Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Build More Homes for Families , real estate developer and former Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen wrote June 26, 2024 for Vital City: The average two-bedroom apartment in New York now rents for $5,145 per month . That means a family needs to earn at least $200,000 in order to “afford” that apartment without being rent-burdened (rent burden is defined as spending more than 30% of income on rent). But the area median income for a family of four is only $155,300 , a whopping 25% less than what they need.  Indeed, see the rising Area Median Income in Ben Keel's graphic below. The line for 100% AMI, as of 2024, now rises slightly about $150,000. What about those needing help? Others, she notes, can't afford to move out, but can't afford to stay. But we're not building for them, either: A review of affordable apartments — by which I mean housing that is income-tested and rent-restricted — completed in New York City in the last five years shows tha...

Departing Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen published an op-ed in the Daily News 1/25/19 headlined  Our housing plan is working: New York City is getting the affordable units it desperately needs , Some excerpts from the opening part: Our ambitious plan is to build or preserve 300,000 units of affordable housing over 12 years. That’s enough to house 750,000 people. But preservation doesn't add units for those who need them. This past year, we reached a landmark achievement, financing over 34,000 affordable homes, marking the highest year on record. A little over a decade ago, at the height of the market, the number was 16,000. And we are now reaching a greater proportion of low-income and vulnerable families than ever. In 2018 alone, we financed over 2,500 units for homeless New Yorkers. That's a tiny fraction of the need. It’s disturbing to me that despite all this, some still portray the de Blasio administration as cautious, or captive to big real estate, or as callous to ...

From the Real Deal yesterday, Affordable is going mod: City wants developers to take on prefab construction , an indication that Forest City Ratner's modular experiment, which led to the delay- and litigation-plagued 32-story 461 Dean, was too ambitious: The city’s Department of Housing Development and Preservation on Thursday will issue a request for information and interest in building modular housing for low-income tenants and seniors. Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said on Wednesday that the city aims to “crack the code” on mid-rise multifamily development, in the hopes this will be “a new chapter for modular.” “One thing we’ve learned is don’t try to do high rise,” she said. “That’s a nut we’ll crack later.” How big? One reason is that a taller building adds to the potential for "tolerance" issues--i.e., the possibility of ill-fitting connections compounding over a period of time.  What's  a mid-rise ? The answers vary, with some saying five to ten floors, or ...

When a deposition from deputy Mayor Alicia Glen regarding housing policy surfaced recently in Politico, with her calling Council Members “often extremely confused and ill-informed and not that smart” regarding housing policy, she was forced to apologize . in fairness, "ill-informed" (to take the least pejorative) could apply (at various times) to any number of elected officials, including Glen's boss, BDB. Here's example re  #AtlanticYards   @pacificparkbk   https://t.co/lQpCFD0sup   https://t.co/WrBueisUTJ — Norman Oder (@AYReport)  February 6, 2018 Sure, it *can* be complicated. But also Council & Mayor can be in lockstep for political reasons, *both* failing to be informed. Consider chorus of praise for "100% affordable"  #535Carlton   @pacificparkbk   https://t.co/k9zq4E6pkJ Then reality: empty units  https://t.co/HaOpTKIaGJ — Norman Oder (@AYReport)  February 6, 2018 By the way, Glen herself has participated in that p...

In a segment yesterday on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen defended the administration's affordable housing plans. Starting at about 6:10, she said, "I could probably count on my hands the amount of times I've actually had a meeting with a lobbyist. If you look at the record of the administration, and if you look at the deals that we have done, it would pretty impossible to say that lobbyists have been influencing the way we build housing." Well, there's lobbyists, and then there are companies. And while de Blasio's efforts certainly surpass those of his predecessor, many advocates have been critical , given the city's need. Glen cited an article about how tough the administration had been in restructuring the affordable housing at the Domino Sugar site in Williamsburg. "Time and time again, we have demonstrated that we are getting a better bargain for the taxpayer and for the public," she said, "whether it...

The 2016 City & State Power 100  has more than a few people linked to the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project, and while I'm not going to detail the obvious (Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio), I wanted to highlight a few, and note how de Blasio's Deputy Mayor Mayor Alicia Glen is said to run his housing plan. At #16 ( last year individually ranked at 17 and 18): Valerie Berlin / Jonathan Rosen Principals, BerlinRosen Don’t take our word for it – just listen to what government watchdogs said last year when NY1 did  extensive reporting  on the consulting firm’s close relationship with the de Blasio administration. Those watchdogs like to use BerlinRosen as an example of a system they view as flawed, which just adds weight to the argument that the growing firm is having a clear impact on the policy decisions being made in the city. BerlinRosen offers the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developers a key link to City Hall. Ratner and housing At #45...

Appearing with Inside City Hall host Errol Louis last night  on NY1 , Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen and developer Bruce Ratner hailed the new agreement on Atlantic Yards housing. Glen revealed that the two new towers to start this year would have more family-sized units than the first one under construction, a step forward, but artfully papered over a change in affordability,  a step backward. Timing and delay Leading off, Louis said he was "confused a little bit" about the promises that the 2250 affordable units would be finished by 2025. "As I understood it, you had really up until 2035 to really build out all of the housing," the host said. "So when people said it was stalled, I was like, Nah, it may be too soon to tell. Was there some delay?" Louis failed to mention that the promise for years was to build Atlantic Yards in ten years, but after the project was re-approved, Forest City Ratner was given 25 years, until the outside dat...