Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Weekly Digest: Movement on the Railyard Sites, and a Curious Site 5 Push ( link ) Also, Atlantic Yards advisory board takes up issue (I raised): why the newly enriched Barclays Center operator should pay to keep the plaza. Plus: Nets drama.

The Barclays Center Thursday released its July 2024 event calendar, which includes five ticketed events: three New York Liberty games and two concerts. It also includes three free events. On Sunday July 21, announced as between 12 and 5 pm on the plaza will be a Brooklyn Raga Concert, featuring Indian music. I couldn't find any listing yet beyond this one from musician Samarth Nagarkar , which cites events at 3 pm and 5 pm, involving Rasa Yatra and In D with Brooklyn Raga Massive. Also, on Saturday July 27 and Sunday July 28, visitors can see a Basquiat Exhibit , from 12 noon to 5 pm, which showcases student work from the Basquiat in Brooklyn Schools program funded by (arena company owners) Joe & Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund. That will be in the arena lobby. This is a much lighter schedule than July 2023 , which had 14 ticketed events. It's possible that the limited schedule, with no events past the lobby, allows time for the arena operator time to revam...

It is possible that the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets both won a huge trade that will keep the Nets in the doldrums next season and possibly far longer? Maybe. Before the draft, the Knicks acquired the Nets' best player, Mikal Bridges, who's very good but not the star to build around, for an enormous haul of draft picks. That solidifies the Knicks' talent and team chemistry, with Bridges joining three Villanova teammates (Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DeVincenzo) in a win-now effort to dislodge the Boston Celtics. It also positions the Nets, pending luck in the lottery, to tank and be able to draft some of the 2025 stars, notably incoming Duke star Cooper Flagg.  Which is why The Athletic's Zack Harper, for example, gave both teams an A, especially since Bridges is no Kevin Durant or Rudy Gobert, who were in similarly lopsided trades.  For now, the buzz goes to the Knicks, who already had it, while Barclays Center should again see lots of fans of the visiting tea...

At a ceremony June 29 starting at noon, the northeast corner of Dean Street and Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights/Crown Heights will be co-named for James E. Caldwell, the longtime President of the 77th Precinct Community Council, political activist in Crown Heights and Prospect Heights, and former Executive Director of Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD). BUILD, a group set up to both provide job training and support for the project, was a key signatory of the Atlantic Yards Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). Developer Forest City Ratner funded its CBA partners, violating best practices for such agreements. Caldwell, known to many as "Mr. C.,"  died in May 2021 at age 69, long after BUILD had shuttered . It was also long after a bitter lawsuit , filed by BUILD trainees who charged they were promised a path to union construction careers, was settled by Forest City, which, in testimony released publicly, evaded responsibility but deflected blame to C...

This is the second of two articles about the meeting yesterday ( link ) of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development (AY CDC). held at offices of the parent Empire State Development (ESD) in Manhattan.  The first concerned a potential developer emerging for the railyard sites. In a surprise, AY CDC Chair Daniel Kummer, displaying an unusual amount of personal conviction, steered the conversation to developing Site 5, the parcel catercorner to the arena across Flatbush Avenue long home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's.  After all, it's usually staff of the parent Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, who propose project changes. Site 5, approved in 2006 for a substantial 250-foot, 439,050-square foot building, has since 2015-16 been eyed by developer Greenland Forest City Partners, now much Greenland USA, for a giant, two-tower project, at least if the bulk from the unbuilt...

This is the first of two articles about the meeting yesterday ( link ) of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development (AY CDC). held at offices of the parent Empire State Development (ESD) in Manhattan. The second concerns the future of Site 5. At the  little-publicized  AY CDC meeting yesterday, an executive at ESD, the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, offered the first hint that the six railyard development sites (B5-B10), encompassing nearly 3.5 million square feet but which are now in foreclosure, may have interest from a developer. But details were scarce, including the name of the company and whether and how much ESD would accommodate changes in project requirements to make it a deal more attractive. For example, would it  enforce or waive/delay $2,000/month fines for the 876 affordable housing units supposed to be completed by May 2025?  Also, how much would a new developer, taking over those sites from Greenland USA,...

I have an article today in Common Edge, As Brooklyn Nets’ Value Booms, a Missed Opportunity With the Arena ( link ), arguing that the owners benefiting from the incredible growth in the value of the team, arena company, and associated assets should share a significant amount of their wealth. From the conclusion: “Our family,” [new owner Julia Koch] said, “is honored to join the Tsai family in shaping, advancing and contributing to the shared vision for the future of The Nets, The Liberty and the broader Brooklyn community.” Well, some women’s sports fans now  advocate , given past Koch support for groups curbing women’s reproductive rights, that the family contribute $15 million to nonprofit organizations—already due modest payments via the WNBA’s Commissioner’s Cup tournament—aligned to the teams’ social justice work.  That crusade has a point, but we also could think bigger: if those benefiting from the Brooklyn Nets and the state-enabled arena truly want to help, perhaps th...

From W.S. Rally OK, I've previously pooh-poohed ( link ) criticism of the notorious Koch family buying a slice of the Brooklyn Nets, given that the #sportswashing of ethically dubious owners--Bruce Ratner, Mikhail Prokhorov, Joe Tsai--started long ago, and the Barclays Center is named for a felonious bank. But the New York Liberty fans at W.S. (Women's Sports) Rally who started a protest and petition two days ago, just in time for the transaction, do have a point, proclaiming "Julia Koch, before you buy ownership in BSE (NY Liberty & BK Nets) — show the fans, players, Brooklyn and the W that you share our values!" They say the WNBA, and its teams, are already identified with progressive politics antithetical to the Kochs' legacy, and the Kochs--notably David's widow Julia and her basketball fan son David, Jr.--  should show solidarity by making a major--and surely painless--charitable contribution of $15 million toward reproductive justice and civic eng...

Weekly Digest: the Tsai-Koch Deal Shows a Hugely Valuable Franchise ( link ) Parent BSE Global said to be worth $5.8 billion, Nets + ArenaCo $5.3 billion. Does anyone care about #sportswashing?

OK, the initial numbers reported ( link ) were a bit inflated, but two days ago Sportico  asserted  that the Koch family is paying $688 million, not the presumed $900 million, for a 15% stake in BSE Global, which includes the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center operating company, and the New York Liberty, among other assets. Though $688 million is nearly 15% of $4.6 billion, the valuation is still said to be worth $6 billion according to Sportico, or $5.8 billion according to the New York Post. Sportico said that $492 million will be used to pay down debt, and $196 million for working capital.  It's not clear exactly how the math works, since we don't know the terms of the debt, but the removal of about one third of net debt--is the remainder the annual arena bond payments?--diminishes future obligations and makes the properties more valuable. Breaking down the deal The Post said the Nets are valued at $3.8 billion and the arena at $1.5 billion, a $5.3 billion total whic...

Less than three years ago, in August 2021, I noted ( link ) how the Barclays Center team store--most recently Brooklyn Style, after stints as the Nets Shop by Adidas and the Swag Shop--had become the larger  Brooklyn Fanatics , part of Fanatics, a sports merchandising and marketing company that had become the official e-commerce partner of both the NBA and WNBA. It was part of what the press release called "an exclusive, multi-year omnichannel retail partnership with BSE Global," which owns the teams, and--as I wrote--is surely about the Benjamins. After all, you can pay seventy bucks for a t-shirt these days. Photo: Norman Oder Well, yesterday the American Prospect published  Big Business Has Come for Your Baseball Cards , explaining how "Fanatics, the self-described Amazon of sports, has used long-term exclusive deals to monopolize apparel and memorabilia markets, and make its products unavoidable." The article is part of a Prospect series,  Rollups , which looks...

It's no surprise. The six-month look-ahead required of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developer again indicated that no construction is planned for the second half of 2024. After all, the project's stalled, and the six development sites over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard face a foreclosure auction, which has been postponed four times, likely awaiting a larger renegotiation of project terms. According to the document (below), Greenland USA's Jen Kuang told Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, that no construction activities are scheduled for Block 1120, which was supposed to be the first block of a two-block platform. Each block would support three towers. (I acquired the letter thanks to a Freedom of Information Law request.) Past pattern As I wrote last December, Greenland was once more optimistic. In the May 6, 2020  memo covering the second half of 2020, the developer pronounced, unwisely in retrospect, that ...

It's stunning: the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center operating company, and other assets in BSE Global are apparently valued at $6 billion--far more than previously estimated and nearly double the 2019 purchase price--upon the investment of a 15% non-controlling stake by the family of Julia Koch, widow of the late David Koch, a key right-wing political funder . The apparent $900 million payday for owners Joe and Clara Tsai represents a huge profit after losing money on the team and arena company, and an astounding leap in valuation for a franchise once worth a fraction of this new investment.  It also positions the Koch family, notably basketball fan David Koch, Jr., as future owners of BSE Global and the Nets, given the right of first refusal should the Tsais decide to sell. In February, when news of the potential Koch investment surfaced, the BSE Global valuation was  reported  at potentially $4.8 billion, and the Koch slice 10-15%. The assets include the New York Liberty,...

Shanghai-based Greenland Holdings, parent of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developer (for now) Greenland USA, has continued its slide in the annual Forbes Global 2000 lists, this year ranked at #891, after once peaking at #307. Last year, it was at #831 (or #832). It was the first annual loss for the company, at least since Forbes started compiling records in 2017. Forbes ranks the world's largest companies in the world using four metrics: sales, profits, assets and market value. The better known Fortune Global 500 ranking, which should be released in August, relies solely on revenue in the past fiscal year. The bottom line is this is a company not with deep pockets, as it was billed coming into the project in 2014, but rather suffering financially. No wonder its U.S. subsidiary, after seeing progress with its Brooklyn project stall, faces a foreclosure auction of the rights to six railyard development sites. Losing money From Forbes The Greenland ranking  indicates that, in the mo...