Third workshop seeking public input on the project set for Jan. 22 at 6 pm, on Zoom. Attendees can pre-submit up to two questions. (See mine.)

Today, Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, announced that the third workshop, of four, seeking public input on the future plan will be held Thursday, Jan. 22, from 6-7:30 pm on Zoom.

Registration is here. Attendees can pre-submit up to two questions, with additional questions welcomed during the workshop. 

Here are mine:

• What other large real estate projects in NYC have a density comparable to what's proposed (409 apts. & 875 people/acre)?
• Since not building the B1 tower & preserving the plaza helps arena operator BSE Global, can/will ESD seek any payment from BSE?

B1 is the tower once slated to loom over the arena, but it was never built, leaving space for a "temporary plaza." 

The developers, a joint venture led by Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR, seek to move the bulk of that unbuilt tower across Flatbush Avenue to Site 5, longtime home of the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's, creating a giant, two-tower project far larger than the significant building already approved.

Here is ESD's Atlantic Yards site.

What's planned

The workshop will feature a presentation by ESD and the development team introducing key themes and insights from Public Workshops #1 and #2, which were held in person, followed by a Q&A period.

Issues raised in the previous workshops included, according to ESD, "affordability, sustainability, streetscape and public realm improvements."

See my coverage of the Nov. 18 workshop, where the development team revealed a "feasible alternative," proposing 1.6 million additional square feet of bulk, and was cagey about affordability (and expected subsidies), and the Dec. 8 workshop, which promised more open space but offered little sense of the project's proposed scale.

From developer presentation

A fourth workshop, also on Zoom, is expected in February, previewing the report on public input that consultant Karp Strategies is preparing.

That will come before the developers and ESD reach agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding, presumably covering issues like project scale (bulk, number of units), affordability goals/promises, timing/deadlines, and accountability mechanisms.

That could come by the end of the March, or by the end of July. It's unclear how much of the content in that agreement will be made public for public comment.

That all precedes a formal public process, including public hearings, to approve the changes, which could take more than a year but is ultimately the decision of the gubernatorially controlled ESD.