Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

If Hudson Yards Got Taxpayers to Pay for the Platform, What Happens With Atlantic Yards? ( link )  The Manhattan megaproject rose from the dead thanks to little-scrutinized political and financial maneuvers. Keep watch in Brooklyn.

The new Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, occupying the former (and ultimately doomed) Modell's store at Site 5 across from the Barclays Center, is holding a grand opening celebration tomorrow from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. "Walk through the spectacular facility and secure a spot for our After-School Club starting Sept. 29," the RSVP states .  The operator is BSE Global, parent of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and the arena operating company. One day free before fee   On Sunday, Sept. 28, they will offer free clinics for children 6 to 17 years from 1 pm to 8 pm, as part of a soft launch. When the eight-week after-school programs start, the hour-long sessions won't be cheap: either $520 for eight hours, or $1,000 for 16 hours. That's $65/hour or $62.50/hour. "The Brooklyn Basketball After-School Club is a structured, paid basketball program that provides high-quality training and competitive opportunities," the announcements state. "This program ...

Lessons from Twists in Brooklyn Marine Terminal and Coney Island Development Dramas ( link )   For Atlantic Yards, does this mean that new promises and safeguards get a "big thing" done in the name of "abundance"? Or is a rethink possible?  

Last year, the New York Liberty won the WNBA title and, notably, got framed portraits, nine feet tall, of the championship squad, placed on Ticketmaster Plaza, the work of artist LaToya Ruby Frazier. As I put it, Art, Promotion, or Both? The "Liberty Portraits" Are a BSE Global Power Move . Installed in early July, they were expected to stay up through October, the end of the WNBA season.  Photo: Norman Oder Now what? Well, sports can be unpredictable. Last night in Phoenix, the fifth-seeded Liberty, inconsistent and injury-plagued, lost Game 3 (of 3) in their first-round series against the fourth-seeded Phoenix Mercury, exiting the playoffs. So, only one home playoff game this year, no championship parade, no elected officials expressing delight, and no more features on mascot Ellie the Elephant. Nor, perhaps, articles on how enormous leaps in some ticket prices have alienated longtime Liberty fans. The art/promotion installation seems out of date, especially since the ros...

The Brooklyn Nets sponsor an annual Practice in the Park. This year's version, 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday, Sept. 27, will be held at Potomac Playground in Bedford-Stuyvesant and sponsored by  local businesses  Barclays Center partner  Ticketmaster, with music, a youth clinic, streetball scrimmages, contests, and swag.   "This is your chance to see the team lock in, build chemistry, and bring that Brooklyn energy before the season tips off," the announcement states. Or, perhaps, to see one set of players before they get replaced.  As NetsDaily noted , about 2,500 people attended at the same location last year, but when the Nets had superstars and a bigger venue, the event in 2022 attracted 8,000 people to Brooklyn Bridge Park. Enter Type.Set.Brooklyn   Also, Type.Set.Brooklyn, the new online digital property launched by Brooklyn Nets parent company BSE Global, will be sponsor the Type.Set.Brooklyn Celebrity Game, "a 5v5 clash celebrating Brooklyn’s cultural...

I wrote in May ( link ) that Cirrus Workforce Housing Advisors, the new firm with support from unions for a new joint venture to develop six Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park railyard sites now facing foreclosure, was charging ahead. In Cirrus's first-ever lobbying report , filed with New York State's Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government and covering March-April 2025, the company disclosed that it was not simply aiming to take over the development sites (B5-B10) from master developer Greenland USA under current parameters. Rather, as the joint venture seeks to acquire those sites through foreclosure, it likely aims to sweeten the deal to build six large towers, which require an expensive platform over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Vanderbilt Yard, used to store and service Long Island Rail Road trains. Cirrus disclosed that its lobbying subjects include: A tax abatement State funding State entitlements And guess what: Cirrus's latest report, for Ju...

As I wrote Aug. 30 ( link ), the seemingly skimpy September 2025 event calendar for the Barclays Center left room for a New York Liberty playoff run. Today, Barclays Center management circulated to neighbors an alert that the second game of the first-round playoff series, with the fifth-seeded Liberty facing the fourth-seeded Phoenix Mercury, will be this Wednesday, Sept. 17, from 8 to 10:30 pm, but with amplified sound on Ticketmaster Plaza from 6 to 8 pm. Upper deck tickets start at $33.85 . The defending champion Liberty won the first game of the best-of-three series , but star Breanna Stewart was hurt . The Semi-Finals are five games and the Finals, for the first time, will go seven games.

Bus Priority Plan on Flatbush Avenue Would Leave Little Slack Near Barclays Center ( link ) With "No Standing" in pockets near arena, wouldn't enforcement be needed to prevent congestion? Also, change in Pacific Street direction could challenge Site 5 construction.

The new Brooklyn Basketball youth training facility at the former Modell's site at Site 5, on Flatbush Avenue opposite the arena block, is due to open on Sept. 25 , in little more than two weeks, according to parent company BSE Global. A neighbor sent me some photos taken yesterday of exterior and interior work. Well, they have the seafoam green exterior accent that represents the WNBA's New York Liberty, but the rest of the project seems very much in process. Can they make the deadline? Well, they had an after-hours variance (search the Department of Buildings site for 140 Flatbush Avenue) to work from 9 am to 5 pm this past Saturday, and have another one in place for this Saturday, Sept. 13. Presumably they'll get more if needed. Note: coming, according to work plans, are an illuminated ground sign and exterior illuminated walls.

Digest: Early September Catch-Up ( link ) A BSE Global street festival emerges; rising NY Liberty prices; pending fines for affordable housing; a new plan for Flatbush Avenue buses; new owners push retail near Barclays Center.

Outside BAM. Photos: Norman Oder So, how was the inaugural Planet Brooklyn festival, held Aug. 23-24, with ticketed performances at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and the Brooklyn Paramount, plus a street festival--music and vendors--in the blocks around BAM, at Lafayette Avenue east of Fulton Street? Well, a good time was had by many, as far as I can tell, based on my brief walk-throughs, and media produced by Planet Brooklyn itself, along with Brooklyn Magazine and Type.Set.Brooklyn, both part of BSE Global, the company that presented the festival. See Instagram posts below. (BSE also owns the arena company, the Brooklyn Nets, and New York Liberty). View this post on Instagram A post shared by Planet Brooklyn (@planetbkfest) When I visited Saturday, Aug. 23 at about 3:15 pm, the start of the outdoor festival, it was slow. But my video walkthrough, below, at about 7:30 pm Sunday Aug. 24 showed good crowds--mostly young, mostly people o...

Several of the retail properties near the Barclays Center sold by the Pintchik family (see my coverage from January) to the Ostad brothers of Tristar management are now up for rent, implying that some tenants were nudged out or just decided to vacate. The pitch, as shown in the screenshot at right, is "The Retail at Flatbush and Bergen," with the cover of the slideshow focusing on the nearby Barclays Center, not any of the parcels at issue. Note that the image is a bit misleading, since it suggests that, at the top left (the northeast corner of the area block), there are two medium-height towers rather than one taller one. See photo below left for contrast. Looking more closely The full slideshow is at bottom, but it's worth looking at the slide excerpted below, because it has both some news and some errors of convenience. It also emphasizes the more recent (and bigger name) tenants in the area. The news Coming are outposts of two small chains: New York-based Xi'an F...

2014 ad Nearly 11 years ago, in October 2014, I reported ( link ) on the "spiffy future" of the 470 Vanderbilt office building--a former tire plant and then data center--at the northwest corner of Atlantic and Vanderbilt avenues, across from the northeast corner of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site. "470 Vanderbilt Avenue," new leaseholder RXR Realty said in the ad, "is a Class A office building prominently situated on a 3-acre, full city block bounded by Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street." "Just minutes away from the Barclays Center and the Atlantic Yards Development, 470 Vanderbilt has recently undergone a $74 million dollar capital improvement program transforming it into one of the most state-of-the-art assets in this emerging neighborhood," the ad said, otherwise identifying it as "in the emerging Atlantic Yards neighborhood." (Technically, it's the edge of Fort Greene, near the border of Clinton Hill. But it's also acro...

Some long term fans of the New York Liberty are dismayed by steadily rising prices for a more coveted commodity, as Madeline Kenney reported recently for the New York Post. For example, one fan with a seat near courtside reported a price increase from $500 to $600 between 2023 and 2024, then a doubling to $1,200/seat this year, and a price tag of $1,881 next year. Others with less precious seats saw 20% increases. A Liberty spokesperson said they still have $25 tickets; after all, they've opened the upper bowl.  In today's @nypost Liberty loyalists are grappling with their team's season-ticket price hike “It’s a tough transition, but I just hope to see the women get the money out of it... If they do that, then I can live with watching on TV.” https://t.co/0NQtaBJB3H pic.twitter.com/0NL87C3BNS — Madeline Kenney (@madkenney) August 30, 2025 Why underpaid? Surely increased team revenues from ticket sales could be reflected in increased salaries, but that's not the only t...