First public workshop on project's future (density, open space, affordability) set for Nov. 18. (Two hours!) Does new outline suggest potential reconfiguration?

Yesterday, with just two weeks' notice, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, announced the first of four public workshops purportedly aimed to share the future of the project, given a new development team for the half-completed project.

It will be held across the street from the Barclays Center on Tuesday, November 18, from 6-8 pm, at the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, 140 Flatbush Avenue, in the former Modell's big-box store. Registration is here.

The meeting location, in fact, is part of Site 5 (with the currently occupied P.C. Richard), which is officially slated for a 250-foot, 440,000 square foot building, according to 2006 approvals, but has already gotten ESD support for a giant, two-tower project, with one tower 910 feet and some 1.242 million square feet of bulk.

(The Brooklyn Basketball Training Center is a temporary youth training facility run by BSE Global, parent of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center operating company.) 

That's assuming the state approves a plan to move the bulk of the unbuilt B1 tower (aka "Miss Brooklyn"), originally slated to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue to Site 5. That plan is unmentioned in the workshop announcement. 

Unofficial graphic

That possibility is not explained in the announcement, nor on the state's new Atlantic Yards web page. Nor is any information about the amount, and affordability, of below-market housing delivered.

Note the use of the term "Atlantic Yards Redevelopment," which refers to the official name of the state project, not the marketing name chosen by the developers, originally Atlantic Yards, and since 2014 Pacific Park Brooklyn. 

(Would the new development team change the name? I wouldn't bet against it.)

The public engagement plan

According to the meeting announcement:

The Atlantic Yards Redevelopment will complete this landmark project with mixed use buildings and new public open space. Join us to learn more and share your ideas on height & density, open space, affordability, and housing types & quality. Together we will identify community priorities, challenges, and opportunities in the Atlantic Yards Redevelopment project. Questions? Email AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov
or visit esd.ny.gov/AtlanticYards.

I previously wrote about the big pending questions about the plan, such as requests for public concessions, a new timetable, and new accountability mechanisms, as well as skepticism about the limits of community engagement:

It’s hard to think that public opinion--which may or may not be representative, given active organization by some groups and “engagement fatigue” among others--could significantly shape the plan, especially since governmental assistance and concessions, on funding and density, may be crucial.

As I wrote, the tradeoff between density and affordability implies that only larger buildings--or, perhaps lucrative condos--could generate affordability, though that also depends on public resources for direct subsidies and low-cost financing. 

From the new web site

Project Overview

The Atlantic Yards Redevelopment Project as currently envisioned consists of the 18,000-seat Barclays Arena, a reconfigured and improved LIRR train yard and subway facility upgrades, eight acres of publicly accessible open space and 16 new residential and commercial buildings.

To date, the arena, eight residential buildings totaling 3,212 residential units with 1,374 affordable units, an updated MTA entrance, an upgraded LIRR train yard, 3 acres of open space, a public middle school, and a health care facility have been completed. View Map

Looking at the map 

It's worth noting that, while the map shows the B1 and Site 5 parcels, it does not show the six development sites, B5-B10, previously approved for the two railyard parcels, which require an expensive platform.

Might a reconfiguration of the railyard sites be under consideration?

From ESD website

More from the new website

From the new website:

After a change in project developers and evolving community needs since the project plan’s creation, Empire State Development (ESD), is undertaking a community engagement process to solicit public input on the future development of the remaining unbuilt sites (Phase II).

Empire State Development (ESD) will host four (4) public workshops this fall and winter, as well as an online survey to gather ideas and feedback on different elements of the project, including housing affordability, height and density, parks and open space, and more. Feedback received during the engagement process will be collected and published in a Community Engagement Report in early 2026. This report will be used by ESD and the development team to shape the project plan.

Join us at an upcoming public workshop to learn more about this project from ESD and the development team and provide your input and feedback. Workshops will offer an overview of the project and an opportunity to share ideas with the project team through interactive activities on specific project focus areas.

As I wrote, while community engagement is supposed to shape the project, it's likely that input would validate changes that the new development team, Cirrus and LCOR, consider feasible. 

The announced workshops

The slide below, from an ESD presentation at the Oct. 9 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), is a little out of date, as I wrote.

A second workshop, in mid-December, was said to address multiple issues: streetscape and the public realm; environment and sustainability; local economic development; and community-serving retail and facilities.  

Those two were supposed to be followed by a final workshop, when a draft community engagement report would be presented.

At the request of directors of the AY CDC, a third workshop will be scheduled, before the final one.