Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

The coalition BrooklynSpeaks this morning circulated an email to its mailing list, titled What we learned from ESD’s community engagement report . While the message doesn't credit my earlier coverage, Draft Community Engagement Report Backs (!?) Developers' Aim to Downplay Low-Income Housing , there is significant overlap. BrooklynSpeaks, though, offers valuable focus. "The median annual income of most participants and respondents was more than $150K." BrooklynSpeaks notes, as I'd pointed out, that the income skew likely affects the respondents' purported support for more expensive below-market "affordable housing," though, according to a respected housing organization, "moderate and middle income levels make up only about 7% of the more than one million rent-burdened households in New York City." BrooklynSpeaks asks : shouldn't Atlantic Yards address where the need is greatest? "The open spaces cited by participants as examples ...

"Public-private development is failing the public. How can we fix it?" A virtual panel discussion on that topic is set for December 15 at 7 pm, sponsored by The City Club of New York , the Atlantic Yards advocacy group BrooklynSpeaks , and Voices of the Waterfront , which has challenged, and is responding to, the Brooklyn Marine Terminal redevelopment plan.  Register here . The description: City and State governments increasingly rely on public-private development partnerships to provide public goods such as affordable housing, open space, and job creation. But recent experience with approved projects like Penn Station and Atlantic Yards , as well as questions about proposed projects like the Brooklyn Marine Terminal , raise concerns about major development projects not meeting their stated public commitments. Join us for a discussion of why it has been difficult to realize commitments for public benefits from government-sponsored development projects, and what can be done t...

State Sen. Jabari Brisport, a Democratic Socialist who represents the Atlantic Yards site, has--like some of his generational cohort (notably Assemblymember and Democratic Mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani)--concluded that upbeat but punchy short video, with snappy graphics, might be the best way to communicate. After all, not everyone reads Gothamist, the publication that's most prominently reported on New York State's (via Empire State Development, or ESD) failure to enforce the $1.752 million/month in penalties for the unbuilt Atlantic Yards affordable housing, much less my reporting in this blog (or my newsletter ). UPDATE: 3 months past due, the penalties are over $5M, owed to the people of NY. Let Gov. Hochul know you want to see them stand against private real estate failures. A big thank you to all the activists, advocates and journalists that have documented this billion dollar mess! pic.twitter.com/GMrExhgKMT — Jabari Brisport (@JabariBrisport) August 29, 2025 ...

New York State could have started collecting more than $1.75 million a month in damages starting June 1, given the failure of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park developers to deliver 876 (of 2,250) promised affordable housing units, but it hasn't, instead suspending the penalties while it negotiates with a new developer. That new joint venture apparently involves Cirrus Real Estate Partners, Fortress Investment Group, an affiliate of the U.S. Immigration Fund (USIF),  the firm LCOR, and existing developer Greenland USA, surely will seek to revise obligations and gain concessions, while likely making new promises of deferred public benefits. New petition The coalition BrooklynSpeaks, which in a 2014 settlement gained that commitment of $2,000/month damages for each missing unit, has previously protested the failure of enforcement (but hasn't yet pursued a lawsuit) and helped  influenced local elected officials in  writing  Gov. Kathy Hochul and Empire State Development (ES...

The surprising (but, in retrospect, maybe not) Democratic mayoral primary victory of insurgent Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani--a  democratic socialist who inspired legions of volunteers, talked to anyone, formed alliances, expressed love for the city, and had a simple (if somewhat  questionable ) set of affordability priorities--over dreary establishment candidate Andrew Cuomo has set up a very interesting situation. Mamdani was closing in on Cuomo in the polls, and one said he'd beat the former Governor after ranked-choice voting concluded, but he beat him decisively , with 43.5% of first-place votes to Cuomo’s 36.4%, and likely will take more when ranked-choice votes are counted, given, for example, his cross-endorsement with Comptroller Brad Lander, who got 11.3%. So for now, it's an apparent victory, likely to be solidified, though Democrats have only offered "tentative support," in the words of City & State. Chess match What next? Cuomo, who had enormo...

Led by Council Member Crystal Hudson, ten local elected officials yesterday wrote to Gov. Kathy Hochul and Hope Knight, CEO of Empire State Development (ESD), urging them to start collecting $1.752 million in liquidated damages for the 876 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park affordable housing units that were supposed to be built by May 31 The letter (bottom), was signed by Hudson and her colleague Shahana Hanif; Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon, Robert Carroll, and Phara Souffrant Forrest; Borough President Antonio Reynoso; State Senator Jabari Brisport; and Congressional Representatives Dan Goldman, Yvette Clarke, and Nydia Velazquez.  The latter three officials have been far quieter about Atlantic Yards, for example not appearing at a press conference called by--or in a press release from--the coalition BrooklynSpeaks . Hudson posted the letter on BlueSky yesterday, prompting a report earlier today from Gothamist, which quoted ESD as reiterating that it would stop suspending the damages...

I wrote ( link ) yesterday, after a press conference from BrooklynSpeaks expressing outrage at the state's failure to collect liquidated damages, that the coalition may be in a more pragmatic mode. After all, key leader Michelle de la Uz, of the Fifth Avenue Committee,  told  Gothamist she wants to meet with ESD officials to learn about their efforts to approve a new "Permitted Developer" to replace Greenland USA, which since November 2023 has been about to lose its rights to those six railyard towers via foreclosure. That joint venture involves Cirrus Real Estate, a funding entity that has allied with construction unions ; the private equity fund Fortress Investment Group; the developer LCOR; Greenland (still); and an affiliate of the U.S. Immigration Fund, a private "regional center" that recruited investors from China to offer Greenland low-interest loans under the EB-5 investor visa program. Meeting with potential new developer Near the end of the press conf...

Yesterday, the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, backed by several local elected officials, held a press conference regarding the failure to complete the project's affordable housing, heralded by a Gothamist headline,  Brooklyn leaders say NY can't suspend millions in affordable housing penalties for Atlantic Yards .  Of 2,250 units, 876--or 877, as the signs suggest--remain to be built, with $2,000/month penalties for each missing unit. That adds up to $1.752 million, or, as the signs suggest, $1.754 million. Council Member Crystal Hudson, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, FAC's Michelle de la Uz (r.-l.) Photo:  BrooklynSpeaks Whether BrooklynSpeaks , which in 2014 negotiated the new May 2025 deadline for the project's affordable housing, can or will do anything about it is in question. (BrooklynSpeaks had threatened a fair-housing lawsuit on grounds that delays would disadvantage Black residents displaced from the neighborhood and thus made ineligible for community preference in ...

Today at 4 pm, as I wrote ( link ), the coalition BrooklynSpeaks will hold a press event/rally with state Assemblymembers Bobby Carroll and Jo Anne Simon, City Council Members Crystal Hudson and Shahana Hanif, and various community leaders "to call on Governor Hochul to bring accountability to the long-delayed Atlantic Yards project." I can't be there, though I am sending a videographer. So I wanted to float some questions for the leaders of BrooklynSpeaks and the elected officials who, I suspect, largely take their cue from them. In 2014, averting a threatened lawsuit , BrooklynSpeaks reached a settlement with New York State that set a new May 31, 2025 deadline for the project's 2,250 affordable units, with $2,000/month liquidated damages for each missing unit, with the money directed to a city trust fund for affordable housing. With 1,374 completed, that leaves 876 to go, so $1.752 million/month, which ESD has refrained from pursuing, saying that, with a new deve...

The 876 remaining units of affordable housing (of 2,250 required) due May 31 won't be delivered by then. What happens June 1, when $2,000/month penalties are due?  We haven't been told whether Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, will hold developer (for now) Greenland USA accountable, will put things on pause, or will announce a renegotiation with a new joint venture . I'd bet they'll kick the can down the road, as hinted in March, rather than try to impose penalties. Remember, ESD has the potentially contradictory task of encouraging economic development while being responsive to communities and upholding contracts. Keep in mind that ESD, in the project's guiding Development Agreement, retains a "Right To Refrain"   "from exercising any of its rights under this Agreement at any time or from time to time." That's a significant power. It's worth noting that ESD's 2014 settlement agre...