Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

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 the Tsais a

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 Sportica  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 which dwarfs th

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, the HSS T

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 #891 (or #892). 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

Weekly Digest: Consistent Attention Matters ( link ) A consultant responsible for an untenable financial forecast for the Brooklyn arena is at it again. BSE Global makes some moves.

Last July, I wrote ( link ) how former Atlantic Yards state overseer Arana Hankin (now Arana Hankin-Biggers), after "growing disillusioned with economic development efforts," had become a cannabis innovator, Co-Founder and President, Union Square Travel Agency, a licensed legal cannabis business, which partners with The Doe Fund, which works with the homeless.  Hankin-Biggers' LinkedIn describes it as "A cannabis retail company that is committed to supporting efforts to reverse the damage created by the war on drugs." Now the Union Square Travel Agency has opened its third recreational dispensary, in Downtown Brooklyn at 118-122 Flatbush Avenue.  Circling back As reported by the website Stupid Dope: The 4,800 square foot dispensary, designed by the acclaimed creative team Leong Leong, promises a visual feast representative of the brand’s fun yet sophisticated approach to cannabis culture. Located just a few doors down from Jay Z’s old stash spot and within wa

Barclays To Become the Official Banking Partner of WNBA’s New York Liberty , BSE Global announced March 27: NEW YORK – Barclays and New York Liberty today announced a new multi-year partnership in which Barclays will become the team’s Official Banking Partner, in a deal that includes marquee jersey patch placement beginning with the 2024 WNBA season. This partnership, one of the largest injections of sponsorship capital in Liberty history, underscores a mutual commitment to advancing gender equity on and off the court. Barclays’ investment in the New York Liberty adds to the existing strong partnership with BSE Global and accompanies the bank’s existing Barclays Center naming rights and Brooklyn Nets team sponsorship. This deal reinforces Barclays’ commitment to women’s sports, a commitment underpinned by the title sponsorships of the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship, the top two leagues of professional women’s soccer in the UK, which remains the largest

Either way you look at it, the appointment last September of Marissa Shorenstein as BSE Global's Chief External Affairs Officer suggests that the company, which runs the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, and associated properties, wants to be a player. First, as far as I can tell, the company never previously had a Chief External Affairs Officer to oversee "communications, community and government relations," as stated in her company bio . (Previously, Mandy Gutmann rose to become  Executive VP fro Communications and Community Relations.) Second, Shorenstein comes with an extensive resume , working in both the private sector--WeWork, AT&T, SKDK--and government, including for Andrew Cuomo's and Carl McCall's gubernatorial campaigns, and Press Secretary and Deputy Director of Communications for Gov. David Paterson. From 2004-2007, she served as Senior Manager for Strategic Planning and Corporate Communications for the New York Jets (while going to Fordham Law at

It's New York Liberty season now, and the WNBA team is selling more tickets than ever So it stands to reason that the Barclays Center operating company, also owned by Liberty owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, would use its available canvas--including the wall of the arena's Dean Street entrance and the loading dock doors---to promote the Liberty. Photos by Norman Oder Below is a wider view, which takes in the 461 Dean tower at left and a piece of the 38 Sixth tower at right. Welcome, Glowbar Below, the photo shows that the facial chain Glowbar has opened on the Atlantic Avenue flank of 18 Sixth Ave. tower (B4, aka Brooklyn Crossing). When I first mentioned the chain's arrival, I suggested that perhaps some arenagoers might visit. In fact, Glowbar has announced itself as the "Official Facial Studio of the New York Liberty," as shown in the photo below. What does that mean? Well, according to an interview --part of a "partnership post"--with People Brands and

The Barclays Center's Unwise Financial Forecaster ( link ) Go-to consultant CSL in 2009 said the new arena would reap profits. Their own report refuted that. Philadelphia awaits.

Weekly Digest: Foreclosure Auction Postponed, Again ( link ) After all, it's a "never-say-never project." The mantras of Atlantic Yards point to uncertainty.

Hey, remember when, eight years ago, a representative of joint venture Greenland Forest City Partners, justifying plans to move the bulk of the unbuilt "Miss Brooklyn" tower, once slated to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue to create a giant two-tower project at Site 5, stated , "We think the time is right for the borough to have an iconic office building." Well, as one of the Atlantic Yards mantras goes, "Projects change, markets change." (Thanks, Jim Stuckey.) Given the pandemic and the shift to remote work, office space is less desirable, hence articles like Office Building Losses Start to Pile Up, and More Pain Is Expected Office Building Losses Start to Pile Up, and More Pain Is Expected , from the New York Times. And the market for office space, especially in Brooklyn, seems to be receding.  That means, at least in the near term, that the still-pending project at Site 5, which requires governmental action to unlock the new development righ

New York Magazine's May 28, 2024 feature  New Jackpot City  is well worth the read. Note the subheading, "Eleven rivals. Countless billions. One prize: the right to build a casino in the heart of New York." Noah Shachtman writes: The Encore [Boston Harbor], which is operated by Wynn [Resorts], is considered a relatively strong performer among recent big-city casino projects, not all of which have proved profitable. A recent report by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that the site has generated nearly 10,000 jobs and is netting the state $1 billion a year in new economic activity. But Chicago’s casino experiment has been a disaster, pulling in less than half the revenue promised... In New York, Resorts World is one of three companies operating casinos upstate, and none of them have hit the revenue projections they initially promised. Several have renegotiated with the state to substantially cut their tax rates. One source with deep gaming-indust

Yes, the foreclosure auction of developer Greenland USA's rights to six development sites (B5-B10) over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard has been postponed, for the fourth time, this time to July.  (I didn't get a date yet, but will update when I know more.) That's according to a spokesman for the developer, which is not in charge of the auction. Rather, a representative of the lenders, controlled by the U.S. Immigration Fund--a "regional center" that recruited immigrant investors under the EB-5 program--initiated the foreclosure, announcing auction dates in January, February, April, and June.  The development rights, which encompass about 3.5 million square feet, served as collateral for the initial $249 million and $100 million loans. I had predicted that the auction would be postponed, because there's a lot of moving parts.  After a partial repayment, Greenland owes about $286 million to the investors, who invested in two tra

The Mantras of Atlantic Yards ( link )  "It's a never-say-never project." So we have no idea about today's (announced) foreclosure auction.

From Barclays Center Twitter/X The Barclays Center had a very good April, they tell us, tweeting yesterday that the arena was the top grossing venue in the world, according to Billboard, a publication that tracks concerts, family shows, and other events--but not pro sports. I'd be curious to see the actual numbers, because it didn't look like that busy a month--unless, maybe, they added May 1 to April, thus appending one of Nicki Minaj's two huge shows. As Billboard reported. in Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 World Tour Is Already the Highest Grossing Rap Tour for a Woman — and It Isn’t Over Yet , "Two nights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 4 and May 1 proved the biggest [on her tour], with $4.3 million and 28,100 tickets." The April calendar The April 2024 event calendar , as seen below, also featured three Bad Bunny concerts, which reportedly sold out. I think Billboard also counted the comedy show and WWE, since pro wrestling is as much entertainment as

Weekly Digest: Barclays Center Fortunes Improving (from Substack newsletter, link ) Was it the alliance with Ticketmaster, now being sued? Also, continued uncertainty about foreclosure auction of six tower sites. 

After three postponement, most recently ( link ) to June 5, will the foreclosure auction of developer Greenland USA's rights to six development sites over the Vanderbilt Yard finally proceed? Well, my query to a representative of the developer didn't get an answer yet, but the track record--as well as the complexity of finding a qualified developer and resolving aspects of the deal--suggests it's unlikely. Then again, Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, as I've said, is a "never say never project," which means there are always twists.