased the parcel to Amazon, which has is now operating yet another last-mile distribution center there.
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