Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

A new plan for Site 5, a key parcel catercorner to the arena block, has been solicited ( link ), and I think we've been looking at it all wrong since 2016. From Jan. 2016 Greenland Forest City presentation Back then, plans surfaced from master developer Greenland Forest City Partners (now essentially Greenland USA) to transfer the bulk of the unbuilt flagship tower (B1), long slated to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue. The destination: Site 5, long home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's. A 250-foot, 439,050-square foot tower had been approved there.  Moving the bulk from B1, dubbed "Miss Brooklyn" by original architect Frank Gehry, could create a much larger two-tower project, up to 785 feet tall and 1,142,052 square feet. Today, that pending plan likely will be revised and expanded by Greenland USA or, perhaps, a new partner or successor. A strategic angle Consider that the angle Greenland chose for the renderings-- a hovercraf...

The Barclays Center has released its August 2024 event calendar to community members. It includes 12 ticketed events, including three New York Liberty games, two Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competitions, and seven concerts. That's a definite upgrade over August 2023 , when there were six ticketed events. Maybe the arena's switch to Ticketmaster , allied with concert promoter Live Nation (and an alleged monopoly), is paying off. Also note that for three days, Aug. 8-10, from 3 pm to 8 pm, there will be a PBR pre-event party on Ticketmaster Plaza, with amplified sound. On Aug. 8, there's not even a ticketed event afterward. Protest coming? Note that the Professional Bull Riding competitions likely will generate a protest, according to this Facebook post , which also encourages people to request that the events be canceled because "bull riding involves animal cruelty" and that bulls "are painfully prodded, or electrocuted, or otherwise provoked into 'perf...

OK, it wasn't on the Barclays Center's July community calendar circulated to residents ( link ), or otherwise publicly announced with any clarity. But on Friday July 26, part of Ticketmaster Plaza, as shown in the photos and video below, was truncated to accommodate a New York Liberty Summer Camp event, "presented by Ticketmaster," as part of the WNBA team's Summerpalooza . No, it didn't restrict people walking to the subway entrance on the plaza, but it did favor private use of quasi-public space. As posted on Twitter/X  by WNBA writer Sara Gamelli: The New York Liberty host an all-girls tournament Barclays Center Plaza on July 26. The camp will include a round robin style of basketball and will showcase skills learned throughout the week. Also- live music from DJ Ty Michelle and an awards ceremony,  #wnba Photos by Norman Oder Fox5NY sports reporter Jennifer X. Williams  posted : Caught up Liberty CEO Keia Clarke about SUMMERPALOOZA — community events the te...

It's dismaying to dissect bad journalism about Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, especially when it's most likely the result of a carelessness and an imprecise clip file, rather than a reporter or publication allowing themselves to be manipulated by a developer's spin. Still, accuracy is important, so it's worth taking a look at the real estate publication Bisnow's July 8 article, Related Maneuvering To Take Over Pacific Park From Chinese Developer In Default , which was triggered by The Real Deal's report identifying Related Companies as the developer apparently negotiating to acquire development rights to six sites over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard. From the article: Pacific Park, the development that was hatched as part of the deal to build the Barclays Center arena , is supposed to include 15 commercial and residential buildings over railyards between the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights , Boerum Hill, Park Slope, Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. (Emphases added...

Weekly Digest: "100% Affordable" Blues, Greenland Finances, & More ( link ) With hot water outages and more, 38 Sixth Avenue is not so "successful," despite a state lawyer's words. Yes, the parent of developer Greenland USA is suffering. 

This is the third of three articles on Greenland USA finances related to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.  The  first  concerned Greenland's impairment, or loss in value. The second concerned what Greenland paid Forest City in the 2018 ownership reshuffle, and what happened to Site 5. Remember the April 23, 2019  press release , headlined "Greenland Forest City Partners and The Brodsky Organization Announce Partnership to Develop 18 Sixth Avenue at Pacific Park," which said the "joint venture" would immediately commence construction. At that point, they were using the term Greenland Forest City Partners, reflecting a joint venture in which Greenland had gained a 95% share. A March 22, 2019 document from the city's online ACRIS database,  cited a transaction valued at $194,745,462 . As far as I can tell, that was the full value of the parcel, not the payment by Brodsky.  After all, TF Cornerstone and Brodsky  paid  $199 million, in total, for lea...

This is the second of three articles on Greenland USA finances related to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. The first concerned Greenland's large impairment (loss in value).  The  third  concerned Forest City's giving up its shares in the B4 tower and future Site 5 project. A Forest City Realty Trust press release June 28, 2018, Forest City, Greenland Close Restructuring of Pacific Park Brooklyn Partnership , indicated, that, as previously announced, Greenland USA would acquire all but 5% of Forest City Ratner/Forest City Realty Trust's ownership interest in Pacific Park going forward. No price was announced. While some, including me, unwisely used the term "buy," the press release didn't specify a sale, or a price. As I describe below, evidence--neither confirmed nor denied--suggests that Forest City simply gave it away, to avoid further losses. That press release carefully cited a "restructuring" that took "Greenland USA's ownership interest i...

This is the first of three articles on Greenland USA finances related to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.  The  second  concerned what Greenland paid Forest City in the 2018 ownership reshuffle, and what happened to Site 5. The third concerned Forest City's giving up its shares in the B4 tower and future Site 5 project. An audit of Greenland Holding Group, the Shanghai-based parent of Greenland USA, indicates that, as of the end of 2023, the firm recognized an impairment--a loss in value--of nearly $391 million from its investment in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. That indicates the impact of project delays and helps explain why there's been no revenue, or cushion, to pay back outstanding loans, now facing foreclosure, under the EB-5 investor visa program.  Though the impairment is substantial, it's little more than half of the $732 million in impairments, as detailed below, suffered by original developer Forest City Enterprises/Forest City Realty Trust on the project. Th...

I have an article in City Limits today about 38 Sixth Avenue (B3), which has been subject to numerous complaints from tenants about basic services like hot water and a working front door, and a belated response from landlord Avanath. Avanath bought the building two years ago from Greenland Forest City Partners, which developed it on a 70/30 basis, with 70% contributed by Greenland USA and 30% by joint-venture partner Forest City Ratner, the project's original developer. The headline is Despite New Owner’s Promised Upgrades, ‘100% Affordable’ Atlantic Yards Building Endures Hot Water Outages, Broken Door, Even Bees . Some context At a  meeting  last month of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), a lawyer for the parent Empire State Development (ESD) defended the project against criticism from longtime advocacy planner and academic Ron Shiffman, an AY CDC Director, who said the developers "have not delivered for at least 15 years." Shiffman...

Could NY State Leverage that Neon Art (or Advertising?) Installation to Get Tsai to Pay for the Plaza? ( link ) Empire State Development doesn't have to sign off on an automatic extension after three years, does it?

So, the "You Belong Here"/"We Belong Here" neon art installation over the Barclays Center transit hub was unveiled Oct. 23, 2021 for at least three years, as I reported . Will Tavares Strachan's artwork, part of "Belong/Brooklyn," an initiative of the the Joe & Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund (SJF), stay longer? Well, it's permitted through the end of the year, not 36 months, as I'd supposed. And while state officials told me no renewal request has been received and the SJF didn't respond to my query, I wouldn't bet against it. Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the larger project, told me that, if/when a request for extension is received, approval is an internal matter, not subject to public comment. That suggests an easy process. Upon the installation, the SJF stated , it "will be on long-term view at the entrance of Barclays Center, atop the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays C...

Getting Up to Speed on Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park ( link ). Because my FAQ is way too long, some key articles and concepts.

 Weekly Digest: Questions Swirl Around Future of (Tsai's) Plaza, Greenland's Role in Larger Project ( link )

Nearly twelve years ago, I wrote  A Brand Called Brooklyn  for The Brooklyn Rail, a publication that, with the departure of co-founder Theodore Hamm in 2013, would no longer publish tough coverage of Brooklyn issues. With the advent of the Barclays Center, I wrote, developer and arena operator Forest City was doing its best to "exploit [Brooklyn's]s reputation as a world-class destination." Well, the current arena operator, BSE Global, is now doing more. After all, the acronym comes from "Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment." Notably, the formerly-indie Brooklyn Magazine --mostly a web presence, plus a good podcast --has joined BSE Global, the holding company owned by Joe Tsai (and the Julia Koch family) that includes the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center operating company. It's apparently part of a larger effort to grow an enterprise called Brooklyn Media, focusing on "sports, music, fashion and sneakers, and food," as embodied ...

Hey, you do belong here, right? Under the rubric of the Belong Brooklyn, an initiative of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation's Social Justice Fund (SJF),  three free concerts  have been scheduled at the Barclays Center's Ticketmaster Plaza. Tomorrow, from 2:30-7:15 pm, will be the Brooklyn Raga Massive (BRM) festival, followed by theAfroBeats vs Amapiano Takeover Aug. 4 (more here on the genres, one from Nigeria, one from South Africa); then the third annual Angela Yee Day Sept. 1, featuring the locally famous DJ and radio host. Screenshot from Social Justice Fund Social justice or community relations? The series is "featuring"--whatever that means--the Workforce Readiness Awareness Campaign, according to the SJF, which is funded by the primary owner of the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center operating company, and more. That campaign emphasizes "employment equity, via workforce readiness and re-entry programs, as a means of belonging": To build awareness on thi...

At a recent meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), Empire State Development was invited, in a curiously orchestrated sequence ( link ), to solicit a new plan for developing Site 5, catercorner to the arena, from current master developer Greenland USA. Remember, in 2015-16, Greenland Forest City Partners--that's when original developer and joint venture partner Forest City was involved --proposed a giant, two-tower project at the site, currently occupied by the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's. A 250-foot, 439,050-square foot tower had been approved, but the developer wanted to move the bulk from the unbuilt flagship tower, B1 (aka "Miss Brooklyn") across Flatbush Avenue to create a much larger project, up to 785 feet tall and 1,142,052 square feet. Upcoming changes? That pending plan likely would be further revised and likely expanded by Greenland USA--or, perhaps their new partner or successor, whoeve...