Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Weekly Digest: Stalled Project Faces More Questions Than Answers ( link ) Penalties, or a new developer? We'll learn by May. Also, BSE Global picks Greenpoint for its New York Liberty practice facility.

This is the fifth of five articles on the March 25, 2025 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), held at the office of its parent Empire State Development (ESD).  The  first  concerned the Pacific Park Conservancy. The  second  concerned making BSE Global pay for a permanent arena plaza. The  third  concerned the unusually large plan for Site 5. The fourth concerned the AY CDC budget. Please see coverage in City Limits, Brooklyn’s Stalled Atlantic Yards Plan Faces More Questions Than Answers , which includes the key information in the article but takes a bigger-picture perspective. This article covers more of the blow-by-blow discussion. With barely two months to go before $2,000/month damages are triggered for each of 876 missing affordable housing units in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, state representatives at the meeting seemed uncertain about whether they'd enforce the penalties or whether a new developer-...

This is the fourth of five articles on the March 25, 2025 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), held at the office of its parent Empire State Development (ESD). The first concerned the Pacific Park Conservancy. The second concerned making BSE Global pay for a permanent arena plaza. The third concerned the unusually large plan for Site 5. The fifth concerned the project's future. The main reason for the meeting was to approve the annual $250,000 budget for the AY CDC. I had, in my preview , raised a question about who's paying: the answer was Greenland USA, which remains, nominally, the project's master developer, though it has been poised to lose the six railyard development sites to foreclosure. Presumably if/when Greenland loses those sites in foreclosure--but still keeps Site 5 and B1--the required payments would be shared among those with responsibility for the project. Other issues Directors pointed to a few issues raise...

This is the third of five articles on the March 25, 2025 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), held at the office of its parent Empire State Development (ESD). The first concerned the Pacific Park Conservancy. The second concerned making BSE Global pay for a permanent arena plaza. The fourth concerned the AY CDC budget. The fifth concerned the project's future. AY CDC Director Ron Shiffman--veteran advocacy planner, Pratt academic, and former City Planning Commissioner--raised a question about Site 5, the parcel across Flatbush Avenue from the arena block long home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's. Looking south at Site 5. Photo: Norman Oder It's slated for a far larger project , as of 2021, than previously planned: two towers, one 910 feet and the other 450 feet, thanks to a proposed shift of bulk from the unbuilt B1 tower, once slated to loom over the arena, and a total bulk of 1.242 million sq...

The Barclays Center yesterday released its April 2025 event calendar, with eleven ticketed events: five Brooklyn Nets games, five concerts, and one high-school all-star basketball game. That's an slight decline from April 2024, with twelve ticketed events, though still better than April 2023, with only eight ticketed events, The arena typically leaves a good fraction of dates in April and even May open for potential Brooklyn Nets playoff games, but the team has already been eliminated. A private event The arena no longer announces most private events , which disserves neighbors who should be told about potentially disruptive crowds.  But it does note events that serve the arena operator's interests. The calendar does note a "community convening event" on the morning of April 7. That turns out to be a free event, "Navigating the Changing Legal and Funding Landscape: Tools and Guidance for Brooklyn Nonprofits," presented by Brooklyn Org and the Social Justice...

Aiming to offer more amenities and compete for future talent--a locker room with players' "private suites," rooftop dining, and a childcare facility-- the New York Liberty yesterday announced ( link ) plans to build "an $80 million "state-of-the-art practice facility, spanning 75,000 square-feet, located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, on Newtown Creek and overlooking Manhattan’s iconic skyline."    From NY Liberty: helicopter view towards Greenpoint from Newtown Creek Well, it more overlooks Long Island City's impressive, if not quite iconic, skyline, as well as Greenpoint's also impressive-not-iconic skyline, as shown in images below. Looking west from Pulaski Bridge. Arrow =  approximate location. Photo: Norman Oder While the location wasn't specified, it's clear that the location is the northern tip of Manhattan Avenue, between Ash Street and Newtown Creek. Manhattan Avenue once led to the Vernon Avenue Bridge, but in 1954 was replaced by the P...

This is the second of five articles on the March 25, 2025 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), held at the office of its parent Empire State Development (ESD). The first concerned the Pacific Park Conservancy. The third concerned the unusually large plan for Site 5. The fourth concerned the AY CDC budget. The fifth concerned the project's future. Robert Puca, a resident of Pacific Street between Sixth and Carlton avenues, submitted a series of questions (bottom) as public comments. Those comments were distilled from articles I previously published. At the meeting, he also spoke publicly, wanting to raise one issue, regarding the Barclays Center, that hadn't been mentioned. (See upcoming coverage for more, but most of the questions didn't get fully addressed.) If developer Greenland USA is able to move the bulk of the unbuilt B1 tower, once slated to loom over the arena, to Site 5, longtime home of the big-box stores P.C. Ric...

This is the first of five articles on the March 25, 2025 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), held at the office of its parent Empire State Development (ESD). The second concerned making BSE Global pay for a permanent arena plaza. The third concerned the unusually large plan for Site 5. The fourth concerned the AY CDC budget. The fifth concerned the project's future. Anna Pycior, ESD Senior VP, Community Relations, updated the group on the Pacific Park Conservancy, who oversees the 2.7 acres of open space on the southeast block of the project.  To improve oversight and maintenance, the Conservancy, she said, has hired Streetplus , a Brooklyn-based company that works at Union Square Park, Madison Square Park, and other locations. The Conservancy also has hired Dubner Landscaping and Construction to oversee landscaping. It works on the East Midtown Greenway, Four Freedoms Park, and Hudson Yards. "This reflects feedbac...

Though Greenland USA may seem a zombie developer ( link ) regarding the six railyard development sites, expected to be lost in a long-pending foreclosure process, it still has a lobbying contract regarding the so-called "platform project." State records show that a 2019 contract, amended and extended over the years, has been extended for another year, until the end of 2025, unless terminated by the owner. See below. (That termination option was introduced in 2024, suggesting the precariousness of the effort.) As in 2024, Greenland is paying a monthly fee of $3,750. In 2022 and 2023, when Greenland was apparently moving forward on the platform needed to develop those sites, and also negotiating to supersize the project to make it more financially viable, the fee was $6,000 per month.   From 2019 through 2021, the monthly fee was $4,000, and the contract focused not on the platform sites but rather the B4 tower (18 Sixth Ave.), which Greenland developed jointly with the Brods...

The main reason to have a meeting tomorrow ( info here ) of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) is to approve the annual $250,000 budget, which is posted in the meeting materials at bottom and excerpted below. It's worth noting that, while the AY CDC budget once paid for dedicated personnel, at the April 18, 2024 budget meeting, attendee were told the $220,011 in personnel costs represent prorated portions of staff time. What was not explained was how, previously, when ESD had two employees assigned to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, other staff were able to work on the project while being paid their regular salaries.  Does the personnel funding add to their compensation? Or does it just save taxpayers money? This year's budget This year, the personal services budget is $229,497, as seen in the screenshot at right. The increase in part made available by the obviation of office occupancy expenses, which last year were apparently $13,250.  It's unclear...

Weekly Digest: Will Fortress Have Control of the Six Railyard Sites? ( link ) Evidence (plus more today) of the under-the-radar investor's role. Also, advisory group meeting postponed until Tuesday. Maybe some answers then?

On March 18, I published (on my Substack newsletter, you can subscribe!) an informed speculation aimed to prompt belated some public candor. Who Really Controls the Six Railyard Sites? Maybe Fortress is in the Driver's Seat. The subheading: "The private investment firm (owned mainly by Abu Dhabi!) may now control the EB-5 collateral. Can Empire State Development clarify this at meeting tomorrow?" Well, the meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) referenced was postponed to Tuesday , but, in the meantime, I got more information that both confirmed the speculation but left more to clarify.  Beyond the Chinese-language document I cited earlier, I've seen an English-language document that similarly claims that Fortress was expected to control the two investment funds that control the collateral for two loans: six development parcels over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard. The recap As I wrote, Atlantic Yards...