Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Chick-fil-A Tries to Tame the Delivery Chaos , Curbed reported Nov. 7, citing a new location expected to dilute the longstanding crowds of motorbikes and delivery guys on the sidewalk outside the Flatbush Avenue location at Pacific Street, which caused double parking and then prompted the Department of Transportation to trade parking spaces for a vehicle corral. June 7, 2022. Photos: Norman Oder Flatbush Avenue was, as I've reported , a mess, with the hunger for deliveries creating problems unrelated to the Barclays Center across the street. Fast Company  called  it "one of the highest-grossing Chick-fil-As in America." Well, I've only visited, as a pair, the Flatbush location and the new location at Atlantic and Clinton avenues five times--they're about 15 minutes apart, by foot--and I haven't been interviewing staff or delivery guys, but... it seems to be working.  Each time, I saw more vehicles at Flatbush Avenue, but there were relatively few on the sidewa...

One year ago, I reported ( link ) that work on the long-delayed "Pacific Park Project Phase II – Combined Sewer Installation and Water Main Replacement on Dean Street between 6th Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue" was expected to ramp up in Spring 2024 and take until November 2025. That didn't happen, and it's not starting until next year. (The work was supposed to start on October 24, 2022, according to an  announcement  posted by Brooklyn Community Board 8. According to a May 2022  presentation  by the Department of Design and Construction (DDC), the project was supposed to take 36 months.) The update So credit Kaya Laterman of the BK Reader for her Dec. 18 article,  Delayed by More Than a Year, Will a Brooklyn Infrastructure Upgrade Ever Get Done? The project, she noted, was 15 months behind schedule, given multiple parties at odds: When DeBoe Construction, the general contractor that won the bid for the Dean Street project, sent its crew to start work in April 20...

Do Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai Own the Barclays Center? No. ( link ) The common, erroneous shorthand, lately in the New York Times , obscures the governmental largesse that has helped fuel huge financial gains.

Before the year is over, let's take a second look at some key questions about the EB-5 (investor visa) loans to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developer Greenland USA. Was the money spent appropriately, on Permitted Uses? Did documentation received by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, jibe with previous information? Had ESD received sufficient certification of the spending?  The answers: maybe not (despite ESD's later pronouncements), no, and no. That means ESD did not sufficiently monitor the loans and may have been misled. That points to a larger issue: ESD did not look closely enough at whether the process was legitimate, that the collateral for such loans was diluted to the point where it was insufficient to bolster the $349 million that Greenland--originally as Greenland Forest City Partners--borrowed from immigrant investors under the EB-5 program. They each invested $500,000--forsaking interest for an expected five to s...

I recently rewatched the video (below), of the June 25 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) with the benefit of hindsight, and was flabbergasted by the gulf between a body set up for oversight and an essentially unaccountable state authority. In other words, the discussion about the future of 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, should have been short-circuited by an acknowledgement that the future was essentially set.  However, those who knew, executives at Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, knew stayed silent.   I reported : In a surprise, AY CDC Chair Daniel Kummer, displaying an unusual amount of personal conviction, steered the conversation to developing Site 5... After all, it's usually staff of the parent [ESD] who propose project changes. As of then, we ...

In writing  Is 595 Dean a "Successful Project"?  a few weeks ago, I noted reasons for doubt, including the not-so-affordable "affordable housing": Yes, there are 240 below-market units aimed at middle-income households earning 130% of Area Median Income (AMI), which in most cases is six figures, all thanks to the 421-a tax break. Though “affordable,” given the loose definition applied to income-targeted apartments, they hardly help the people who rallied for the project with great hopes and expectations. Let's drill down on that a bit more. As I reported in April, drawing on a policy brief from New York University’s Furman Center, it's widely acknowledged that the 421-a tax break that enabled buildings with 130% AMI units was too generous. A tiny fraction Take a look at the chart below, from the Furman Center. Only 16.7% of renter households were earning at least 130% of AMI, while only 24.3% were earning at least 100% of AMI and 67.2% earning less than 80%...

So, Sportico reported Dec. 18, NBA Team Values 2024: Warriors, Knicks Lead as Average Hits $4.6B , citing the impact of a new collective bargaining agreement and a a new TV deal, But the key passage is here: The value of owning an arena was on display in the recent investment by Julia Koch and her family to buy 15% of BSE Global at a $6 billion valuation . BSE is the parent company of the Nets, New York Liberty and Barclays Center. In April, the Barclays Center was the highest-grossing arena in the world, according to Billboard, and it finished the year ranked sixth overall. The value of the Nets is up an NBA-high of 43%. Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai bought the Nets and rights to the Barclays Center in stages, starting in 2018. The following year they consolidated ownership at a $3.3 billion valuation. It was the highest price ever paid for control of a U.S. sports team. That deserves a little skepticism. The arena's gross earnings do not translate into big profits--a moderate one...

In July 2023, ratings agency Moody's  downgraded  its  rating  of Greenland Holding Group, the parent of Atlantic Yards developer (for now) Greenland USA, two notches from Caa2 to Ca, which  it says  is "highly speculative, or near default. Was there any update? I recently checked. On April 26, 2024, Moody's--the only ratings agency to assess Greenland, as  S&P withdrew  at the company's request, and  Fitch withdrew  "for commercial reasons"--affirmed that same rating in an  update  to the credit analysis. The rating "reflects the company's weak liquidity with history of payment default, and our expectation of weak recovery prospects for Greenland Holding's bondholders," while acknowledging "the company's large operations with geographic and product diversification in China and weak financial metrics." The rating outlook was negative, given that Moody's said it expected key metrics, such as the amount of debt and the ra...

Just following up on a class-action suit announced ( link ) last January regarding a Madonna concert at the Barclays Center that started way late. Well, the case is gone. The plaintiffs in June  claimed  to have reached a settlement prompting defense layers  to write  that that was inaccurate, and that "defendants do not agree with plaintiffs’ position that each party should bear its own fees and costs." According to a  list of documents , the case was later dismissed, though the court retained jurisdiction to impose sanctions.

On Oct. 31, I wrote about how the coalition  BrooklynSpeaks , in its briefing to local elected officials regarding the future of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, urged that they ensure deeply affordable housing and have the Barclays Center operator fund quality-of-life monitors. Here's the link . Let's take a second look at the latter recommendation, which I thought worthy but asking too little. It's clear, from the events of Sunday, when quality-of-life violations were blatantly encouraged, that it couldn't be viable without a vastly changed political firmament. Pacific Street and Carlton Avenue, access  managed not by the NYPD but by the Shomrim safety patrol My coverage:  Unannounced Barclays Center event for Hasidic group draws elected officials. NYPD lets volunteers (!) cordon off streets. Scofflaw vehicles block sidewalks, paths.   In other words, the powers that be--city and state leaders--wanted the event to run at the convenience of attendees and arena operators...

Every month, neighbors of the Barclays Center get an arena event calendar from "Barclays Center Cares." The reality, though, is they care very selectively. Pacific Street and Carlton Avenue, access managed by the Shomrim safety patrol Yesterday, with no public notice, the arena hosted an event for the Satmar Hasidic sect that proved disruptive to neighbors and represented, as I wrote on Twitter/X, "one of the more egregious takeovers of public space in Barclays Center history." Here's a press release for the event, Satmar Barclays Event will Celebrate 80th Anniversary of Rebbe's Rescue from the Nazis, Spearheading the Community's Rebirth in NY , which was circulated by the Satmar community, curiously enough, only today. Political power    This was done surely with the encouragement of the Mayor's office, which likely wanted to meet the needs of a constituency that tends to vote as a bloc.  Mayor Eric Adams  was in attendance, as were  Public Advocat...

Weekly Digest: A Quietly Important 2024 for Atlantic Yards; 38 Sixth Ave. Tenants Make Progress in Court ( link ) Despite absence of construction, big plans for project surface, with new entrant likely. BSE Global's ambitions, too. "Affordable" tenants push on landlord Avanath. 

In what a tenant representative called a "significant victory," the landlord of "100% affordable" 38 Sixth Avenue, Avanath Capital Management, has agreed to a stipulation and consent order to ameliorate conditions in the building that prompted a tenant lawsuit over a faulty front door, broken intercoms, and a roach infestation. The agreements, posted online yesterday, came after a two-day negotiation that began on December 17, the afternoon the case, filed by the 38 Sixth Avenue Tenants' Association (TA) and represented by Take Root Justice , was scheduled for trial. Notably, Avanath agreed to correct four roach violations cited in the lawsuit, considered Class C , or immediately hazardous, within 30 days, or be subject to fines of $150-$1,500 per day and $150-$1,200 per violation. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development has found 12 more roach violations since the lawsuit was filed Sept. 10. The 303-unit building, all belo...

From February 2024 In working on my end-of-the-year round-up, I noticed the February 2024 advertisement at right, in which the Brooklyn Nets, unable to rely on superstars, promoted--duh--the borough: "For Brooklyn, By Brooklyn." Whatever that means. It should be noted that the team's two best players, Mikal Bridges (at right) and Dennis Schröder (at left), have both since been traded, to the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors, respectively. (I'm not sure who's in the center.) The New York Post's Brian Lewis Dec. 16 quoted Net Dorian Finney-Smith--another trade candidate, by the way, given the team's turn to tanking for a top draft pick--as saying of the Schröder trade, in part, “It's tough. But it's part of the business. We’re going to miss him." For the umpteenth time, it's a business. Shifting locations So it was wise of Schröder to not quite fully invest in Brooklyn, choosing to rent --not buy--a Red Hook townhouse for $40,000 a...

In 2024, No New Construction, But a Big Year for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park ( link ) Larger plans for railyard & Site 5 surface, as does Related's role. Liberty win WNBA. New Koch investment boo$ts BSE Global, planning Brooklyn media (+ more) venture. Will arena company pay for plaza?

The Barclays Center this week released its January 2025 event calendar, with 19 events--but only 18 available via the arena box office. ( Update : the 19th did become available.) The schedule includes seven Brooklyn Nets games and nine Disney on Ice performances, the latter over four days.  Last January, there were eight Disney on Ice performances over four days, with two Sunday shows, rather than three, as in the coming January. There were 16 ticketed events total, so this year represents a slight uptick. Also this January: one comedy show (Martin Lawrence) and the first of four Monster Jam  live truck stunt shows, with the other three on the first two days of February. Also, on Jan. 3, nearby Long Island University's men's basketball game is supposedly at Barclays. (As of publication, the game was listed as being played at LIU's Steinberg Wellness Center, but it was updated to be at Barclays , with $15 tickets in the Lower Bowl.) January 2024 In January 2024, the arena...