As we await a new mayor, remember Errol Louis's 2010 warning: the bill for the railyard platform might "get handed to the city or state a decade from now"
The city's Democratic primary election is today--not that we'll know the mayoral results until ranked-choice voting is calculated July 1.
Nor will that decide the city's next mayor, since both city-and-press-averse, establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo and buzzy, inexperienced socialist Zohran Mamdani, the two frontrunners, are likely to run on separate ballot lines, along with tarnished incumbent Eric Adams, in November.
As of March, at least, Comptroller Brad Lander, a former Brooklyn Council Member who knows some things about Atlantic Yards, was mentioning the project, but getting things wrong. (And he's considered the wonkiest candidate!)
Lander has since joined a BrooklynSpeaks press release criticizing the state's failure to enforce $2,000/month in liquidated damages for the 876 missing affordable units, saying, "Moving to a new phase of development at Atlantic Yards can’t begin by repeating the same mistakes of the past two decades."
Very little has been said about the vexed Atlantic Yards project, unlike in some previous campaigns. Maybe because the project is confounding. Mamdani came to the Vanderbilt Yard to promote his housing plan, but didn't say anything about the project.
Cuomo outsourced his housing plan to ChatGPT and (apparently) supporters, so he (along with Adams) likely supports an emerging plan for the remainder of the Atlantic Yards site led by Cirrus Real Estate Partners, which has an agreement with construction unions. But he probably couldn't find the railyard.
As of March, at least, Comptroller Brad Lander, a former Brooklyn Council Member who knows some things about Atlantic Yards, was mentioning the project, but getting things wrong. (And he's considered the wonkiest candidate!)
Lander has since joined a BrooklynSpeaks press release criticizing the state's failure to enforce $2,000/month in liquidated damages for the 876 missing affordable units, saying, "Moving to a new phase of development at Atlantic Yards can’t begin by repeating the same mistakes of the past two decades."
Any mayoral candidate should recognize that.
A 2010 prediction about a public bailout
It's worth remembering--to adapt what I previously wrote in April 2023--part of a column Errol Louis, a longtime project supporter, wrote for the March 11, 2010 New York Daily News, as a preview to the arena’s groundbreaking. (Louis has gone on to NY 1 and New York magazine.)
Though Louis first criticized “a hard-core anti-development faction,” he acknowledged that state agencies and original developer Forest City Ratner “haven't been blameless. We still don't know who will pay to create an expensive deck over the Vanderbilt railyards, the section of the project area where thousands of units of housing are supposed to be built.”
A 2010 prediction about a public bailout
It's worth remembering--to adapt what I previously wrote in April 2023--part of a column Errol Louis, a longtime project supporter, wrote for the March 11, 2010 New York Daily News, as a preview to the arena’s groundbreaking. (Louis has gone on to NY 1 and New York magazine.)
Though Louis first criticized “a hard-core anti-development faction,” he acknowledged that state agencies and original developer Forest City Ratner “haven't been blameless. We still don't know who will pay to create an expensive deck over the Vanderbilt railyards, the section of the project area where thousands of units of housing are supposed to be built.”
That two-block platform would support six towers (B5-B10).
“The expected cost --as much as $200 million to $300 million by some estimate--may get picked up by Ratner,” Louis wrote, “or the bill may get handed to the city or state a decade from now, long after human and institutional memories of the original deal have faded.”
Now, it's been well more than a decade. Ratner's long gone from the project. The original package deal, of course, involved enormous state assistance, direct and indirect, to build an arena for what is now the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. That didn't enrich Ratner, though.
Winners sharing the wealth?
The big winners in the project are Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who sold the team and arena company to Alibaba billionaire Joe Tsai at an enormous profit, and then Tsai, who sold a 15% slice to the Julia Koch family at another enormous profit.
Why couldn’t New York State have ensured that any deals involving the (nominally state-owned) arena require some payment to public entities to support other aspects of the project? That could’ve ensured additional funding for infrastructure, or deeper affordability.
The big winners in the project are Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who sold the team and arena company to Alibaba billionaire Joe Tsai at an enormous profit, and then Tsai, who sold a 15% slice to the Julia Koch family at another enormous profit.
Why couldn’t New York State have ensured that any deals involving the (nominally state-owned) arena require some payment to public entities to support other aspects of the project? That could’ve ensured additional funding for infrastructure, or deeper affordability.
Why couldn't making the arena plaza permanent be contingent on payments from Tsai/Koch-owned BSE Global?
Governance, too
Back in 2010, Louis expressed support for “a special Atlantic Yards development district with appointees from the city, the state, community organizations and the developer”—a variation on a proposal from the BrooklynSpeaks coalition.
That didn't fly, but the BrooklynSpeaks proposal by 2014 had turned into the gubernatorially controlled Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, which has mostly (but not always) been a lapdog or disempowered.
Governance, too
Back in 2010, Louis expressed support for “a special Atlantic Yards development district with appointees from the city, the state, community organizations and the developer”—a variation on a proposal from the BrooklynSpeaks coalition.
That didn't fly, but the BrooklynSpeaks proposal by 2014 had turned into the gubernatorially controlled Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, which has mostly (but not always) been a lapdog or disempowered.
A new governance structure awaits, as well.
Maybe the next Mayor will work with the Governor on all this. Stay tuned.
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