After more than 9 months, Atlantic Yards Community Development Corp. finally set to meet next Tuesday, at an in-person meeting. Will developer show up?

With just five days (and three business days) of notice, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, yesterday announced that the next meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) will be held on Tuesday, April 11, at 9:30 am, in person at ESD offices in Manhattan, 633 Third Avenue – 37th Floor Conference Room.

That means the (purportedly) advisory AY CDC, which is supposed to meet quarterly, will finally meet more than nine months after its previous meeting.

The meeting will be available via webcast and then should be viewable on a video replay.

Members of the public attending in person should RSVP by 4 p.m. on Monday, April 10. Members of the public should call (212) 803-3795. Members of the press should call (800) 260-7313; 

About public comment

Public comments may be submitted in writing to AYCDCBdMtg@esd.ny.gov by noon on Monday, April 10.

That requirement for pre-meeting comment--which requires clairvoyance about the agenda (sometimes) and the discussion (always)--was instituted when meetings went virtual during the pandemic.

Though the announcement doesn't say so, the in-person session does allow attendees to make public comments in response to agenda items, ESD confirmed.

About the AY CDC & the agenda

As I wrote 3/31/23, the AY CDC has not lived up to its promise as an advisory body, but it has added some transparency, occasionally. It recently added two new members, but the 14-seat board has three openings, all among the nine gubernatorial appointees.

No agenda has been posted yet, but should be by Monday.

Given the departure of Greenland USA (which owns nearly all of Greenland Forest City Partners) point man Scott Solish, will the developer be sending a replacement or representative? If not, what does that say about their commitment to the project?

Why it matters: platform

The board should have a lot to talk about, including the apparent decision by Greenland USA to pause plans for the crucial platform, key to three towers over the first block of the two-block Vanderbilt Yard, despite an announcement last May that it was going forward.

Why is that, board members should ask ESD and/or a Greenland representative. The explanation that work on Atlantic Avenue posed conflicts didn't wash, not for long. If they still haven't received permits from the Long Island Rail Road, they should explain why.

What is Greenland's timetable for the project now? What are the factors in the delay?

Why it matters: affordable housing deadline

Given the impossibility of meeting the May 2025 affordable housing deadline--876 (or 877) units must start and be completed--is ESD considering waiving or renegotiating the $2,000/month fines for each missing unit? 

If so, what's the rationale and how is that being discussed with elected officials? What kind of communication have they had from Greenland?

Or is there a grand proposal to revise the timetable and configuration of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park?

Could that be coupled to the long-pending (but not launched) plan to move the bulk of the unbuilt "Miss Brooklyn," the flagship office tower once planned to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue to create a giant two-tower project at Site 5, longtime home to Modell's and P.C. Richard.

Unresolved, at AY CDC: Urban Room

At the June meeting of the AY CDC, Director Gib Veconi proposed a motion regarding the developer's obligation to build the Urban Room, a glass atrium attached to Miss Brooklyn, and if not to pay liquidated damages totaling $10 million by May 2023.

ESD's Tobi Jaiyesimi intervened and said no motion was necessary: "I think we can all note that the Urban Room has not been developed and there's been no action taken to the development of the Urban Room. So I'll follow up with the team and get some details with you on that."

There's been no meeting, so no follow-up. 

When Veconi and others in the BrooklynSpeaks coalition later held a press conference to point out the failure to build the Urban Room--and to point to the more significant, looming 2025 affordable housing deadline--ESD responded with a statement:

“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. ESD will work with the developer and the community to expand access to public space and advance the next phases of this critical project.”

That's not the same as providing details at a public meeting.