Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

It shouldn't be a surprise. Not only is former Forest City Ratner CEO/Chairman Bruce Ratner supporting (via contributions to the Fix the City PAC) the mayoral candidacy of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, so too is Ratner's successor MaryAnne Gilmartin. It makes even more sense for Gilmartin, CEO of the developer MAG Partners, since her firm is actively developing projects in New York. She is the eighth leading "bundler" for Cuomo, raising $63,660 from 120 contributors, relying on a wide range of professional contacts. Cuomo's gained nearly $2.4M in contributions via such bundlers. Her role was first mentioned by Politico. Contributors Among those who Gilmartin tapped were former Forest City Ratner executives, an NBA executive, a former Brooklyn Academy of Music leader, executives at the modular firm Assembly OSM, her own colleagues at MAG Partners, an executive at p.r. firm BerlinRosen, and a partner in the architecture firm SHoP. Notably, Gilmartin also bundled $500...

So The Real Deal on June 4 published a hagiographic profile,  “New York street fighter”: MaryAnne Gilmartin takes on $5.5B development , with the subheading "Steadfast NYC developer's MAG Partners is closing in a 900-unit Manhattan portfolio, but her bigger prize is in Baltimore." Orion Jones opens the article with Gilmartin, the former CEO of Forest City Ratner, praising her new modestly-scaled building, on a parcel in Chelsea owned by the Penn South Co-op, with Hudson Yards, which "look like something out of Shanghai." “It resembles the New York I grew up with and love,” Gilmartin told TRD. OK, the seven-story structure will have 30% affordable housing , but two-thirds of that, or 20%, will be for households at 130% of Area Median Income, meaning a one-bedroom could today rent for $3,786 , and surely more when the building opens. She "casually adds--in a bit of a dig, it seems--"that Related Companies, a major developer at Hudson Yards, was a competi...

A Real Deal article yesterday dubiously headlined How this modular construction startup stacks a high-rise in one day , has in its URL the more accurate "Modular construction startup builds prototype in Brooklyn." Still, the building of eight modules into a modest three-story building in Fort Greene was a promising pilot for the company Assembly OSM , which has several links to the ill-fated B2 modular tower (461 Dean Street) in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. (Note: a passage regarding "significant problems" at B2 links to a blog called Construction Junkie,  World’s Tallest Modular Building Opens in New York, But Not Without Challenges , which relies on an investigation I did for  City Limits . Kind of petty not to link to the original.) From the article: Assembly calls its construction method “post-modular” because it is more akin to a car or aircraft assembly line than a traditional modular build-out, where the structure is put together on a single factory floor. Th...

Former Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin, who now heads her own firm MAG Partners, is definitely not ready to return to Brooklyn's troubled megaproject. As the Real Deal reported Nov. 30, in an article focusing on Larry Silverstein's Innovation QNS project, Gilmartin commented on the foreclosure sale of six Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park development sites over the Vanderbilt Yard. The indebtedness of Greenland USA, Forest City's successor in developing the project, is linked to the cost of a platform over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard. “You can wring the viability out of anything,” Gilmartin told an audience at NYU.  Of course, the MTA accepted a lower cash bid from Forest City, which had the inside track because of the arena plan, for the railyard development rights, which presumed a platform and replacement railyard. Would Gilmartin consider returning to the project, the moderator asked. (I think it's unclear who would do so, especially giv...

It's Atlantic Yards down the memory hole, yet again. In  N.Y. developer MAG Partners co-leads team pitching for Diamond District project , Richmond BizSense reported 4/19/22 on the bid (one of six) by "New York-based MAG Partners and Seattle-based MacFarlane Partners... for the mixed-use redevelopment of city-owned land that would include a replacement of The Diamond baseball stadium." MAG Partners, of course, is led by MaryAnne Gilmartin, former CEO of Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York. Another partner on the team: MSquared, a firm founded by Alicia Glen, who as deputy mayor under Bill de Blasio worked with Gilmartin. The Brooklyn effect MAG Partners' bid was not among the three chosen as finalists, as announced in early May. Still, that April interview is worth a deeper look: While different in market and scale, Gilmartin said the 67-acre Diamond District project is similar to the 8-acre Pacific Park Brooklyn development that’s anchored by Barclays Center, ho...

Commercial Real Estate and Eric Adams Build Each Other Up in New York , the Commercial Observer reported 1/25/22, leading off with an anecdote from former Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin, who now runs MAG Partners: While working at Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner Companies (later acquired by Brookfield Asset Management) and building some of the most transformational projects in Kings County, Gilmartin recalls receiving great support from then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams . “Eric, was, from day one, a believer, a champion, and very accessible for our company, for the people in the company,” Gilmartin said. In 2016, Gilmartin was three years into her tenure as CEO of Forest City when she invited Adams — the beep until being sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1 — to the firm’s offices in Downtown Brooklyn as part of a speaker series. He spoke about his Type 2 diabetes diagnosis and how he transformed his life, long before doing so publicly. He was “ins...

A couple of quotes from the Commercial Observer, 2/3/21,  Virtual CO/REBNY Celebration Strikes Cautiously Optimistic Tone for 2021 , citing bigwigs from the Real Estate Board of New York event. “What has happened with urban office employment is not a cyclical change, it’s secular,” said Tommy Craig, senior vice president of Hines . “It’s too early to understand the long-term world of a post-Zoom world. Not only have we lost 500,000 jobs, but the fundamental relationship between work and place is being reassessed.” While that's especially relevant to Manhattan office space, the market for expensive, relatively cramped residential space in Brooklyn diminishes if more people work from home, though others cited New York City's culture--assuming it revives--as an enduring anchor. Optimistic was former Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin, who founded MAG Partners and serves as interim CEO of publicly traded Mack-Cali Realty Corp.: “There’s a possibility we’...

I recently listened to the 3/22/17  Leading Voices in Real Estate podcast  interview with MaryAnne Gilmartin, then CEO of Forest City Ratner, to be renamed Forest City New York later that year.  Most of the interview, by Matt Slepin, covered professional and biographical matters covered in other interviews/podcasts--real estate as "Rubik's Cube," comfort with uncertainty, "I always say 'I slay the dragon every day'"--but a couple of things stood out. About the arena After host Slepin asked placemaking, that gave Gilmartin entree to talk about "Pacific Park Brooklyn, which is a neighborhood that we've been creating for well over a decade... there's such responsibility on the part of the developer to build in one of the finest neighborhoods in the country at the confluence of some of the most historic and deeply diverse neighborhoods in Brooklyn." She said that meant not just creating a "great place," but also "weaving thi...

There's a very intriguing passage about Atlantic Yards in the 5/16/18 Hey BK podcast hosted by Ofer Cohen, founder of TerraTRG. ( Transcript here . More about the podcast here .) Cohen's guest was David Ehrenberg , who served as Executive Vice President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYC EDC) from 2006 through 2013, before leaving that year to lead the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. Go to 5:56. Host Cohen narrates: David Ehrenberg is Brooklyn, born and raised. He knew he wanted to lead the Navy Yard even before the job was open and he put himself in the running. It was the tail end of the Bloomberg Administration and David was working for the city on some of its biggest projects. Guest Ehrenberg speaks: And at my level, I became just, you know, the kind of the fix-it person. So when a project got off the rails, I went in and had to solve it, which, y'know, is great learning experience and I've got to say--I learned most o...

Former Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin, who left for L&L MAG and then (slowly) established MAG Partners, is also now board chair and interim CEO of the real estate investment trust Mack-Cali, after a board shakeup led by activist investors. In speaking to investment analysts 8/3/20, she buffed the history of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park by claiming, wrongly, that she had "leased thousands of units" at the project, even though only 964 rental units had been built, with 81% of them "affordable" and thus--in the main--easier to lease. In other words, it was not as much of an achievement as she professed. From the transcript From  Edited Transcript of Mack-Cali Realty Corp earnings conference call or presentation Monday, August 3, 2020  (which I confirmed after listening to the audio), an excerpt from Gilmartin's prepared closing remarks: I'd like to conclude with a comment on leadership through a change and challen...

From the Real Deal 7/28/20,  Rent-a-CEO: Inside Gilmartin’s short-term gig at Mack-Cali , regarding the former Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York executive MaryAnne Gilmartin, a member of the board of the Mack-Cali , a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on New Jersey, now elevated to temporary CEO: After a massive shakeup of Mack-Cali’s board, MaryAnne Gilmartin is temporarily stepping in as the New Jersey-based real estate investment trust’s CEO. Gilmartin, through an agreement between Mack-Cali and her company MAG Partners, will serve as CEO for six months or until the company finds a replacement, whichever happens first, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission . Mack-Cali, in turn, will pay MAG Partners a monthly fee of $150,000 and offer a one-time cash sign-on bonus of $300,000 and a completion bonus of $200,000 at the end of Gilmartin’s term, according to filings. An activist investor had pushed for the resignation of Mack-Cali CEO Mi...

Surely City & State New York has planned  The 2020 Real Estate Power 100  well before the coronavirus crisis, but it's worth taking a look. Any such list is by definition arbitrary, but note their criteria: Unlike other rankings, ours is not based primarily on total square feet or annual profits or the biggest deals. Instead, we identified the industry leaders who build buildings and political relationships, the lawmakers and administration officials who weigh the needs of residents against developers’ needs to make housing projects profitable, and the trade associations, lobbyists, publicists, academics and activists who all shape New York’s vibrant real estate world in so many ways. Notably in first rank is Vicki Been, New York City Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, former Commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park mention 64. Hu Gang President and CEO Greenland USA Greenl...

Developer spins off from partners to launch her own real estate firm , Crain's New York Business reported yesterday, citing the departure of former Forest City Ratner/Forest City New York CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin from L&L MAG, the firm she formed with David Levinson and Robert Lapidus of L&L Holding Company. And, without any inside knowledge, I'd bet the operative word here is "spin." “Two years ago, we put together a vision for a new development firm and that partnership has been super successful,” Gilmartin told Crain's. “But we had always planned to get to a point where I could spin off and achieve my goal of leading a new company.” C'mon, she's always spun things, as Atlantic Yards watchers know. Remember: "Atlantic Yards was always a working title." “Forest City does not expect to ask for more subsidy.” "The prompt demolition of the buildings that remain on Block 1129 also is critical to construction of the arena....

City & State New York's listing of  The 2019 Brooklyn Power 100  is, of course arbitrary, but it's also intriguing. And it includes some Atlantic Yards-related references. The ranking is... interesting, starting with: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries Sen. Charles Schumer State AG Letitia James Rep. Nydia Velazquez Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams The description for Adams: No Brooklyn borough president has ever become mayor, and the last borough president in New York City to ascend to Gracie Mansion was Manhattan’s David Dinkins. But Eric Adams hopes he could become the first. With Letitia James preoccupied enforcing state law, the former state senator and ex-police officer may have an opening in what will no doubt be a crowded field in 2021. He has outraised his opponents recently, hauling in more than $500,000 over the first six months of the year, although his rival City Comptroller Scott Stringer has more than $2.5 million in his war chest. Adams has been noticeab...

The two mantras I stressed to understand Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park were "It's a never-say-never project" and "The devil's in the details." Yesterday I wrote about another important one: "It's a very tight fit." Today let's consider the other two : "The culture of cheating" and "Power defines reality." Those serve as a reminder that Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park has never been honestly and fairly presented. The lack of information we have today--what exactly is the project schedule?--confirms that. A historical question But let's look back at the answer to a seemingly bureaucratic question that I've been trying to pin down: when was the temporary railyard finished? Remember, the functions of the Vanderbilt Yard, used to store and service Long Island Rail Road trains, were moved temporarily to another section of the railyard to enable the construction of the Barclays Center, which overlaps part of the...