“Here to support my developers”: How Mayor Adams' giant 395 Flatbush Ext. tower might signal a boost for the Atlantic Yards Site 5 plan and possible Cirrus deal

395 Flatbush, with supertall Brooklyn Tower in the
background. Image via Crain's NY Business 

The announcement May 7 by Mayor Eric Adams of a 72-story, mostly residential tower at 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension, between Fulton Street and DeKalb Avenue, does not just regard governmental support for the second tallest--and, surely, bulkiest--building in Brooklyn, at 840 feet (with bulkhead) and 1,544,875 square feet.

The 395 Flatbush plan, over the DeKalb Avenue subway stop opposite the iconic restaurant Junior's and the Brooklyn Paramount/LIU, also has implications for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park and environs, I suspect.

It would deliver 1,263 apartments, of which 253 (20%) to 379 (30%) would be designated as permanently affordable under the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program. The developers are Rabina and Park Tower Group.

Under 30% affordability, the units would be affordable to households averaging 80% of Area Median Income (AMI), under current guidelines $103,680 for a two-person household. Under 25% affordability, the units would be aimed at 60% of AMI. With 20% affordability, the units would be aimed at 40% of AMI, or $51,840 for a two-person household.

It comes with no additional direct subsidy--just the governmental gift of increased development rights.

Building over a base

So, how does it relate to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park?

First, it involves--at least according to a presentation in March--reuse of an existing seven-story commercial building built in 1974, on city property subject to a long-term lease. (The EAS for the project suggests, confusingly, that it would be a new building. I asked for clarification but didn't hear back.)

From presentation to Public Design Commission

That hints at the long-gestating plan, promoted in the early days of Atlantic Yards launch and when project developer Forest City Ratner also owned the malls across Atlantic Avenue, to build three towers over the existing Atlantic Center mall.

Sure, the ownership's now different, and construction wouldn't be simple, but larger buildings, as the city clearly encourages, might make the finances work.

395 Flatbush, via Public Design Commission

Building bigger than befores

Second, this involves a giant building of about 1.55 million gross square feet square-foot (gsf), with 1,075,100 zoning square feet (zsf), meaning a Floor Area Ratio--the comparison with the underlying lot--of 21.87.  

That's an unusual amount of gross square feet, including below-ground space, that wouldn't count as zoning square feet.

That's unprecedented for Brooklyn, as the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning resulted in an FAR of 12, and the Alloy Block (aka 80 Flatbush) spot rezoning had an FAR of 15.75.

However, last year New York State lifted the city's residential FAR cap of 12. A state project near the Javits Center, known as HDSN, would have an FAR of 24. The Real Deal noted that 395 Flatbush would be the first city site "to use a higher FAR under the new rules."

This precedent likely will be used to argue for a large project at Site 5, catercorner to the Barclays Center across Flatbush Avenue.

New York State officials have already agreed on an interim lease, albeit not yet formal approval, of a two-tower plan at Site 5, with 1.242 million square feet and an astounding FAR of 25.5, as I calculated it. (It's possible the zoning square feet calculation would lower the FAR.)

That involves transferring the bulk of the unbuilt flagship tower (B1, aka "Miss Brooklyn") to a site long occupied by the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's, originally approved for a 250-foot tower, with nearly 440,000 square feet. 

Now there could be towers 910 feet and 450 feet, as proposed by master developer Greenland USA, which retains rights to Site 5 and B1, even as it is likely to lose six towers sites over the Vanderbilt Yard in a foreclosure process.

While Site 5 sits on an even larger transit hub, unlike 395 Flatbush, it borders a narrow, modestly scaled block with row houses. Still, the push for 395 Flatbush makes it easier to argue for something larger at Site 5, even if the announced proposal, as is typical, likely involves more than what the developers could accept, thus leaving room for a "compromise."

Part of an Adams push

Third, while many in the pundit class have written off the indicted-and-dismissed Adams as a one-term mayor, he may still have a fighting chance running as an independent, squaring off against the Democratic candidate--as of now, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, leading socialist Zohran Mamdani in the polls--and Cuomo's independent candidacy.

So Adams is pushing for headlines, ribbon-cuttings, and tangible signs of progress. Real estate offers that. The 395 Flatbush project, briefly cited in Adams' State of the City address in January, prompted the Mayor to unveil it at a Real Deal event May 7, claiming to have led the "most pro-housing administration in history."

"Because I made my decision when I was borough president and then became the mayor," he continued, in his notable rhetorical style. "I'm here to support my developers and not fight with my developers. We need you. This is a symbiotic relationship, and government needs to get the hell out of your way and allow you to build the projects that you need to be building in this city."

Well, not just getting "out of the way" but actively interceding to add value.

Getting to Atlantic Yards?

Well, "supporting my developers" could mean that Adams, who last year announced a plan involving Cirrus Real Estate Partners and labor unions to build "workforce housing" in the city might support a percolating, albeit unspecified, deal to build six towers (B5-B10) at the Atlantic Yards site--a plan that rival Cuomo likely has also embraced, as I wrote this week.

Keep in mind that there's a looming May 31 deadline for the 876 more units of affordable housing required. So there may be an announcement from the state--and perhaps also the city?--as that deadline approaches.

Though Adams is not running in the Democratic Mayoral primary June 24, he might like to make an announcement before then, taking the wind out of his rivals' sails.

No capital subsidy

"And because we're opening up such strong sites for development," Adams said at the May 7 event, "we're able to do this without any city capital subsidies, letting us invest that money in other critical projects."

That same argument might be made for the pending Atlantic Yards plan: it might not need direct subsidies if, thanks to the alchemy of increased development rights (free vertical land!), the property becomes more valuable. 

Keep in mind that, in 2023, Greenland proposed to rescue the project by adding more than 1 million square feet at the six railyard development sites. 

That plan could recur. Beyond that, city subsidies could be used to guarantee more deeply affordable housing, perhaps at Site 5.

Better architecture

Another argument for 395 Flatbush is better design. "We’re setting a new standard of urban design and development in the heart of New York's most prosperous and populous borough," declared Adams.

Indeed, it's a far better-looking building than the pedestrian incumbent, from a lower-budget era.

Public Design Commission

Similarly, whatever will be designed for Site 5 would be represent an improvement over those big-box stores.

More on 395 Flatbush

From Public Design Commission

According to the Environmental Assessment Statement, the project would "include public realm improvements, including a new open space available to the public (approximately 4,750 sf) on the southern portion of the Development Site, and an expanded sidewalk along the Development Site’s Flatbush Avenue Extension frontage."

The site, subject to a long-term lease with Fulton DeKalb Associates L.P., has a seven-story, 375,108 gsf commercial building with 293,370 gsf of commercial office space, 35,548 gsf  of ground floor retail, and 46,190 gsf of below-grade parking, with 140 public parking spaces. 

The existing building currently houses a Verizon call center in its office space, while the ground floor retail space mainly houses local retail chains, with leases expected to terminate before 2028. The building is due in 2032.

The document states that Flatbush Avenue Extension is 120 feet wide, Fulton Street, the site's southern frontage, is 80 feet wide, DeKalb Avenue, the site's northern frontage, is 70 feet wide, and Hudson Avenue, the site’s eastern frontage, is 50 feet wide.