Is BrooklynSpeaks getting ready to sue over affordable housing, or renegotiate terms? Outrage from advocates and elected officials combines with pragmatism.
Yesterday, the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, backed by several local elected officials, held a press conference regarding the failure to complete the project's affordable housing, heralded by a Gothamist headline, Brooklyn leaders say NY can't suspend millions in affordable housing penalties for Atlantic Yards.
Of 2,250 units, 876--or 877, as the signs suggest--remain to be built, with $2,000/month penalties for each missing unit. That adds up to $1.752 million, or, as the signs suggest, $1.754 million.
 |
| Council Member Crystal Hudson, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, FAC's Michelle de la Uz (r.-l.) Photo: BrooklynSpeaks |
Whether BrooklynSpeaks, which in 2014 negotiated the new May 2025 deadline for the project's affordable housing, can or will do anything about it is in question.
(BrooklynSpeaks had threatened a fair-housing lawsuit on grounds that delays would disadvantage Black residents displaced from the neighborhood and thus made ineligible for community preference in city affordable housing lotteries.)
"Lawsuits are definitely considered," said Michelle de la Uz of the nonprofit housing group Fifth Avenue Committee, in response to a question at a press conference held at Carlton Avenue and Pacific Street, where the two-block Vanderbilt Yard awaits an expensive platform to support six future towers.
She didn't say whether BrooklynSpeaks had funding for lawyers, or pro bono counsel lined up. (Nor did BrooklynSpeaks respond directly to the questions I posed before the meeting; I'm relying on videos of the event shot by Jonathan Barkey.)
After all, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, has a large loophole in project contracts, a "right to refrain" from enforcement. That said, even the threat of a lawsuit, which could jeopardize any renegotiated deal, is a potential weapon.
 |
| Six towers are planned here, once a two-block platform is built over the Vanderbilt Yard. Photo: Norman Oder, originally for Urban Omnibus |
Renegotiation coming?
Despite numerous expressions of outrages and compromised trust, BrooklynSpeaks may be in a more pragmatic mode.
de la Uz told Gothamist she wants to meet with ESD officials to learn about their efforts to approve a new "Permitted Developer" to replace Greenland USA, which since November 2023 has been about to lose its rights to those six railyard towers via foreclosure.
That joint venture involves Cirrus Real Estate, a funding entity that has allied with construction unions; the private equity fund Fortress Investment Group; the developer LCOR; Greenland (still); and an affiliate of the U.S. Immigration Fund, a private "regional center" that recruited investors from China to offer Greenland low-interest loans under the EB-5 investor visa program.
It's unlikely that the Cirrus joint venture would not proceed with the foreclosure unless they were not only qualified by ESD but also got the green light for a revamped project that makes financial sense. That could include, as Greenland proposed in 2023, a much larger project that also delivered more affordable units, albeit under a new timeline.
“If they have some endgame that is actually aligned with the public interest, it would be good to hear that now,” de la Uz said. “Because the longer they take to lay that out, the more likely we are to sue.”
BrooklynSpeaks would like more income-targeted "affordable" units, at more deeply affordable rents. That might be accomplished in a larger project with increased bulk.
“We would prefer to work constructively with the state to bring about a result consistent with the promises,” Gib Veconi of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council told Gothamist. “But we always keep our legal options open.”
"No," responded Veconi.
"I mean, not formally, no," said de la Uz. That implies that there may have been informal or indirect communication.
Update June 5: Veconi writes:
We had an introductory meeting with the Cirrus team (no other parties from the proposed JV) at which they discussed the firm’s mission and structure, consistent with public statements they have made over the last few months. They didn’t get into details about plans for Atlantic Yards, and we did not offer specific asks with respect to the project.
Well, it makes sense that, just as Cirrus has met with elected officials (as indicated in its lobbying report), it would meet with other constituents.
Restoring trust
In 2014, after the settlement, de la Uz said it "would take time and measurable and repeated actions on the part of the developer and the state" to restore trust.
The question remains as to why anyone should trust a future renegotiation. (I asked if it would require an upfront payment, or bond, to ensure public benefits, but didn't hear back.)
The reason to spur the housing was that delays mean affordable housing gets more costly, as its calculated from a rising base of Area Median Income, or AMI. Moreover, the below-market housing in the project so far has been skewed to middle-income housing, though it was supposed to be divided more evenly.
State posture
The Real Deal, in Brooklyn group mulls suing state over Pacific Park housing fines, quoted an ESD spokesperson as saying the state authority “shares the community’s frustration with the pace of construction of affordable housing at Atlantic Yards.”
“Let us be clear: the liquidated damages have not been waived and ESD retains the rights to collect them,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The state expects nothing less than progress to be made and milestones met once the lender has an approved qualified development team capable of moving this long overdue project forward.”
That doesn't explain why ESD has been less than forthcoming over the last several years or, for example, why it canceled a scheduled May 29 meeting of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), which was set up in the 2014 settlement.
Press conference: Veconi
Press conference: de la Uz
de la Uz observed that, when Atlantic Yards was first announced, it was "Housing, hoops, and jobs." (Actually, "Jobs, Housing & Hoops.)
"We've got the hoops, there definitely have been some jobs, but we definitely do not have all the housing," she said.
(The 10,000 permanent office jobs never materialized. The 15,000 construction jobs, in job-years, were predicated on a full build-out of the project, so perhaps half were delivered. The arena jobs are part-time. There are also jobs in building services and retail.)
She noted that delays allowed the developer "to back-end the most difficult part of the project: building over the railyards," and failing to remove the purported "blight" that justified the state's use of eminent domain to acquire property.
Because a platform would take three years, "in the best of circumstances, we're going to see new housing here, perhaps in five years," she said. (I think that it's possible that B5, the first tower over the railyard, could come faster, as that segment of the platform might come first.)
She noted that 100% affordable housing projects in nearby Community Districts could use this funding today. "This is really a travesty," she said. "The governor needs to answer why they would not collect all the liquidated damages that the taxpayers are due."
Well, Gov. Kathy Hochul is running for re-election and likely wouldn't want to offend the real-estate industry.
Press conference: Simon
Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon observed that the community was also promised eight acres of open space. Of that, 2.7 acres have been built, but the rest relies on the platform.
"This is a very difficult deal to try and sell because you're selling something that is collateralized on the right to build housing on a very expensive platform," she said. "So you really need to to to look very seriously at how this happens."
An oversight hearing might be in order, but that legislative leaders might not be on board.
Simon noted that ESD in 2022 decided not to collect the liquidated damages that were due for not building the Urban Room, the atrium attached to the unbuilt office tower. That was clearly a proxy for the upcoming affordable housing deadline.
Getting the housing built
"We want this housing. We want it built now," Simon said. "It was a public benefit that was promised to everybody and whether you like the project or not, whether you wanted it here, there or whatever, this is a public benefit that was promised to the people of New York and it has not been delivered on."
That statement deserves a "Yes, but." If the only way to get that housing is to build at Site 5, catercorner to the arena, at unprecedented density, then, no, not everyone wants the housing.
Press conference: Carroll
Assemblymember Bobby Carroll asked, "How can our residents how can our constituents, how can New Yorkers trust that we're going to get this affordable housing done if we won't even make New York State live up to the bargain that it signed with the developers and make them pay for these liquidated damages?"
He said the damages were "a stick to enforce the most necessary part of this project because the beautiful condos and luxury apartments, they've built the arena, they've made billions of dollars."
The builders of luxury housing have made some money, though the overall project developers have lost money.
The arena, and Brooklyn Nets, have been immensely profitable. Perhaps unwittingly, Carroll got to a key issue that BrooklynSpeaks didn't bring up: the state has leverage to get the owner of the arena company, and the team, to pay more.
Press conference: Hudson
Council Member Crystal Hudson noted that, since the plan was announced, "I have gone to college. I've gone to graduate school. I've become a Council Member. I've gotten married and I've had a kid and we still have no affordable housing that we were promised 20something years ago." (Well, 1,374 units have been built.) "This is an absolute travesty."
She noted the loss of 20% of the Black population in her district and said the recently approved Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan (AAMUP) that she sponsored "will deliver"--well, is projected to deliver--"more than double the affordable homes" remaining in Atlantic Yards.
Q&A
Before the Q&A. Danae Oratowski of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council suggested that reporters who query ESD would probably be told they were working on a new plan. "Could you ask them a follow-up question and say, 'How will that be any different than anything that you've done in the last 20 years?'"
What, the participants were asked, did ESD tell BrooklynSpeaks?
"They basically said that a new plan is in the works and they they want to see how that goes essentially," said de la Uz. "And that's that's just an unacceptable answer."
Veconi observed that the plan in the works is "another variety of the single-source plan" that poses the same risks as the previous plan and "still involves the same developer who signed the agreement that says they're supposed to be paying."
"There is no justification for waiving those charges, " he said. "And the other parties in the deal are investors who have been speculating in the distressed debt of the current developer. They're sophisticated people. They understood that they were taking on something that has risk and liability in the form of these liquidated damages."
"And there is no possible justification for letting them off the hook. What will possibly come out of that how will will the public and its elected representatives ever have confidence in a development plan not just here but anywhere in Brooklyn," he said, noting the pending Brooklyn Marine Terminal plan that's partly in Council Member Shahana Hanif's district.
Simon noted that, when the agreement was reached in 2014, not one unit of housing had been built. "And if we hadn't been moving forward there might may not have been any housing built."
Right, assented de la Uz.
That's something of a stretch. The modular tower, with 181 affordable units, was delayed, but in process. And the city had already negotiated a plan for two "100% affordable" buildings, albeit skewed to middle-income units.
Will it get done?
"Do you think this will ever actually get done," a reporter asked, "and if it doesn't, what should the penalties be or what should the solution for that be?"
"I do think it's going to get done," de la Uz said. "I think that you know the project as it was conceived more than 20 years ago doesn't meet the needs of today. And so absolutely it has to be updated to meet the needs of today," including "more units of affordable housing, more deeply affordable housing, it should be permanently affordable housing."
She noted the Crossroads charrettes sponsored by BrooklynSpeaks addressed the affordability issue, as well as issues like the impact of the arena, which remain to be addressed.
Oversight issues
"The oversight of this entire project is insufficient," de la Uz said. "Part of our settlement back in in 2014 was also the creation of an advisory board. We wanted it to be an oversight agency that had real powers and teeth and quite honestly we were not able to negotiate that."
ESD's decision to "unilaterally choose to not enforce an aspect of a government contract," she said, "shows the importance of true oversight bodies that are separate from the agency and and have real teeth and real authority."
Veconi then noted that the AY CDC, on which he sits, was set up to oversee public commitments and was supposed to meet May 29.
Other electeds
Also speaking at the press conference were Council Member Shahana Hanif and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. Also in the press release were State Senator Jabari Brisport and City Controller Brad Lander, a former local Council Member who is running for Mayor.
The press release, in full
Community leaders, elected officials demand Governor Hochul make good on promises for affordable housing at Atlantic Yards the public has waited on for more than 20 years
BROOKLYN, NY, June 3, 2025: Eleven years after local organizations in the BrooklynSpeaks coalition won a settlement with New York State Empire State Development to require 2,250 affordable apartments at Atlantic Yards be completed by May 2025, community leaders and elected officials called upon Governor Kathy Hochul to fulfill the agency’s pledge to collect liquidated damages for apartments the project has failed to deliver.
When the Atlantic Yards project was announced in December 2003, its 2,250 promised affordable apartments were seen as a solution to a burgeoning housing crisis in Brooklyn. By building platforms over rail yards along Atlantic Avenue, the project would remove blight and connect neighborhoods by creating new open space and high rise apartment towers. Twenty years later, the platforms haven’t been started, and neither have a remaining 877 affordable apartments. The $2,000 per month charge for each unfinished apartment agreed upon in the 2014 settlement means ESD must collect $1,754,000 each month from developer Greenland USA beginning in June. The funds are to be used by the City of New York to create and preserve affordable housing in the neighborhoods surrounding the project.
“ESD has allowed the Atlantic Yards developers to delay the costliest parts of the project–deeply affordable apartments and platforms over the rail yards–until the last possible moment,” said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. “In the meantime, rising housing costs have pushed out thousands of low-income households out of the surrounding neighborhoods. The Governor has a responsibility to ensure her agency fulfills its commitment to address the housing crisis in Brooklyn.”
ESD has stated it will defer collecting the damages owed in order to allow a partnership including Greenland USA creditors time to submit a plan to complete the project.
“The 2014 settlement we reached with ESD does not allow the agency to rewrite its terms without our agreement,” said Danae Oratowski, Chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council. “How can the public possibly have any confidence in a new plan if Governor Hochul continues to let Atlantic Yards slide on its commitments?”
Said Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, “One reason this key deadline was missed is because ESD has consistently allowed developers to take bigger risks than they were able to manage. Two developers have already failed to perform on this project. Having the next plan at Atlantic Yards come from investors speculating in the distressed debt of the last developer certainly doesn’t sound safer.”
“Giving massive tax breaks to real estate developers — in exchange for a small percentage of ‘affordable’ units — has consistently under-delivered for those at risk of displacement. With Atlantic Yards in particular, we’ve faced over 20 years of failed promises,” said State Senator Jabari Brisport. “It’s time for Governor Hochul to stop letting the real estate industry trample over our communities, and demand that ESD collect these damages immediately.”
Assembly Member Robert Carroll said, “My constituents and the public at large will not have confidence in any plan moving forward unless previous commitments are met. As I have said repeatedly, fulfilling the original project goals for affordable housing and open space remains my priority. ESD agreed on damages if the project failed to provide promised housing, and now it must follow through and channel these funds into affordable housing in the surrounding neighborhood.”
“The State’s failure to collect the $1.75 million in monthly penalties will only further exacerbate displacement pressures in Central Brooklyn. The expiration of Atlantic Yards’ affordable housing deadline has come just as the New York City Council approved an adjacent neighborhood rezoning that we conducted alongside local community members that includes 1,900 units of affordable housing — more than double the number of affordable units that were promised but not yet delivered by Atlantic Yards,” said New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson, whose district overlaps both Atlantic Yards and the newly rezoned area. “If we had these funds, we could use them now to improve affordability in the immediate vicinity and provide a tangible remedy to the state’s failure to deliver the affordable housing it promised. This community wants the affordable housing units it is owed, and we will not let Greenland USA nor Empire State Development off the hook.”
“I’m alarmed by the developer’s failure to build over 870 needed affordable housing units at Atlantic Yards,” said New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif, whose district includes Atlantic Yards Site 5. “These deadlines and fines were hard-won accountability measures from 2014 by the BrooklynSpeaks coalition and community advocates, to prevent situations where developers break promises without consequence. Our communities have waited long enough. It’s time to ensure that we hold these developers accountable.”
Said New York City Controller Brad Lander, “Moving to a new phase of development at Atlantic Yards can’t begin by repeating the same mistakes of the past two decades,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “The community and its elected representatives deserve full transparency on any new proposal—especially if it weakens the commitments they were already promised.”
“The longer this settlement is ignored, the longer our neighbors are denied stable and affordable housing,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “For more than twenty years, we have waited on Empire State Development and Greenland USA to deliver on their promises to the people of Brooklyn. Without a meaningful enforcement system for community benefit agreements, more than 800 affordable units remain undelivered and millions in damages withheld; that’s money that can fund and preserve real housing for our communities. It's time we stop the delays and deliver what’s promised.”
The BrooklynSpeaks coalition released the following as principles for a dialog on the future of the Atlantic Yards project:
BROOKLYN, NY, June 3, 2025: Eleven years after local organizations in the BrooklynSpeaks coalition won a settlement with New York State Empire State Development to require 2,250 affordable apartments at Atlantic Yards be completed by May 2025, community leaders and elected officials called upon Governor Kathy Hochul to fulfill the agency’s pledge to collect liquidated damages for apartments the project has failed to deliver.
When the Atlantic Yards project was announced in December 2003, its 2,250 promised affordable apartments were seen as a solution to a burgeoning housing crisis in Brooklyn. By building platforms over rail yards along Atlantic Avenue, the project would remove blight and connect neighborhoods by creating new open space and high rise apartment towers. Twenty years later, the platforms haven’t been started, and neither have a remaining 877 affordable apartments. The $2,000 per month charge for each unfinished apartment agreed upon in the 2014 settlement means ESD must collect $1,754,000 each month from developer Greenland USA beginning in June. The funds are to be used by the City of New York to create and preserve affordable housing in the neighborhoods surrounding the project.
“ESD has allowed the Atlantic Yards developers to delay the costliest parts of the project–deeply affordable apartments and platforms over the rail yards–until the last possible moment,” said Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. “In the meantime, rising housing costs have pushed out thousands of low-income households out of the surrounding neighborhoods. The Governor has a responsibility to ensure her agency fulfills its commitment to address the housing crisis in Brooklyn.”
ESD has stated it will defer collecting the damages owed in order to allow a partnership including Greenland USA creditors time to submit a plan to complete the project.
“The 2014 settlement we reached with ESD does not allow the agency to rewrite its terms without our agreement,” said Danae Oratowski, Chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council. “How can the public possibly have any confidence in a new plan if Governor Hochul continues to let Atlantic Yards slide on its commitments?”
Said Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, “One reason this key deadline was missed is because ESD has consistently allowed developers to take bigger risks than they were able to manage. Two developers have already failed to perform on this project. Having the next plan at Atlantic Yards come from investors speculating in the distressed debt of the last developer certainly doesn’t sound safer.”
“Giving massive tax breaks to real estate developers — in exchange for a small percentage of ‘affordable’ units — has consistently under-delivered for those at risk of displacement. With Atlantic Yards in particular, we’ve faced over 20 years of failed promises,” said State Senator Jabari Brisport. “It’s time for Governor Hochul to stop letting the real estate industry trample over our communities, and demand that ESD collect these damages immediately.”
Assembly Member Robert Carroll said, “My constituents and the public at large will not have confidence in any plan moving forward unless previous commitments are met. As I have said repeatedly, fulfilling the original project goals for affordable housing and open space remains my priority. ESD agreed on damages if the project failed to provide promised housing, and now it must follow through and channel these funds into affordable housing in the surrounding neighborhood.”
“The State’s failure to collect the $1.75 million in monthly penalties will only further exacerbate displacement pressures in Central Brooklyn. The expiration of Atlantic Yards’ affordable housing deadline has come just as the New York City Council approved an adjacent neighborhood rezoning that we conducted alongside local community members that includes 1,900 units of affordable housing — more than double the number of affordable units that were promised but not yet delivered by Atlantic Yards,” said New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson, whose district overlaps both Atlantic Yards and the newly rezoned area. “If we had these funds, we could use them now to improve affordability in the immediate vicinity and provide a tangible remedy to the state’s failure to deliver the affordable housing it promised. This community wants the affordable housing units it is owed, and we will not let Greenland USA nor Empire State Development off the hook.”
“I’m alarmed by the developer’s failure to build over 870 needed affordable housing units at Atlantic Yards,” said New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif, whose district includes Atlantic Yards Site 5. “These deadlines and fines were hard-won accountability measures from 2014 by the BrooklynSpeaks coalition and community advocates, to prevent situations where developers break promises without consequence. Our communities have waited long enough. It’s time to ensure that we hold these developers accountable.”
Said New York City Controller Brad Lander, “Moving to a new phase of development at Atlantic Yards can’t begin by repeating the same mistakes of the past two decades,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. “The community and its elected representatives deserve full transparency on any new proposal—especially if it weakens the commitments they were already promised.”
“The longer this settlement is ignored, the longer our neighbors are denied stable and affordable housing,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “For more than twenty years, we have waited on Empire State Development and Greenland USA to deliver on their promises to the people of Brooklyn. Without a meaningful enforcement system for community benefit agreements, more than 800 affordable units remain undelivered and millions in damages withheld; that’s money that can fund and preserve real housing for our communities. It's time we stop the delays and deliver what’s promised.”
The BrooklynSpeaks coalition released the following as principles for a dialog on the future of the Atlantic Yards project:
- The public must be compensated for Atlantic Yards’ failure to deliver affordable housing when promised.
- The State’s obligation to enforce the project’s affordable housing deadline can’t be modified without the consent of the community and its elected representatives.
- Modification of Atlantic Yards’ project plan must follow meaningful community engagement and public review that address community and city-wide needs of today.
- Previous shortcomings in project governance structure, oversight and quality of life management must be addressed, and accountability for Atlantic Yards’ public commitments must be ensured.
“The history of Atlantic Yards is one in which community members and elected officials have been excluded from decisions that could have avoided the crisis we see today,” said the organizers. “Today, we call on Governor Hochul to change that.”
Comments
Post a Comment