Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Yesterday, the City Council officially approved the rezonings ( announced 4/12/22) of 870-888 Atlantic Ave. and 1034-1042 Atlantic Ave., in what's known as the M-CROWN district, which starts east of Vanderbilt Avenue, the eastern end of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site. I'll write separately with more analysis but first will share the press release from Council Member Crystal Hudson, with quotes from Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and others, and a separate supportive statement from the city's umbrella organization of nonprofit housing groups. Not yet released--and I've requested it--is the separate documentation that binds the developers to promises of 35% affordable housing and $200,000 for anti-displacement efforts.  Affordable housing and rising AMI When Hudson earlier this month announced the resolution, she said, "After extensive negotiations, the developers agreed to provide 35% of the floor area for affordable housing, including 15% at 40% ...

See collected coverage of M-CROWN rezonings: click here . Yesterday I reported that the developer of one of two properties that gained a rezoning had been less than candid in his statements about ownership, and seemingly delayed acknowledgment of the property sale--and the sale price--until after the rezoning was announced. Today, let's look at some other updates, and pending questions. A day after 35th District Council Member Crystal Hudson announced approval of the two rezonings along Atlantic Avenue, along with a city commitment for a rezoning in the so-called M-CROWN district, the City Planning Commission met to consider--and approve--the changes, and also elicited a little more information about the project. For example, there are limits on the scope of one rezoned area, as described below. However, that still, as far as I can tell, gives other property owners the benefit of the increased bulk without having to commit to the 35% affordable housing that Hudson negotiated with...

See collected coverage of M-CROWN rezonings:  click here . If you go by the signatures on the letter sent March 11 by 35th District Council Member Crystal Hudson and 36th District colleague Chi Ossé to the Department of City Planning (DCP), both Community Board 8 leaders as well as a dissenting group on CB 8’s Land Use Committee all agree that the city should pursue a comprehensive plan for the underutilized blocks along and near Atlantic Avenue, in what’s known as the M-CROWN district. That would finally get official backing for a holistic revamp of the area--one pursued by CB 8 since 2014 but resisted by the city, which has continued to encourage spot rezonings for large buildings, but without new infrastructure and services. But the launch of  a petition  a few weeks after Hudson’s then-unpublicized letter (which I didn't  write about  until last week)  exposed tensions among the letter's signatories. The petition called for the City Council to “r...

See collected coverage of M-CROWN rezonings:  click here . It’s one of 35th District Council Member Crystal Hudson’s knottiest challenges: what to do about two pending rezonings, 870-888 Atlantic Ave. and 1034-1042 Atlantic Ave., which would bring 17-story (or maybe 15-story) buildings to a zone of Atlantic Avenue (and below) subject to a spate of piecemeal developments. Hudson, along with 36th District Council Member Chi Ossé and neighborhood allies, in March asked the Department of City Planning and other agencies to pursue a neighborhood rezoning, which could ultimately deliver more comprehensive infrastructure, affordable housing, and services for what’s known as the M-CROWN district. At a meeting Thursday 4/7/22 of the Community Board 8 Land Use Committee, Hudson said she didn’t have any significant updates on the two pending projects.  But she said she hoped for a response to the letter before the Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises  and the Land...

See collected coverage of M-CROWN rezonings:  click here . It seems clear, from the examples of 1010 Pacific Street and 1050 Pacific Street , that the upside after a rezoning in the M-CROWN district is huge. The applicants sold the properties for, in the first case, 2.4 times the land cost, and, in the second, 21 times the value of the properties' mortgages. There are two pending projects: 870-888 Atlantic Ave., and 1034-1042 Atlantic Ave., in Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. We don't know the cost of the land because, in the first case, the transaction hasn't been consummated and, in the second, the developer claims ownership but won't disclose details (and it's not in the city's ACRIS database). Based on the Pacific Street examples, the two pending rezonings might be worth between $29 million and $50 million, subject to a downward adjustment based on the provision of deeply affordable housing, under the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH), an...