Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Gothamist's David Brand this morning reports, Why did NY waive $5.25M in Atlantic Yards fines? The developer threatened to sue. While the article quotes Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon as saying the $2,000/month damages--adding up to $1.752 million a month for the 876 units, aimed at a city affordable housing trust fund--should be collected from developer Greenland USA, it ends with a defense of the status quo: Other housing experts say they understand the state’s position and the threat of litigation, especially when it comes to a deal made under far different financial circumstances over a decade ago. “It is not surprising that a developer is threatening to sue,” said real estate consultant Jordan Barowitz, a former city housing official. “But the problem with that project is it’s not economical. Collecting more fines just makes it less likely the project gets built.” A neutral arbiter? Wait a sec. Barowitz may be a former city housing official, but his Twitter/X bio describes him ...

So, will Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards, enforce the $2,000/month fines for each of the 876 affordable housing units not delivered by May 31, 2025? Yes, if you go rely on an exchange (video  here  and below) Feb. 26, at a New York State Legislature joint budget hearing, between Brooklyn Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon and ESD CEO Hope Knight. Maybe not, if you consider that ESD has avoided imposing fines for the unbuilt Urban Room atrium, widely seen as a precursor for its posture toward the affordable housing deadline, or that ESD made a deal with developer Greenland USA to expand the two-tower project at Site 5, catercorner to the arena,  without telling the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, not even after the fact. And probably not, if you consider Knight's magical  suggestion , at a hearing last year, that the deadline might be met by converting existing market-...

During yesterday's joint Legislative hearing on the gubernatorial administration's budget proposal, Brooklyn Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (video here , also below) queried Hope Knight, President, CEO and Commissioner of Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, about the troubled project. Knight hardly offered candor, but she did hint--as seemed likely--that ESD has not merely been standing by while master developer Greenland USA faces a foreclosure action that would lead to the loss of its ability to develop six parcels (B5-B10) over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard. Still, however much ESD hopes a new developer may step in, that doesn't make it likely. Nor does it resolve some knotty questions, including one Knight essentially dodged regarding the master developer's obligation to pay $2,000/month fines for each unit of affordable housing--876 (or 877) in total--not delivered ...

Well, there's a Democratic primary today for the newly drawn 10th District, which includes the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site and extends from Borough Park to Lower Manhattan. Unlike when the seat containing the site was last open ( 2006 !), the project is not on the agenda. Note that Rep. Yvette Clarke, whose district lines have moved, had much to do with the project (other than some photo ops, and sending a staffer to public meetings, and thus promoting job openings, etc.).  Bigger players in Congress like former Rep. Charles Rangel and Sen. Chuck Schumer have helped the project, directly and indirectly, by getting tax-exempt bonds grandfathered in and ensuring that cheap EB-5 financing for immigrant investors remained afloat (and failing to apply scrutiny to a dubious program). So, while the project may re-surface as a Congressional issue, other local issues--as The City pointed out --are more pressing, including funding for public housing, climate change, and repair of the Br...

Today, in a 10 am press conference scheduled near the Barclays Center's SeatGeek Plaza, the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, backed by some elected officials, will call on the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul to collect fines--potentially totaling $10 million--for failing to build the Urban Room, the glass atrium that's long been supplanted by the "temporary" plaza. To my mind, the effort is both legit and contrived. After all, until recently, no one has publicly made an issue out of the missing Urban Room, which would've linked B1--the unbuilt flagship tower, aka "Miss Brooklyn"--and the arena with a glass atrium. Not until Gib Veconi, the best-informed--or is it only informed?--member of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, raised the issue of the Urban Room at a  meeting last month , no one had talked about it. (Yes, that May 2022 deadline had slipped my mind, too.)  At least since 2016, developer Greenland Forest ...

Thanks to recently passed redistricting (and barring a legal challenge, the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park site will next year be represented, in the main, by a new Assemblymember. The current district lines  show that nearly all the project site, except for Site 5 across Flatbush Avenue (also bounded by Fourth Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, and Pacific Street), is represented by 57th District Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, who succeeded Walter Mosley and Hakeem Jeffries. Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, of the 52nd District, represents Site 5. But keep your eye on the 44th District, which extends into Park Slope, represented by Robert (Bobby) Carroll . Under the redistricting , the 57th District boundaries move north, across Atlantic Avenue, and Carroll's 44th District includes most but not all of Prospect Heights. Simon's 52nd District retains Site 5 and a small piece of Prospect Heights. Carroll's greeting Carroll attended--for the first time--the last of the four BrooklynS...

Last night, the first session of BrooklynSpeaks’ four-week Crossroads series , aiming to develop revised plans for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, focused on 1) a history of the project (to get the 70-plus attendees up to speed) and 2) a discussion of potential changes to streets and building design. I’ll look at the latter soon, in a separate article. (For history, see BrooklynSpeaks’ summary , and my FAQ + timelines .) To me, a crucial piece of information emerged near the end, in brief public comments from newly elected Council Member Crystal Hudson, a Prospect Heights resident who represents the 35th District, which includes nearly all of the 22-acre project site. Hudson stressed accountability from project master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, including expected fines for missing affordable housing, and said she recently discussed it with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who controls the project via the state authority Empire State Development. That has not (yet) become a focus for Broo...

This post will be updated, but first a little last-minute drama. Unbeknownst to both myself and Eric a press release was mistakenly sent out by a staffer on my campaign saying that there was an endorsement. That staffer was wrong and was immediately reprimanded. Our campaign regrets that this error happened. (2/2) — Robert Cornegy for BK BP (@rc4bk) June 22, 2021 At one Brooklyn BP candidates' forum, when asked if they welcomed Adams's endorsement @JoAnneSimonBK52 was the only one (I think) not to raise a hand. She said Adams had already (essentially?) endorsed, tho no one specified who https://t.co/AW4MkraOWx — Norman Oder (@AYReport) June 22, 2021 So maybe Adams has a preference, at least. And at least one pro-business political action committee sees them as a team: Brooklyn Eagle print (example here: https://t.co/VDlLA22MUm ) has steadily published sponsored section from PAC A Better NY for All featuring Adams/Cornegy/Surrogates Judge Paul so seems like an alliance htt...

The sponsors of the BrooklynSpeaks coalition--neighborhood and housing groups--and some allied elected officials are holding a forum tomorrow night at the Montauk Club (25 8th Avenue) in Park Slope at 7 pm. "Sixteen years of promises, but we still have a hole in the ground. It's time for a new plan," the announcement says: Fix the traffic problems. Improve transit. Design spaces that work in Brooklyn. Create real affordable housing. Assemblymembers Walter Mosley and Jo Anne Simon are expected. Developer pre-empts the meeting? Surely in anticipation of the meeting, developer Greenland Forest City Partners this week floated an article in the New York Post regarding new plans to start the first half of the Vanderbilt Yard platform next year, dutifully regurgitated as Brooklyn’s Pacific Park moves to fast track . Three towers over railyard, but no timetable The developer also released a glossy image (left) of those three towers over the railyard, plus th...