Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Times Plaza, a modest triangle bounded by Fourth, Flatbush, and Atlantic avenues just above the Site 5 parcel occupied by P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's, is still in limbo. It was  supposed to be revamped  as partial mitigation for an impact from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. but that never happened. Times Plaza today. Photo: Norman Oder Seven years ago (!), in October 2017, I  reported  that the project's main developer, Greenland USA, said open space work at Times Plaza—on about 4,500 square feet controlled by the Department of Transportation (DOT)—might go into construction in the second quarter of 2018.  That didn’t happen. “The developer remains in ongoing discussions with the Department of Transportation,” then-Empire State Development (ESD) Atlantic Yards Project Director Tobi Jaiyesimi said at a  public meeting  in January 2022. What about now? What's the status now? "At this time, there are no immediate construction plans for Times Pl...

Is 595 Dean a "Successful Project"? ( link ) To one real-estate journalist, all looks fine (and supplies fodder to dis Atlantic Yards opponents). But there's more reason for doubt.

In a required document aimed at bondholders, the Barclays Center operating company, Brooklyn Events Center, recently reported, for the third quarter of this calendar year and the first quarter of the new fiscal year, $5.4 million in suite and sponsor installments, and $40.3 million in ticket sales. That's a total of $45.7 million in cash receipts. How does that compare to past results? Well, in Q1 of FY 2024, the period of July through September of 2023, ArenaCo reported $4.8 million in suite and sponsor installments, and nearly $51 million in ticket sales, for a total of  $55.8 million. That's an 18% drop. So suite and sponsor revenues are up, perhaps--and this is total speculation--because of the new clubs (The Row and The Key) that have been carved out of former suite space, and maybe also because the success of the New York Liberty has driven new sponsorships. Ticket sales down But ticket sales are down somewhat, though still nearly double the figure two years earlier. In ...

Last week I published  Making Sense of the 962 Pacific Street Rezoning Story , a couple of weeks after the New York Times published two online articles about the failed rezoning effort for that Crown Heights lot, but just before the Times published the package in print . So this post repurposes some of that long article. One lesson from some past spot rezonings, as I reported, is that the applicant, often spouting promises of community commitments, is not looking to (or even able to) build, and plans to sell the property once a lucrative rezoning as been achieved. “What we're trying to do… is work with all of you so that we can maintain control over our property, and that we could then bring in somebody, a developer, that echoes the same values we have and that the community has,” property owner Nadine Oelsner told Brooklyn Community Board 8. Would the Oelsners maintain a majority ownership in a joint venture? “We pray to God," she responded, "we can keep this property an...

(Bi-)Weekly Digest: The Strains of Gentrification ( link ) What a stymied rezoning (badly reported by the NY Times) and a new book have in common. Also, more Brooklyn ambitions for BSE Global.

OK, so that New York Times coverage of the 962 Pacific Street rezoning saga, which I wrote about at length yesterday in my newsletter, Making Sense of the 962 Pacific Street Rezoning Story , now appears, in significant part, in tomorrow's print Metropolitan section, which is delivered with the Saturday paper. Except "Two Buildings Were Planned, But Only One Was Erected," published online as Two Apartment Buildings Were Planned. Only One Went Up , gets a lot of wrong, notably the discussion at Brooklyn Community Board 8, which successfully negotiated for more affordable housing that the developer proposed--or was disclosed in the Times.  Please take a look at my coverage .

Making Sense of the 962 Pacific Street Rezoning Story ( link ) The New York Times wrongly posited a NIMBY backlash, missing the Community Board's affordability gain, and downplayed reasons for skepticism. But yes, it was Council Member Hudson's call. From the article: Why should I write about a New York Times series on the “affordability crisis,” which included two articles chronicling 962 Pacific Street, an empty lot that might have delivered a new 150-unit building with affordable housing in Crown Heights? Because 1) yes, it’s Atlantic Yards-adjacent, in a few ways; 2) the Times got some key things wrong; and 3) such coverage furthers the simple  “build more homes” narrative . As the only reporter to steadily cover 962 Pacific, I know the story of this failed rezoning is far more complicated—and strange—than presented. Notably, Brooklyn Community Board 8 didn’t offer knee-jerk opposition, but successfully negotiated more affordable housing than landowner Nadine Oelsner initia...