Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Update: see Sept. 16 concert added ( link ), for a total of 19 ticketed events and 13 concerts. The Barclays Center this week circulated its September 2024 event calendar, which includes 18 ticketed events: twelve concerts, four WNBA New York Liberty games, and two Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Parties. That's a considerable bump from the six concerts and ten ticketed events in September 2023 , again perhaps attributable to the switch back to Ticketmaster from SeatGeek, plus the fact that there are four Usher concerts. Unlike with last year, the monster truck events will be advertised, according to the community notice, by the arrival Tuesday, Sept. 3, of a monster truck on Ticketmaster Plaza, where it will stay three days, with amplified sound. In other words, that "public" space is valuable as a promotional device. Non-ticketed events The calendar also lists several non-ticketed events, starting with the free plaza party, Angela Yee Day , form noon to 6 pm on Sund...

We know, thanks to reporting first by The Real Deal and more recently by the Wall Street Journal (my coverage ), that a business deal is proceeding for a new developer, Related Companies, to partner with the entities controlling the six future tower sites over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard, to develop them. That's according to a representative of one of those entities, the U.S. Immigration Fund (USIF), the "regional center" or loan packager for two loans to immigrant investors under the EB-5 investor visa program, which totaled $349 million, of which about $286 million remains.  (The other entity is Fortress Investment Group. Whether and how much the EB-5 investors, recruited in China, have any say is unclear.) The inability of the current master developer, Greenland USA, to repay those loans means that its collateral, the sites for towers B5-B10, have faced foreclosure. Those towers have been approved for nearly 3.5 million square feet. Does that mean that construction m...

So, what to make of the Wall Street Journal article today headlined Related Closes In on Deal to Rescue Notoriously Stalled Massive Housing Project , which was summarized somewhat conclusorily by The Real Deal as Related, Fortress, USIF to develop Pacific Park as joint venture ? Well, it sounds like a business deal to develop six railyard development sites, which The Real Deal had already reported was brewing, is further along. But it's yet to get--at least officially--government approval. And the only named source is a rather self-interested businessperson. What next? As the WSJ summarized it, "If all goes well, Related could resume construction on the site as soon as the end of 2025, a person with knowledge of the project said." That doesn't rule out the possibility of a reconfiguration of the project, perhaps along the lines current master developer Greenland USA proposed to rescue it via a significant expansion, as I reported . That could mean new deadlines and, p...

Barton Lewis "is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and photographer whose current work centers around features and fixtures of the street and subway transformed by street artists and organic decay," according to his website . "Before turning to photography in 2018, Barton made films about natural light and the urban landscape." So check out the 13-minute video, fire doors, Pacific Street, Atlantic Yards , described as a "study of 13 graffiti-scrawled fire doors (now dismantled) attached to a fence along the perimeter of the Atlantic Yards development on Pacific Street in Brooklyn, NY." It's sure a snapshot of a different world, yet... there's still a fence bordering the railyard that suggests a yet-to-be developed site. fire doors, Pacific Street, Atlantic Yards from Barton Lewis on Vimeo . The film was posted on Vimeo "14 years ago," meaning 2010, but I suspect it was shot years before at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vande...

An Aug. 1 American Prospect article,  Neighborhoods Play Hardball , has the subheading, "For decades, wealthy owners and financiers have gotten cities to pay for their sports stadiums. It’s not so easy anymore." Indeed, as exemplified by the pushback in Philadelphia and Arlington, Va, toward new arenas, it can be tougher. (Then again, the Buffalo Bills .) But one paragraph in Gabrielle Gurley's otherwise laudable article prompted a spit-take: A decision to proceed or pull back hinges on the results of long-delayed city impact reports that have been paid for by the Sixers. Many economists take a dim view of these types of studies. [Andrew] Zimbalist of Smith College says this research is done by consulting firms that cater to their clients’ interests: “Those are called economic impact reports, but really what they are is elaborate press releases based upon inappropriate methodology and unrealistic assumptions.” Ya think? Zimbalist, from his academic perch, can sound like ...

The New York Times Will Stop Endorsing Candidates in New York Races , the New York Times reported Aug. 13, in its Business section, without any accompanying announcement from the Opinion page.  That means no more endorsements for mayor, governor, and (as they'd done) selected state and city races. That means a boost to incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who saw a rivalry galvanized in 2021 by the Times's endorsement of the lesser-known Kathryn Garcia. From the article: Kathleen Kingsbury, The Times’s Opinion editor, said in a statement that The Times remained a journalistic institution “rooted in New York City.” She did not give a reason for the shift but said that “Opinion will continue to offer perspective on the races, candidates and issues at stake.” My best guess is that the Times calculated that it wasn't worth the time and effort to do due diligence for local races when its readership has become so broad. Heck, the Times used to endorse City Council candidates in races that...

The Brooklyn Nets, having traded their best player (Mikal Bridges) to rebuild via the draft (and cap space), look to be terrible in the next season, and possibly much longer. Is that why the season ticket email sent to me featured not a promising young player like Nic Claxton or Cam Thomas but the octogenarian superfan known as Mr. Whammy, whose longtime shtick is to distract the opposing teams's free throw shooters?  Or that the "header" on the webpage for the season schedule features the team's cheerleaders, the Brooklynettes, not the players? Well, even if the Nets don't have a compelling product on the floor, there's still enough perceived demand--remember, the only local competition is the New York Knicks, a team that's surging and based in Manhattan--to charge some pretty steep ticket prices, at least against solid opponents. Selected pricing As shown below, I clicked through (on Aug. 16) to note the lowest ticket prices for various games. For openi...

Weekly Digest: Wondering About the Next "Thing." Plus Absurd "Affordable" Rents ( link ) Yes, renderings can deceive. Also, are $5,483 "affordable" 2-BRs violating an agreement, legally beating the system, or something else?

Looking south on Sixth Ave. toward entrance Photos: Norman Oder The Sept. 5 opening date for the new hybrid middle school/high school/special needs program approaches for the building with the address 491 Dean Street, now dubbed the Pacific Park Campus, approaches. The New York City School Construction Authority has posted a new video, as well as images of a new mural visible from the building's entrance on Sixth Avenue between Dean and Pacific Streets The campus is in the base of B15 (aka Plank Road), which has the residential address of 662 Pacific Street. That's just across Sixth Avenue from the arena block, between Pacific and Dean streets. Future open space may be across Pacific Street, just east of Sixth Avenue, but the extant "Pacific Park" today is one long block away. The video The video takes viewers through the various spaces--classrooms, special purpose rooms, gym, outdoor play spaces--and is worth a view. The text: Real estate is at a premium here in Ne...

In a sign that the event business has rebounded, the Barclays Center operating company earned nearly 80% more from ticket sales in Fiscal Year 2024 (ending June 30), than in FY 2023, which itself was a big improvement over FY 2022. As shown in the screenshots below, based on reports to bondholders, ticket sales reached nearly $205 million, compared with nearly $114 million in FY 2023. It's not clear how much this should be credited to a more robust concert/event schedule, boosted by the return to ticketing partner Ticketmaster (allied with promoter Live Nation), more fans attending New York Liberty games, rising ticket prices, or all of the above. Suite and sponsors down That said, suite and sponsor installments actually lapsed, to $21.6 million from $26.8 million. That may be both the reason for, and the effect of, constructing  two new clubs , The Key and The Row, to replace 30 suites. And that may drive more revenue next year. Then again, if the Nets tank, they'll have trou...

When the housing lotteries for two "100% affordable" buildings 535 Carlton Ave. ( link ) and 38 Sixth Ave. ( link ) launched in 2016 and 2017, half the income-targeted, rent-stabilized apartments were in an upper middle-income "band," for households at 165% of Area Median Income (AMI). Two-bedroom units in that category were to rent for $3,223 and $3,206, respectively. Rents were supposed to rise each year only by the annual amount set by the Rent Guidelines Board. During the pandemic, many people with means left the city. When in February 2021 the New York City Housing Development Corporation sought to market remaining units at 165% AMI, two-bedroom apartments at both 535 Carlton and 38 Sixth  were listed for $3,206, likely to avoid competing with each other. A 71% increase? From Apartments.com Now two-bedrooms at both buildings are listed, astoundingly, at $5,483, a 71% increase, by the current landlord, Avanath Capital Management, on Apartments.com. The Verified...

What Future Atlantic Yards "Thing" Will Be Assessed? ( link ) The renderings I commissioned of a supersized Pacific Park project are hardly definitive. But they're better than the developer's (limited) 2023 effort. What next?

Fortune magazine last week  released its 2024 Global 500 list, with Greenland Holding Group, the Shanghai-based parent of (for now) main Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developer Greenland USA, plunging to #291, after plummeting in 2023 to #205. That reverses an ascent, in which Greenland had in 2022 reached #125, part of a steady rise. Greenland had closer to its stated (in 2014) ambition to reach the top 100 by 2020. Now, if the current trend continues, Greenland might exit the Global 500 in a few years. Screenshot from Fortune Like many property developers in China, Greenland overextended itself, piling on debt, and seeing its credit rating plummet . Dropping revenue, new losses The well-known Fortune Global 500 ranking relies solely on revenue in the past fiscal year. Greenland had $50.9 billion in revenue, a 21.5% decline from 2023's $64.8 billion in revenue, after reaching $84.5 billion in 2022. Though not part of the ranking, it's worth noting that Greenland's profi...

Weekly Digest: Secret Discussion of Platform Sites' Future, Ventilating Site 5 ( link ). Not much transparency at, or before, the Atlantic Yards CDC meeting. 

This is the third of three articles about the Aug. 8 Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) meeting. The first concerned the mystery topic discussed in Executive Session. The second concerned leasing of the arena plaza. The Executive Session concerned the future of the six parcels at the Vanderbilt Yard, likely to be lost by master developer Greenland USA via foreclosure to another developer, perhaps Related Companies. In the public session of the meeting, AY CDC Director Gib Veconi brought up plans for the project's other remaining parcel: Site 5, the parcel catercorner to the arena, currently occupied by the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's.  It's bounded by Atlantic, Flatbush, and Fourth avenues, and Pacific Street. The latter is mostly row houses on the south side, marking a transition into Park Slope, while Fourth Avenue was rezoned for towers mostly 12-16 stories . Looking south at Site 5 While that parcel was approved for a...