Is Related deal already cooked re railyard sites? Latest lobbying report excludes Atlantic Yards. Greenland is still lobbying, surely re Site 5.

Update: My speculation was off. Related had pulled out (link).

Is the deal with Related Companies, as part of a joint venture with the U.S. Immigration Fund and the Fortress Investment Group, to take over the six tower sites over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard, already done?

Well, that's one interpretation of Related's November/December 2024 lobbying report, which excludes mention of Atlantic Yards. (Another is that the report has a lapse.)

As I reported in November, Related amped up engagement in September and October, indicating that it not only lobbied four executives at Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, it also lobbied New York City Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. 

Is Related asking the city for housing subsidies? As I wrote, it's hard to imagine Related would enter the project without having negotiated, at least partly, the scale of the project, the affordable housing obligation (and deadlines), and more.

After all, longtime master developer Greenland USA, as I reported last year, had in 2023 attempted to rescue the project by requesting far more developable square footage--i.e., valuable land--presumably to make it more financially viable.

Unofficial image

Greenland still lobbying

Meanwhile, Greenland, which for more than a year has faced the prospect of losing those six railyard sites in foreclosure, still wants to move the bulk of the unbuilt flagship tower (B1, aka "Miss Brooklyn"), once slated to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue, to build a large, two-tower complex at Site 5, longtime home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's.

Greenland, according to its November/December 2024 lobbying reports both for Greenland Atlantic Yards LLC and Pacific Park Development LLC, is still lobbying key ESD official Arden Sokolow, EVP, Real Estate Development and Planning, on the future revised General Project Plan (GPP), which governs the project.

Maybe they're waiting until both projects are "cooked" to announce what's been negotiated--and then requires a public process for official approval.