Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Yesterday I expressed skepticism  about the likelihood that Greenland USA, which owns nearly all of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park going forward, would proceed with the first phase of the platform over the Vanderbilt Yard in the second half of this year. That platform over Block 1120--between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street and between Sixth and Carlton avenues--would ultimely support three residential towers, with retail at the base. The first of three towers, B5 (700 Atlantic Avenue), would start going vertical a year after the platform started, according to a previous Greenland statement. After all, despite the developer's incentives to do proceed, including looming fines for affordable housing not built by May 2025, there are macro disincentives, such as high interest rates and the absence of the 421-a tax break, as well as the financial struggles of Shanghai-based parent Greenland Holdings Corp. Other evidence points to progress That said, other evidence, as noted b...

As I wrote this week, documents confirmed that developers of the B12/B13 towers--TF Cornerstone, after leasing the sites from master developer Greenland Forest City Partners--plan 30% affordable units at 130% of Area Median Income (AMI), or middle-income households likely earning six figures. TF Cornerstone, not surprisingly, had refused to acknowledge that publicly, since such "affordable" housing--better termed "income-targeted"--hardly serves those who marched for the project. It's hardly surprising the developers would seek to maximize their economic return: that configuration is the most lucrative under the various options presented by the now-expired 421-a tax break , which required buildings to start by 6/15/22--even with just one foundation--and be completed by 6/15/26. 700 Atlantic, as well Similarly, and unsurprisingly, a document shows that the long-gestating B5--700 Atlantic Avenue, the first tower built over the Vanderbilt Yard--is also planned to ...

This is the fourth of ten articles on the 6/7/22 meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation. The  first  concerned the affordable housing timetable. The  second  assessed an estimated 2031 completion date. The  third  addressed the impact of a potential Greenland default. The  fifth  concerned the deadline for the Urban Room. The  sixth  addressed timing for the school.  The  seventh  concerned plans for the platform. The  eighth  discussed community impacts of construction.  The  ninth  concerned plans for B12/B12 affordable housing.  The  tenth  concerned the Open Meetings Law. During his slide presentation , Scott Solish of Greenland USA pointed to the location for the first phase (of two) of platform development: Block 1120 of the Vanderbilt Yard--from Sixth to Carlton avenues and Pacific Street to Atlantic Avenue. That will support three towers, the first of...

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning Monday, June 13, was circulated Friday at 1:29 pm (lead time) by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners (GFCP), which is dominated by Greenland USA. And the next stage of platform work--at least the preparatory stages, putting up a fence and eliminating parking--is finally expected to start. That's a contrast from the previous Update . As indicated in red in the document at bottom, the developers believe that pending receipt of necessary permits, platform MPT (maintenance and preservation of traffic) mobilization and setup will begin at the street level around Block 1120, which is bounded by Sixth and Carlton avenues, and Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue. Below is an image of the expected fencing around that block, from a presentation at the recent Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation meeting. Page 11 of AYCDC-M...

Well, unusually, an Atlantic Yards Project Update (bottom) is posted  on the page for the 3 pm meeting tomorrow of the (purportedly advisory) Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The webcast will be here . That Project Update might typically be part of a President's Report, but there's no President, as far as I know, given the departure of Marion Phillips III, an executive for the parent Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. The document offers a few details, which expand on the typically vague agenda , though, as I explain below, it show some new schematics for the site of B5, 700 Atlantic Ave., the first tower (of six) over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard, just east of Sixth Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street.  See screenshots at right and below, as well as the presentation at bottom. Notably, the number of concrete foundations will increase significantly to support the platform t...

OK, sometime in the past few days Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project, posted the presentation from the 5/10/22 Quality of Life meeting, which I've added below, and also to  my coverage  the next morning.    There isn't much revealing in the slideshow, but I have excerpted, at right, one slide, which is a helicopter perspective, looking west/southwest, at the western end of the railyard and the B4 tower (aka 18 Sixth Ave., or Brooklyn Crossing), which flanks the Barclays Center. The arrow, which I added, points to the location of the planned B5 tower, the first one over the railyard. The railyard platform is expected to start next month. I suspect at least one foundation for the tower will also be installed by the June 15 deadline to qualify for the current 421-a tax break. The tower is expected to go vertical next year, and should take two years to build. B5 is slated to be about 77% of ...

The construction of the platform over the first block of the Vanderbilt Yard seems ever closer, as does construction of the first tower, which will be partly over that platform, as both last week were granted official permits from the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB). (Remember, the platform was supposed to start in early 2020, with the New York Post unwisely proclaiming the project was on the fast track. Greenland USA, which owns nearly all of master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, said in December 2020 that they had a contractor.) B5 center-left, plus (built) B4; Dattner Architects In one of the DOB filings , excerpted at right, we got our first image of B5 (700 Atlantic Ave., to be built just east of Sixth Avenue, between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue. The cubic, T-shaped building, standing some 40 stories (plus two for mechanicals) and including 682 apartments, is pictured at right opposite B4, 18 Sixth Avenue, which is more of an extruded rectangle and c...

The first tower over the Vanderbilt Yard is expected to be B5, 700 Atlantic Avenue, for which preliminary permits were filed in May 2020 and soon disapproved , part of a typical back-and-forth with the New York City Department of Buildings. That 682-unit building could go part of the way to supplying affordable units required by a May 2025 deadline, and its construction start would indicate that the plan to build over the railyard is viable.  It's unclear to me how much of the work on the tower can be accomplished while construction of the platform is ongoing, but surely some is possible, given the presence of terra firma jutting into the railyard and preliminary work already accomplished. In October 2020, I reported on a revised filing  by developer Greenland Forest City Partners. More recently, as shown in the screenshot below, the developer filed a permit for foundation work at the site. That too is pending. (Here's the DOB page .) As I reported , the six-month look-ahead ...

Yesterday, the Real Deal rounded up 10 biggest new real estate projects in NYC in 2020 , which began: Planning a new development project in New York City is not for the faint of heart, but some builders remained undeterred in 2020 — even in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as rising anti-development sentiment . This year saw the defeat of the Industry City rezoning ... But some major projects moved forward without much incident. And that included: 2. 700 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn In May, Greenland USA filed plans for a 587,200-square-foot building that’s part of the larger Pacific Park megaproject. The 41-story residential building, which will be located just east of the Barclays Center, will have 682 apartments and a small amount of space on the ground floor set aside for retail. The architect of record is Dattner Architects. Pacific Park — once known as Atlantic Yards — was first proposed by Forest City’s Bruce Ratner in 2003, and has been slowly chugging along toward comp...

The B5 tower, 700 Atlantic Avenue, is crucial to the future of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. It would be the first building built over the Vanderbilt Yard--along with first block of the platform --and help get developer Greenland Forest City Partners, dominated by Greenland USA, closer to the requirement of 2,250 affordable units. That's assuming a large percentage of the 41-story building, which would contain at least 650 units, would be affordable. Though permits were filed in May, those plans were disapproved that month and were being revised, as I  reported  in June. Well, the plans still aren't approved, according to the Department of Buildings (DOB) page for the tower, but there's clearly been forward motion. The latest disapproval--see screenshot at right--was just last week, 10/28/20, which indicates continued back and forth between developer/designers and the DOB.  It's another sign of potential motion in the project, including plans for Site 5 . Objections ...

As I reported 6/10/20, in May, Greenland Forest City Partners filed permits for the B5 tower (698 Atlantic Avenue), the first over the Vanderbilt Yard. But there's no date for construction, said Scott Solish of Greenland USA, indicating that the filing of permits "starts a lengthy review." Indeed, I took a look at the Department of Buildings page for the site (aka 700 Atlantic Avenue) and saw that the submitted plan was disapproved, and is presumably being revised. That's hardly unusual, but it does mean that the simple filing of a permit deserves context. This could take a while.

Is the B5 tower, the first (of six) expected over the Vanderbilt Yard, just east of Sixth Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street, really on its way? Well, permits have been filed for the 41-story, 397-foot 700 Atlantic Avenue, but it's hardly clear when construction would start, and to what extent work on the 682-unit tower will start before or contemporaneously with the platform over the yard needed to support it.  (Here's the permit application .) Developer Greenland Forest City Partners--95% owned by Greenland USA--declined comment in response to my query. But this pre-filing is a first step in a potentially long process , and it's possible they're planning ahead to get the attention of--and feedback from--the Department of Buildings (DOB). Click to enlarge. Design by Ben Keel; editing by Norman Oder News from YIMBY The news broke yesterday in the pro-development blog New York YIMBY, which gave us a perplexing squib,  Permits Filed For 4...