Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

A May 2020 Fiscal Brief from the New York City Independent Budget Office, focusing on the Executive Budget, warns Tumbling Tax Revenues, Shrinking Reserves, Growing Budget Gaps: New York City Faces Substantial Fiscal Challenges in the Weeks and Months Ahead . It surely has gotten worse--with the coronavirus crisis causing increased unemployment and hardship, compounded by rising crime and social distrust, with the police brutality protests further exposing fault lines. Below I pasted in some verbatim text regarding real estate and general risks, with emphases and commentary added. The bottom line is that the future is ominous. What's interesting is that projects like Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park seems to be building into an optimistic future, "We are hopeful there will be a vaccine and this will be resolved by the time buildings are open," said Amir Stein, a representative of TF Cornerstone, builder of B12 and B13, at the most Quality of Life meeting in June. La...

The interim open space behind the 550 Vanderbilt condo building just got tighter. It turns out that the construction start at the B12 and B13 sites --615 Dean and 595 Dean--necessitates the adjustment of the concrete-plus-wood barrier between the eastern site, B13, and the adjacent 550 Vanderbilt, aka B14. That means the barrier has been moved about 8-10 feet closer to the B14 site, thus approaching the benches that point west. See photo below, from July 1, looking north. That's sub-optimal, even for times after-hours when construction has stopped. (As I explain below, the fence has not been moved to encroach on the B11 site, 535 Carlton.) Ultimately, construction of B12/B13, scheduled to be complete in Spring 2023 , will result in a shared open space with the adjacent 550 Vanderbilt and 535 Carlton. But only construction over the Vanderbilt Yard, as yet unscheduled and likely to take until 2035 , will deliver the lion's share of project open space. Looking north fro...

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning Monday, 6/29/20, was circulated Friday, 6/26/20 at 3:22 pm (lead time) by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners. Judging from the text highlighted in in red in the document below, the only new work (compared with the previous update ) expected is excavation and foundation work for the B12 (615 Dean) and B13 (595 Dean) towers, as described at the recent Quality of Life meeting . That will occur after already-started fencing work is completed. Those two towers would have 798 rental units and, underground, a fitness center and fieldhouse. After-hours work--to enable social distancing, we learned--continues at both the B4 (18 Sixth) and B15 (37 Sixth) towers, until 7 pm daily and Saturdays 8 am to 5 pm. (Night and weekend work continues at the Vanderbilt Yard.) PPB Construction Alert 6 29 20 (PDF) PPB Construction Alert 6 29 2...

This is the second of several posts on the 6/9/20 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting, the first ever virtual meeting, held on Zoom. The first concerned non-transparency. The third concerned neighborhood checkpoints. Foundation work for the B12 (615 Dean Street) and B13 (595 Dean Street) towers should start in the next two weeks, starting a three-year overall construction period, said Amir Stein of TF Cornerstone, the developer. He said trucks would be entering the site on Pacific Street from Vanderbilt Avenue and stage at the north end of the parcels. They would then exit Pacific on Carlton Avenue and go north. (See slide at bottom.) "We do not plan on having any deliveries whatsover" on residential Dean Street. A construction fence on Pacific Street is being completed, and a similar fence will begin this week or next. After that, foundation work can start. He said construction was expected to start between 7-7:30 am and concluded by 3 pm. He said h...

Te latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning today, was circulated Friday, 5/29/20 at 3:07 pm (lead time) by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners. Judging from the text highlighted in in red in the document below, the only new work expected is fence installation along Pacific Street on the southeast block of the site, a precursor for work launching the B12 (615 Dean) and B13 (595 Dean) towers , once expected to start this month. Those two towers would have 798 rental units and, underground, a fitness center and fieldhouse. Meanwhile, what I two weeks ago called a rather stealth acknowledgment of after-hours work at both the B4 (18 Sixth) and B15 (37 Sixth) sites, given that it was not highlighted in red, weekday work there will last from 7 am until 7 pm and Saturday work goes from 8 am until 5 pm. Here's the permit for B4 . Here's the permit for B15 . In both cases, ...

In case you're wondering, the scheduled 5/12/20 Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting has been postponed to an unspecified time, according to a notice on the web site for the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). It's understandable that regular public gatherings can't be held during the coronavirus crisis. Then again, these meetings are supposed to be bi-monthly, and offer important transparency on the project, including responses to questions submitted by concerned neighbors. So Empire State Development, the parent of the AY CDC and the sponsor of the Quality of Life meetings, should figure out some way to approximate such meetings, whether via teleconference or online. Questions pending If construction at the B4 and B15 sites has resumed , there are natural questions about how the timetable, personnel configuration, and projected working hours may have changed. Similarly, there are natural questions about whether there are still plan...

De Blasio's signature housing plan poised to take big hit from coronavirus , Politico's Janaki Chadha reported 4/28/20, noting more than $1 billion in cuts over the next two years, a significant contrast with the $1.7 billion spent in 2018. It's part of widespread city budget cuts. That's capital subsidy, as far as I can tell, which is separate from financing. The latter cuts in two ways. As Politico reported, "record-low interest rates in recent weeks have pushed down the value of federal housing tax credits that contribute to the vast majority of the country’s affordable housing development." However--and this wasn't addressed in the article--I think that low interest rates could also make it easier for the city's Housing Development Corporation to issue tax-exempt bonds, assuming the projects are deemed viable. City more selective The upshot, though, is that the city is getting more selective, while hoping for federal help: "The agenc...

OK, I've written about the coronavirus-related question marks facing market-rate and affordable housing, the school , the Vanderbilt Yard platform , and a new office tower at Site 5. But what about the fitness center and fieldhouse, operated by Chelsea Piers, planned under the B12 and B13 (615 Dean, 595 Dean) towers on the southwest block of the project site? (Here's my coverage , from last November of plans for those buildings, as well as previous discussion of the dubious approval process .) As of early March 2020, those towers, with a combined 800 units, were supposed to start in June or July--a time period already nudged back at least two months. Now everything's been delayed by the coronavirus crisis, with essential construction stalled. An unwise bet? Given that gyms have closed due to Covid-19 and are likely, under the most optimistic scenario, to face operating restrictions when they reopen, the planned Chelsea Piers fitness center might seem, in the ...

From New York Post columnist Nicole Gelinas, 4/5/20, New York will need another federal bailout — and major belt-tightening : With demand for office and market-rate residential space likely down, a surge in private-sector construction is unlikely to save the city this time, as it did after 9/11. Nor will global tourists save us soon. If there's less demand for market-rate residential space, that raises a question about the next buildings for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. Under construction but paused are B4 (18 Sixth Avenue) and B15 (37 Sixth Avenue, 662-664 Pacific Street), slated to deliver 30% affordable units (at unspecified affordability levels), for a total of 352 apartments. Slated to start this summer, at least according to pre-coronavirus predictions, are B12 and B13 (595 and 615 Dean Street), with at least 25% affordable units, or a total of 200 apartments. Surely that start time has been pushed back. Changing the equation But what if the latest crisis has change...

New York Post  REALTY CHECK  columnist Steve Cuozzo, on 3/16/20 published New Chelsea Piers field house, fitness club coming to Pacific Park , which isn't really news, other than the incremental information that developer TF Cornerstone signed a lease with Chelsea Piers. Cuozzo, typically not-so-informed, wrote: It’s a done deal for a giant new field house and fitness club run by Chelsea Piers at TF Cornerstone’s 595 Dean St. at Brooklyn’s Pacific Park. The developer and the Piers signed a lease this week for a combined 103,000- square-foot fitness and health club at the base of the new residential tower to stand 26 floors. That may be the official address of the facilities but, as anyone following the project should know, they will stretch below both 595 Dean and its sibling 615 Dean, as shown in the pink sections of the screenshot below, published 11/22/19. Snark regarding the switch Writes Cuozzo: The plan required approval by the Empire State Development...

This is the first of four articles on the 3/3/20 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life  meeting , held by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority overseeing/shepherding the project. The  second  concerned the faulty elevator at the Barclays Center. The  third  concerned construction progress. The fourth concerned Barclays Center-related traffic issues. The meeting was brief (some 40 minutes, of two hours allocated), lightly attended (no news expected, right?), and pretty much uneventful. But we did get some updates, including a belated confirmation that yes, the next "quarterly" Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) meeting would be held March 18. Announcement coming re platform As at the previous Quality of Life meeting , Lee Warshavsky, a Prospect Heights resident and appointee on the AY CDC, asked about progress on building the first phase of the platform over the Vanderbilt Yard, between Sixth and Ca...

This is the first of eight posts regarding the 1/28/20 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting . The second concerned progress at B4, B15, and the railyard. The third concerned parking on the southeast block. The fourth concerned impacts from Barclays Center operations. The fifth concerned the Community Liaison Office, and impacts from workers. The sixth concerned the next Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation meeting. The seventh concerned questions for the Department of Transportation. The eighth concerned DEP digging. The "big" news in the brief meeting (about 66 minutes) was that there was no news--and that the expected representative of the Department of Transportation couldn't make it, so the expected discussion was pushed back until the next meeting, 3/3/20. But "Hurry up and wait" was the essential message regarding three significant pending elements of the project. B12/B13 start could be delayed until June Regarding...

Yes, it looks likes the sites for B12 and B13, 615 and 595 Dean Street respectively, have been cleared for future construction. They're expected to start this year, with some 800 rental units, at least 25% affordable, though the affordability level is unclear. As of last week and this coming week, no work other than fence repair was expected . Click on the links for more on the towers' design , open space , parking , and field house/fitness center . Looking south toward Dean Street Looking southeast toward Dean Street and Carlton Avenue, and the 535 Carlton tower (B14)

This is the fifth of ten articles on the 11/19/19 Quality of Life meeting, which focused on the new B12 and B13 towers. The first concerned plans to finally move forward with Site 5. The second concerned the timing of the platform over the railyard. The third concerned the single parking garage entrance on the block. The fourth concerned the design of the new towers. The sixth concerned B4, Times Plaza, and the railyard. The seventh concerned art on the Dean Street construction fence. The eighth concerned recent traffic chaos around Disney on Ice. The ninth concerned the Pacific Park Conservancy. The tenth concerned the Pacific Park Owners Association. The initial coverage, in real estate publications, focused on the green images. Curbed:  TF Cornerstone reveals renderings for Pacific Park mixed-users, public park . 6sqft: New renderings show 72,600-square-foot public park coming to Brooklyn’s Pacific Park development . Just as with the images of the buildings, as I wr...

Well, I got answers yesterday to questions raised at the 11/19/19 Quality of Life meeting about parking , but they just don't make sense, except to aid the convenience of the project's developers, as explained below. The large parking garage on that block was approved at 693 spaces but was said at the meeting to contain 758 spaces. Also, it will have just one entrance and exit, a contrast with previous information that suggested three separate access points. That location, at narrow Dean Street just east of Carlton Avenue, is already congested, Let's unpack those two issues. How many spaces? According to the 2019 Amendment to the Modified General Project Plan  (excerpt at right), the Parking Requirement Reduction, from 1,200 overall spaces to 1,000 spaces, states: a. Delete Paragraph 2 of the 2014 Amendment to the MGPP. b. The Project will provide 1,000 permanent parking spaces. This consists of 67 spaces that have been delivered on the arena block, 693 space...