Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Sometime in the last day, with barely enough time to post public comment by today's deadline of 3 pm , Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards, released the agenda for tomorrow's meeting of the purportedly advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The directors will get an oral report on the Draft Community Engagement Report, regarding public input on the future of the project, that was issued a few days ago.  My critique is here:  Draft Community Engagement Report Backs (!?) Developers' Aim to Downplay Low-Income Housing . Executive session Also of note, the directors will go into executive session regarding "Negotiations with the Project Developer Regarding Memorandum of Understanding and Development of Property/Project." The presumably involves the developer's desire for $350 million in subsidies for the platform (as I reported ), its announced request for 1.6 million in additiona...

Just today, with less than a week's notice, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards, has announced a meeting on Thursday, March 19, of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). That meeting, at 3 pm, starts just hours before the fourth of four public workshops , which will be held online  at 6:30 pm . Ahead of this meeting, though  the timing is unspecified, ESD will release the Draft Community Engagement Report on its website . The report summarizes key themes and insights from the first three public workshops and the online survey. As I wrote, my bet is the report will be used to ratify the new developer's request for an additional 1.6 million square feet of bulk, worth perhaps $320 million, as needed to deliver promised open space and, as of now, unspecified amounts of below-market affordable housing. The Draft Report will be posted on the ESD website along with an online form for people t...

OK, the agenda for the Dec. 2 meeting of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation has been posted online . (Here's info on meeting attendance, broadcast, and public comments.)  The agenda includes not only an update on the community engagement plan--the first of four workshops was held Nov. 18--but also a development team presentation. Here's the slideshow from the first workshop, and my coverage , including video. Let's see if the development team faces any questions about, say, their  apparent expectation that they should get additional development rights for free, whether they could deliver "abundant" green spaces if the population outpaces it, or whether they plan any low-income housing . The presentation Nov. 18 didn't offer the public any opportunity to question the developers.

With barely a calendar week--and only a few business days--of notice, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, has announced a meeting Dec. 2 of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The meeting will be held in Brooklyn at the Shirley A. Chisholm State Office Building, 55 Hanson Place – 3rd Floor Conference Room. The AY CDC is supposed to meet at least quarterly; the previous meeting was Oct. 9 , so they're ahead of schedule, apparently because the project has begun to ramp up. Presumably Directors will be told of the new developers' "feasible plan" to complete the project, with details revealed at a workshop Nov. 18, the public response, and the plans for further "community engagement."  The next three meetings are precursors to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR with ESD about project outlines and public su...

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 Net...

Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, we learned yesterday, finally has the expected new development team, with a new deadline to develop an agreement and some limited payments to the state. But deep questions remain about the contours of the remaining project and how an expensive platform would be paid for, much less details regarding that development team or future oversight and guarantees. We do know, however, that the new joint venture has the backing, and pension fund money, from building trades unions, who surely will supply "build it now" testimony at public hearings.  It also has official endorsement-- sans any publicly announced plans about timing, scope, and public concessions regarding the expected eight towers, infrastructure, and affordable units--from Empire State Development (ESD), the gubernatorially controlled state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. Despite ESD denials, surely such plans have been discussed privately, because only assurances of state supp...

In August, state officials said they had extended the suspension of enforcement and even accrual of $1.75 million a month in liquidated damages for 876 unbuilt affordable housing units, as they were waiting for a new permitted developer to emerge. Officials at Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, said they were aiming for September. That didn't happen.  However, a newly scheduled meeting of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) suggests that something is happening, with updates on an expected new development team and plans for "Community Engagement." Little transparency   The Agenda The meeting, to be held Thursday, Oct. 9, at 3 pm in Brooklyn, was announced in a press release at 2:56 pm today ,  with barely three business days notice--and two days to RSVP and/or file comments on the Agenda.  The Agenda was posted a bit later this afternoon. As per typical, it's ...

This is the fourth of four articles on the Aug. 6 meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC), which is supposed to advise the parent Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The meeting was held at 55 Hanson Place in Brooklyn.  The first article concerned the state's suspension of affordable housing penalties. The second discussed why valuable Site 5 is key to the project. The third addressed whether Greenland has a case to protest the penalties. Given the widespread cynicism about ESD's unwillingness to pursue $1.752 million a month in penalties for missing affordable housing and the absence of a plan for the remaining project from the expected incoming development team(s), it was not the most auspicious time to discuss "Community Engagement": gaining input from neighbors and other interested parties about components of that future plan. Nevertheless, ESD has hired a consultant, Karp S...