Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Who Controls the Arena Plaza? New York State's Explanation Left Something Out ( link ) Complex transactions involving the (unbuilt) flagship tower and the Barclays Center operator were envisioned. Shouldn't BSE Global pay to gain a permanent plaza?

Weekly Digest: a Dog Run Dispute, a New Affordable Housing Graphic ( link ) A highly controlled online meeting fails to ventilate the full dog run dispute; a Barclays Center rep leans into the "Urban Experience."

This is the third of three articles about the Nov. 6, 2024 Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting, sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The first concerned the way the project was framed. The second concerned the dog run and open space. Marissa Shorenstein, Chief External Affairs Officer for BSE Global, which owns the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and the Barclays Center operating company, was invited to present plans-- previously disclosed at a meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation--for a youth basketball program at the closed Modell's store opposite the arena. At Flatbush & Atlantic, Nov. 7 In other words, her presentation was more a commercial than a chance to answer questions, which she did at the end, with little detail or dialogue. Had it been an in-person meeting, attendees might have been able to ask follow-up questions that comported with their experience, such as seeing il

Ok, the pattern is indeed curious. After years in which the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) never met its required quarterly meeting schedule, a new meeting scheduled for Nov. 14 would mean three meetings in little more than four months. (Here's my coverage of the Aug. 8 meeting and the Sept. 26 meeting .) What's going on? We won't know until the meeting starts, since the yet-to-be-issued Agenda is likely to be impossibly vague.  But it's a reasonable bet that something is happening with the project, likely involving the pending joint venture, including Hudson Yards developer Related Companies, to take over six tower sites over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard. Would that mean that AY CDC parent Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, has negotiated the contours of a deal, perhaps involving supersizing the project, extending the deadline for

This is the second of three articles about the Nov. 6, 2024 Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting, sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The first concerned the way the project was framed.  The  third  concerned a presentation by arena operator BSE Global. So, master developer Greenland USA, though it's  about to lose  six tower development sites to foreclosure, is still in the game, with Design Director Jen Kuang--the partial successor to previous point man Scott Solish, who  left in early 2023 --making a presentation about the project, especially the new open space. Looking east to 595 Dean from larger of two dog runs The most significant discussion, as described below, involved policies regarding the noisy dog runs (one for small dogs, one for large ones), where noise disturbs residents of the west side of the 595 Dean west tower. That said, I learned more outside the meeting from both a project neighbor and a rep

This is the first of three articles about the Nov. 6, 2024 Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting, sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The second concerned the dog run and open space. The third concerned a presentation by arena operator BSE Global. The first Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting since February 2023—it was previously held bi-monthly, at least while construction proceeded—last night was a low-key affair, lasting about an hour and attracting, as organizers later reported, about a dozen people, fewer than at previous such meetings. Maybe it was fatigue and resignation regarding Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. Maybe it was that various organizations didn't announce the event. (It wasn’t in the Monday newsletters, for example, of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council or the North Flatbush Business Improvement District.) Surely it had something to do with people distracted after the electio

Yes, I know the election results are dominating people's consciousness right now, but there is a Quality of Life Update Meeting behind held tonight at 6 pm, on Zoom, for residents around/of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project to voice concerns and also to hear various updates. This would be the first such meeting since February 2003.  The meetings slacked when vertical construction finished, and also, I suspect, because personnel had departed from Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. However, the reason for such meetings, with ESD having the ability to bring representatives from various agencies and companies to field questions, has not waned, as I wrote . Registration:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jfX9MgsFTsWiguTSctqB1w .  Questions and comments for the presenters can be submitted via email to  AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov  before the meeting. Questions and comments can also be submitted in the virtual platform’s chat fea

In a friendly article likely goosed by a press release, Adweek reported yesterday,  Brooklyn Magazine Relaunches As BKMag After BSE Global Acquisition , confirming I reported in July,  So, once-indie Brooklyn Magazine is now part of Nets owner Tsai's BSE Global, which plans a larger media enterprise to champion/amplify Brooklyn.   (H/t to Brownstoner for noticing the Adweek article.) From Adweek: The relaunch is the first step in a broader bid from BSE Global to build a global media brand, called Brooklyn Media, early next year, according to global chief products and experiences officer DeJuan Wilson. “We want to put Brooklyn at the center of the BSE ecosystem and connect people to Brooklyn through all the things they love,” Wilson said. “The relaunch is about positioning BKMag as the ultimate guide to Brooklyn.” That means, according to the article, "BKMag will more heavily emphasize guides, such as lists of the best restaurants in the borough and short-form video content.&q

From my new essay in Common Edge, headlined Delays Undermine Promises of Affordable Housing in Brooklyn : The megaproject Atlantic Yards (aka Pacific Park) in Brooklyn was announced in 2003 under the slogan, “Jobs, Housing, and Hoops.” Of 4,500 rental apartments, half would be below-market "affordable housing," memorialized—so it seemed-–in a 2005 agreement that original developer Forest City Ratner signed with the grassroots group ACORN... That housing promise, to be fulfilled in ten years, was key to gaining political and community support for the 16-tower project, despite concern about subsidies, scale, eminent domain for a basketball arena, and an end-run around democracy. Atlantic Yards, though, faced delays and revisions. As condemnations finally loomed in 2010, a lawyer for targeted property owners argued that a newly extended project deadline, to 2035, vitiated promised benefits. That argument failed. “Whatever the pace may be for the delivery” of such benefits, a

Weekly Digest: Pushback to Emerging Project Revisions ( link ) The coalition BrooklynSpeaks seeks more deeply affordable housing, and more. Also: a belated meeting for project neighbors, plus a note to readers.

OK, the first of the two restaurants in the base of the 595 Dean buildings, Nin Hao, opened in mid-September, and this Tuesday, so did SIMÒ Pizza, the fourth location for the mini-chain. The photo at right, looking east along Dean Street, is from Oct. 17, when they were finishing up. The address is 629 Dean Street, open daily 11 am to 10 pm. A margherita pizza at SIMÒ is $13.90.  Nin Hao has a more complex menu and higher price points, and is open at 5 pm daily. Presumably the presence of these two retail outlets will increase foot traffic in the central piece of the project's current open space, along Dean Street midway between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SIMÒ Pizza: 90 Seconds to Napoli (@simo.pizza)